Der Henker nimmt Maß

Jack Palance plays look-alike brothers in "House of Numbers," a 1957 film also starring Barbara Lang and Harold Stone.

A "B" movie didn't mean a film wasn't good, and "House of Numbers" is proof of that. Palance plays a man who is desperate to get his brother out of San Quentin. He enlists the help of his sister-in-law, played by Barbara Lang. Harold Stone is on hand as a nosy prison guard.

Palance is fantastic in the two roles. They're not twins, so there's a makeup change, and Palance creates two different characters. One is gentle and shy; the other is older-looking, tough, and speaks in a somewhat hoarse voice. One is shorter than the other, too.

Barbara Lang was one of the many Marilyn Monroe types who was around in the 1950s. Young, quite slender with overly blond hair that's too big for her, her speech is reminiscent of Monroe's, and facially, she looks like Natalie Wood. She went on to have an enormous career on Broadway in many musicals and did other theater as well. She doesn't have much to do in this film except heat up the male characters, which she accomplishes with little effort.

"House of Numbers" will have you on the edge of your seat. Highly recommended.

House of Numbers (1957)

This starts with a clunky, poorly written rush to fill us in on the situation--a brother in jail who needs help to escape. But hang in there. It gets better.

The premise is clear early on—Jack Palance plays a man whose brother (also played by Palance) needs to get out of San Quentin. So they plan an escape that involves the first brother breaking into the prison. And so on. Cool stuff.

And when it gets going, there is less talk and more action, and frankly Palance is a physically interesting actor (his delivery is always stiff). This is not a great classic by any stretch. Parts are almost filler—scenes from around the real San Quentin (one of the advertised perks of the movie). But there are also good suspenseful aspects watching this plan get underway. Whether it works, I'll not say. Both Palances are good enough to hold it together.

The leading woman, trying painfully hard to be a kind of Marilyn, is a drag on the whole thing. A few side characters spice it up nicely. But mainly we have the plot, and the details as we see the clever and rather nutty idea get underway. The improbable daring of the events continues right to the end, with a final twist and "The End" hitting you quickly.

The director, Russell Rouse, is obscure (he directed "New York Confidential," which is good), and he probably deserves a lot of blame here because the core idea of the movie is great. And Palance could have risen up a notch with some good leading. One aspect of Palance's performance that is great, for sure, is how he made the two brothers really seem like different characters. They aren't twins, and they look and act different.

The music by the soon-to-be well known conductor, Andre Previn, is an example of orchestral excess—it made me even laugh once, with the crash of music for dramatic effect, though the composing has some new qualities that take it musically beyond the great Max Steiner.

By half way through there was no way I was going to quit, so if you get into this for awhile you'll be hooked by at least the "what happens" part of it all, and by the location shooting and some good night stuff.

"House of Numbers" is an odd prison film in that the plot is rather ridiculous but the film still is entertaining throughout. Jack Palance plays dual roles in this one--identical twins, Arnie and Bill Judlow. Arnie is in prison for manslaughter and he has come up with an impossible scheme by which his twin will help him escape prison by having him first break INTO prison. The hiccup in all this is that once Arnie is out, his wife and Bill are less than thrilled. So what happens next?

This film works mostly because the direction and Palance's acting were quite good and engaging. Well worth seeing...just try not to think through the plot too much as it really is tough to believe.

By the way, many of the inmates in this one were actual prisoners from San Quentin!

Jack Palance does double duty (as twins) in this 1957 prison break caper. Palance is both the older brother outside San Quentin & the younger on the inside who hopes to spring him especially since a guard who was thrown off a balcony by him may be coming out of the hospital to make a positive ID. Palance, on the outside, teams up w/his bro's wife, played Barbara Lang, to execute a hugely intricate plot to extricate him (one scheme has Palance breaking into the prison where he can switch places w/his bro while he spends a night digging a shallow grave for himself, complete w/a pipe to breathe through) but the edges of their plan start to go off the rails when the apartment they take in the city to be near the prison abuts w/one of the prison guards, played by Harold J. Stone, who is not too subtle putting the eyes on Lang's comely figure. Lang also starts to have her doubts about her marriage to the younger (it was because of an act of jealousy which put him in prison) as her attentions start to drift toward the older. Will the plan go off w/o a hitch? Pretty solid going for the most part as the story (based on a yarn by Jack Finney who gave us Invasion of the Body Snatchers) details keep becoming more intriguing as the plan starts to flesh itself out but other than some barebones handling of the twins in the same frame & some of the escape highlights (Palance scaling the prison wall at night in full view of anybody) a little farfetched, the film is entertaining as heck & worth the time. Also starring Timothy Carey & Joe Turkel (both of whom would appear the same year in Kubrick's Paths of Glory) as cons while Edward Platt (Chief from Get Smart) plays the warden.

The dark and creepy atmosphere of this film is unrelenting from beginning to end, with the contrast of the beautiful female lead. You've got two ghoulish-looking brothers in and out of prison, a sinister plot, and suspicion all around.