Steve Cochran gets into Lawrence Tierney land as a dirty cop in Private Hell 36. It is a precipitous fall that takes him from courageous hero to corrupt villain as he commits a myriad of crimes and capital sins in under 90 minutes.
Plagued by lack of cash flow detectives Bruner (Steve Cochran) and Farnham (Howard Duff) go dirty by skimming off the top some stolen cash recovered from a dead robber. Farnham has his doubts but instigator Bruner is all in and once the die is cast there is no turning back. Farnham the family man continues to doubt while Bruner, bewitched by cynical cabaret singer, Lili Marlowe dreams of la dolce vita. A skeptical captain (Dean Jagger) remains suspicious.
Shot with the customary economical and crafts manlike style of Don Siegel it lags at moments (race track scenes in particular) but still moves with his customary briskness in advancing the story like his The Line-Up with a brutal well edited opening.
All three of his leads are deeply flawed and far from sympathetic but interesting to follow, especially Cochran who dominates the picture with disturbing conviction. Lupino (who also co- writes the script) has the right look and sound of a lounge lizard climber while Duff who goes into guilt early and remains there plays it macho smarmy.
The story remains thin with some superfluous filler along the way but with Siegel touching things up "Hell" makes the best of the little it has.
Plagued by lack of cash flow detectives Bruner (Steve Cochran) and Farnham (Howard Duff) go dirty by skimming off the top some stolen cash recovered from a dead robber. Farnham has his doubts but instigator Bruner is all in and once the die is cast there is no turning back. Farnham the family man continues to doubt while Bruner, bewitched by cynical cabaret singer, Lili Marlowe dreams of la dolce vita. A skeptical captain (Dean Jagger) remains suspicious.
Shot with the customary economical and crafts manlike style of Don Siegel it lags at moments (race track scenes in particular) but still moves with his customary briskness in advancing the story like his The Line-Up with a brutal well edited opening.
All three of his leads are deeply flawed and far from sympathetic but interesting to follow, especially Cochran who dominates the picture with disturbing conviction. Lupino (who also co- writes the script) has the right look and sound of a lounge lizard climber while Duff who goes into guilt early and remains there plays it macho smarmy.
The story remains thin with some superfluous filler along the way but with Siegel touching things up "Hell" makes the best of the little it has.