ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Murphy Howard I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Suman Roberson It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

arthur_tafero Howard Duff and Ida Lupino were one of the more talented teams in Hollywood history. This film does not really show their unique talents; especially those of Lupino, who was one of the smartest women in Hollywood at the time. A good-looking woman with great writing talent is not a common occurrence. There is a nice turn by Steve Cochran as well.This is not pure noir; it really isn't that dark, but it is an interesting plot. Any cop recovering a ton of money would have to be tempted to dip into the cash. This is a nice, small, gritty film that highlights the future potential of both Duff and Lupino. She was truly a gifted actress and writer.

kapelusznik18 ***SPOILERS*** One of director Don Siegel of "Dirty Harry" fame earliest work involves a robbery in NYC of $300,000.00 that ended showing up, the stolen cash that is, in LA some 3,000 miles away. With LAPD detectives Carl Bruner, Steve Cochran, and Jack Farnham, Howard Duff, on the case they track down a 50 dollar bill from the robbery to a night club that it's top performer singer Lili Marlow, Ida Lupino, got as a tip from one of the customers there.It soon becomes obvious that the person who gave Lili the fifty was involved in the robbery and both Det. Bruner & Farnham together with Lili who can identify him stake out the Hollywood Race Track where he's known to spend his spare time and money, the stolen money, at.Track down the person they do when he makes a run for it in his car and ends up driving off the road killing himself.It's when the stolen money is found hidden in a safe box in the fugitive from justice, George Docksharden, car that Det. Bruner gets the idea of taking a large amount of it,$80,000.00, for himself and his partner, in order to keep him quite, Det. Farnham. Who's going to miss it anyway since no one has any idea of how much Docksharden spent anyway.Hiding the cash in a trailer park at lot #36 it seems that no one will find out what the two did even though honest cop and family man Jack Farnham has second thought about all this.***SPOILERS*** As things soon turn out the dead Dockshader had a partner in the $300,000.00 robbery who now want's his cut of the money. And he knows who has it Detectives Bruner & Farnham. And is also more then willing to expose their crime to their boss in the LAPD Capt. Michaels, Dean Jagger, if he doesn't get it! Unexpected final that will blow you away in how the two got caught in the act of returning the $80,000.00 that they stole to the man who they planned to double-cross who was blackmailing them. Like the saying goes "Crime doesn't Pay" it's only those who commit it that do.

dougdoepke Cop partners are tempted into stealing robbery loot, causing tension between them and troubles for their women.The crime drama may be a potboiler, but it's also redeemed by an effective cast. And that's despite one of the most obtuse film titles in Hollywood annals. Actually, the movie amounts to a Steve Cochran showcase, showing what that swarthy actor could do given the chance. Nonetheless, the competition's pretty stiff from Duff and Lupino, while Malone would have to wait a year for her break-through role in Battle Cry (1955). Cochran and Lupino do make a convincing tarnished couple, as another reviewer points out. At the same time, Cochran's devious cop amounts to one of the most unself-conscious performances I've seen from an actor. Note how at ease he is in the role, as if he really is cop Bruner.It's also director Don Siegel, a year away from his classic Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). His skills are especially apparent in that opening action sequence that hooks the audience right away. Also, the car-wreck scene is really well done—no stock footage there— including the smoothly executed thievery scene. However, the last sequence, in the trailer park, appears too abrupt and poorly staged, as though the production had run out of film or money or both.Kudos to co-producer Lupino who continued to be instrumental in turning out quality B- movies at a time when TV was slowing demand. Nothing memorable here, just a solid little crime drama with an expert cast.

seymourblack-1 "Private Hell 36" is a no-frills crime thriller written by Ida Lupino and producer Collier Young which was made by their independent company "The Filmmakers". The story about temptation and police corruption is well paced and provides evidence of Don Siegel's considerable directorial skills at an early stage in his career. A particularly impressive example of this is the sequence early on in the movie in which an off duty cop interrupts a drugstore robbery and gets involved in a shoot out. The depiction of what follows is stylish and tense and provides the story with an extremely gripping introduction.When the LAPD links a $50.00 bill recovered in the attempted drugstore burglary to a major robbery carried out in New York a year earlier, further enquiries lead to a singer at a local night club. Police detectives Cal Bruner (Steve Cochran) and Jack Farnham (Howard Duff) interview the singer, Lilli Marlowe (Ida Lupino) but she's unable to provide them with a precise description of the customer who gave her the money as a tip. Soon, more of the marked bills come to light at the Hollywood Park Racetrack and this leads Captain Michaels (Dean Jagger) to assign Bruner and Farnham to accompany Lilli to the track to see if she can identify the wanted man. A number of days pass without the man being seen and during this time, Cal and Lilli become close. She's very materialistic and despite her attraction to Cal isn't convinced that a long term future with a police detective would enable her to achieve her financial aspirations.One day Lilli sees the man they're searching for leaving the track by car and Cal and Jack follow him. After a high speed chase, the car they'd been following leaves the road and crashes and the driver is killed. The two detectives recover a metal box full of money from the vehicle and Cal, without hesitation, starts to put bundles of bills into his pockets. Jack is very nervous about being a party to what has happened but Cal subsequently takes him to a trailer park where the money is hidden (in trailer number 36) and Jack agrees to go along with the scheme, although he remains very anxious and is consumed with guilt.Captain Michaels tells the two detectives that only $200,000 of the $300,000 stolen in New York had actually been recovered from the crashed car and deduces that the dead man must've had a partner. Shortly after this, a man claiming to be the partner telephones Cal to demand his money back. Jack doesn't want to proceed with paying the partner and suggests they hand the money in to the police and confess what they've done. Cal pays lip service to agreeing and they both go to get the money from trailer 36, where some unexpected developments bring the story to its all action climax."Private Hell 36" is one of those movies that certainly punches above its weight. Despite an obviously low budget and a very straight forward, pulp fiction type story, "The Filmmakers" produced an end product which turned out to be far greater than the sum of its parts. This is down to the director's skills and also some fine performances from a talented cast. Steve Cochran and Howard Duff are particularly good as the two men who both recognise the dangers of their jobs and who, for different reasons, are desperate to be better rewarded. When they discover the metal box full of money, both men are strongly tempted to steal its contents but their reactions are ultimately quite different to each other. Cochran is confident and focused as his character readily seizes the opportunity to realise his ambitions and seems totally unconcerned by any thoughts about guilt, duty or the legality of what he's doing. Duff on the other hand looks convincingly anxious and full of guilt. Dean Jagger also provides a well measured interpretation of his character's rather benign and avuncular manner which doesn't make it obvious just how well he's attuned to everything that's going on.