36 Hours

Dan Duryea stars, with a very poor supporting cast in this grade B British crime drama, the work of UK hack director Montgomery Tully. Fifties audiences deserved a lot better than this, and Hammer Films several years later found its niche in horror, delivering consistently far better entertainment.

The first reel is dull and uneventful, with Dan walking through his role as an American military officer on a 36-hour pass in London. He goes to find his estranged wife, and we're then treated to a syrupy flashback of how they met and fell in love, utterly saccharine and just as uninteresting as the opener. Elsy Albiin, about as obscure (and unappealing) a 1950s actress as one could find, plays the wife blandly.

At this point the story takes a sudden U-Turn into crime and murder, with the viewer supposed to root for Duryea, but his character is unappealing. It's a long slog to finally finish off the story by Steve Fisher, usually a capable film noir writer, whose better work includes "Dead Reckoning" and "Lady in the Lake".

During a 36-hour leave, Major Bill Rogers (Dan Duryea) travels to England to meet his wife Katherine 'Katie' Rogers (Elsy Albiin). Bill is training in the United States and left his wife alone for several months. But soon he learns that Katie has moved from their apartment to a new one to have encounters with men. Bill heads to the address and when Katie arrives, he is knocked out by a stranger in her apartment. Further, the man uses his pistol to kill Katie and frame Bill. Now he has less than 36 hours to find the killer and prove his innocence.

"Terror Street", a.k.a. "36 Hours', is an entertaining Hammer film noir with Dan Duryea in the lead role. The plot has flaws, the fights choreography is weak but the storyline is engaging. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "36 Horas" ("36 Hours")

I did remember in some bonus material that Dan Duryea was totally opposite as Hollywood stigmatized him in his countless crook's roles, in fact he complained it largely for his pals, now on this American-British co-production he had finally his good guy's moments, maybe it was the mistake, the picture has innumerable qualities, dark, intense, a true noir and having London's fog atmosphere, like "do you want a cup of tea??" reading some reviews posted here which l'd to disagree with them, meanwhile l've respect all comments, but my vision of cinema was and ever will be by myself, watching a little portion may occur in a bug, maybe watching twice should be a best baseline, it's already happened with me many times, notwithstanding redressed each issue in its turn, the DVD experience is quite different from TV, in this last one we always lost many unnoticed details and cannot turn back at once!!!

Resume:

First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7

In 1950, American producer Robert Lippert formed a business alliance with Hammer studios. Under the agreement, Lippert would provide American acting talent - frequently shop-worn stars or just supporting actors who fancied a profitable trip out of the country - while Hammer would supply the rest of the cast and the production facilities. Together they would split the profits. Famous for his concern with the bottom line, Lippert produced over 140 films between 1946 and 1955, characteristically genre pieces such as I Shot Jesse James or Rocketship XM. For the British deal, most of the films were noir-ish thrillers - and include this title.

The American noir icon Dan Duryea is the best thing in 36 Hours, which is at its strongest in the first half. He plays Major Rogers, a flyer smuggled into the country to discover what his wife has been up to during his absence away on duty. Shortly after he catches up with her, she is dead, leaving the stunned Rogers waking up next to her body with just a few hours to prove his innocence. Duryea's opening scenes, mostly played solo as he explores his wife's apartment piecing together her new relationships, are the essence of noir - an alienated man, lost in an environment where moral certitudes are missing. Unfortunately the script by Steve Miller (responsible for earlier classics such as Dead Reckoning, and Lady In The Lake) grows less interesting as it proceeds, and the final complexities are forced and unconvincing. Along the way, Duryea brings life to his relationship with Jenny (Ann Gudrin), equally as good as the unfussy woman who believes his story. Kenneth Griffith also makes impact as the weasely Slosson - a character which, on a different continent, would no doubt been of interest to Elisha Cook Jr.

Dan Duryea stars in "Terror Street," also known as "36 Hours" from 1953. Though this was filmed in Britain and takes place there, the cars had the steering wheel on the American side for some reason.

Duryea is Bill Rogers, an American soldier, returns to London, where he was once stationed, when he hasn't heard from his Norwegian wife Katherine (Elsy Albin) in some time. He arrives at their apartment to find her gone and letters he sent to her unread. Her neighbor finally admits that Katherine is now living in an apartment in the west end.

Rogers convinces the young man at reception to let him into the apartment - mainly because he says if not, he will report that the employee is listening in on private phone calls.

Turns out the apartment is one fancy place, but before learning how it is that Katherine has moved up in the world, Rogers is knocked unconscious. When he regains consciousness, he finds that Katherine is dead, his service pistol was used, and it is in his hand.

Rogers' plane to return to the U. S. is in 36 hours - so he has that long to find out who killed Katherine. On the run from the police, he encounters a soup kitchen worker (Ann Gudrun) who believes his story and endeavors to help him.

Duryea is very good, as is the rest of the cast, including Eric Pohlmann and John Chandos.

The problem with the film is that the writing is weak. First of all, why the soup kitchen worker, whom he surprises after he sneaks into her apartment, didn't run for her life is beyond me. Also, Rogers doesn't turn to the police; he decides to investigate for himself in the typical innocent albeit wanted man way. There is also no big surprise as to who killed Katherine.

Katherine's story turns out to be somewhat interesting, however, and because I like Duryea, I'm giving it six stars.