mark.waltz Wherever Dan Duryea travels, film noir is sure to follow! Whether the good guy or the villain (or sometimes the red herring), his world weary face was a perfect example of the "noir look"-a bit sleazy, and someone you'd think twice about trusting. In this Lippert "B" film, he is the good guy, a war veteran whose British wife (Elsie Albiin) abandons him while he's off in America on special assignment. He's back long enough to get caught up in her murder, coming to after confronting her, finding himself next to her dead body with a the murder weapon in his hand. Knowing he is being framed, Duryea runs out just as the police get there, and utilizes the aid of a rather gullible neighbor (Gudrun Ure) both to hide him and help clear his name. You'll instantly know who the killer is, but this is not a mystery. It is all about how he gets around while trying to find out what happened which leads him to find out information on his deceased wife that isn't so pretty.This is a British made film noir that has many great things going for it, but it is also a bit too much to see the wife's dead body there (shot twice at almost point blank range) with no trace of blood. On the other hand, there are some interesting flashback sequences that let us know how Duryea and his wife met, shown through an obvious projector slide show, which is very interestingly photographed in itself. The cameraman moves much like an unseen bystander, few cuts in between, but filmed in a way that is never static. Also interesting is the character of the wife, both a gentle lady and a femme fatal, showing how many women during the war years found new ways to survive boredom while their spouses were away. Duryea is never an actor you can take an emotional interest in (his hard looks spoil any vulnerability he might have hidden inside), but he is so good at what he does that all of his characters, regardless of what side of the law they are on, are always extremely interesting. You long to see if (and how) he will get out of this plight. As the innocent mission worker, Ure is too kind to be real. When Duryea asks her to forge his wife's signature to get into her safety deposit box, I said to myself, "Oh, come on." Even in the 1950's, an amateur could not get away with forgery. Typical British eccentrics (always amusing to Americans with their unique use of the language) come in and out of the story to give local flavor. While watching this, I realized how similar it was in many senses to 1946's classic "The Blue Dahlia" which has pretty much the same conflict but a more identifiable hero.

Spikeopath Terror Street (AKA: 36 Hours) is directed by Montgomery Tully and written by Steve Fisher. It stars Dan Duryea, Elsy Albiin, Ann Gudrun, John Chandos and Eric Pohlmann. Music is by Ivor Slaney and cinematography by Walter Harvey. Plot finds Duryea as Major William Rogers, who is in London to see his estranged wife. When he arrives at her apartment, he is attacked and knocked unconscious. Upon awakening he finds that his wife has been shot and killed with his own gun. Taking to the streets, Rogers must find the real culprits before the police find and charge him with the murder.Simple and effective little B crime picture out of Hammer Productions that plays on the wrong man on the run theme. There's the odd little film noir touch here and there on the production side of things (night time wet cobbled streets/Duryea under a street lamp/finale in swinging shadow), which somehow warrants it being part of the Hammer Film Noir Collection, but really it's best to approach this one as purely a race against time drama that is competently acted (though the script rarely allows Duryea chance to brood and be emotionally battered), well paced and a film that retains a good mystery element throughout. Safe viewing and film making really. 6/10

JohnHowardReid Despite its bad press, "36 Hours" (1953) is not a total write-off. True, Dan Duryea is miscast as hero rather than villain and the girls are not much to write home about. But it's beautifully photographed by "Heads" Harvey (called "Heads" because of his fondness for placing the top of the actors' heads right against the frame line) and directed with a surprising amount of style by Montgomery Tully. The support cast lines up as one of the most solid assembled by Hammer with Eric Pohlmann and John Chandos as the heavies, Russell Napier and Michael Golden as detectives, Kenneth Griffith as the psycho, Lee Patterson in a tiny role as the co-pilot, and best of all, Harold Lang as the desk clerk.

The_Void This was apparently made as some sort of joint effort between Hammer studios and American producer Robert Lippert. The film was clearly made just to make money, and it shows as it's a disjointed effort with a torrid and derivative script and not much to recommend it for. The plot of Terror Street focuses on an American pilot. He is married to a Norwegian girl, and decides to make an unauthorised trip to the UK to see her (because apparently, American/Norwegian couples live in England). He is surprised upon his return to find she has found a new and glamorous lifestyle, but he is then hit on the head and wakes up to find his girl dead. He than has just thirty sex hours to prove he didn't do it. The plot certainly has plenty of room to be an entertaining thriller, but this is never capitalised on. Lead actor Dan Duryea is good enough, but never really made me care about his character or plight. The film really lacks any interesting set pieces or situations as well, and I have to admit I lost interest long before the end. Overall, I wouldn't recommend tracking this film down to either Hammer fans or Noir fans!