36 Hours to Kill

Eugene Forde directs this low budget "gangster" gem which proceeds predictably enough until we get to the climax which has sufficient twists & turns to separate it from the norm & maybe even satisfy a Hitchcock fan or two. But what really separates this film from not only the B film but any film is the abundant use of humor. In addition to some pretty corny but ofttimes amusing gags involving Warren Hymer as Hazy (aka Mr Metropolitan to the little girl who wants to be read to) we have what I would call a runaway Stepin Fetchit. Mr Forde lets him have his way as the Pullman porter mumbling through scene after scene trying to accomplish his job while others have different ideas of what he should be doing. In fact, I would recommend this film to anyone who has not seen Stepin Fetchit or anyone who enjoys a laugh or two while digesting their gangster/romance/drama film appetite.

36 Hours to Kill (1936)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

I had never heard of this film before seeing it but I noticed it had Brian Donlevy and Gloria Stuart so I decided to record it off FMC. A fugitive thief (Douglas Fowley) boards a train in L.A. so that he can get to Kansas City to collect $150,000 that he won in a jackpot. Hoping to evade the police who are looking for him, he gets to know a reporter (Donlevy) and a woman (Stuart) who is also running from the police. To say anything else would ruin a few surprises the film has to offer. This is a pretty good little thriller that has plenty of turns in the screenplay but all of this is ruined by some incredibly bad comic relief in the form of a retarded (or just plain stupid) black operator on the train. I'm not sure if this guy was suppose to be retarded or if its a black stereotype of a really dumb guy but this humor really kills the mystery of the film. The three leads are in very good form and director Eugene Forde, who also did some Chan films for Fox, keeps things moving nicely.

I watched this in preparation for "Europa." Both are essentially railroad movies.

This is about a gangster who has come out of hiding to take a train trip to from Los Angeles to Chicago to collect on a sweepstakes ticket. On the train, several disguises become apparent among other passengers as well. It is not remotely interesting except for one actor, the Pullman Porter. He is Stepin Fetchit, a man who in later years became reviled for his scraping and bowing, his complete acceptance and deserving of the bottom class. I've seen him and his cohorts before. There was one in almost every movie of this era. They make me squirm, not so much for what they are but because it makes me wonder what I easily accept now that my grandchildren will revile.

But here, my god, he is a blast. He had me rolling on the floor and I have to actually send you to this for a masterful performance.

Yes, he plays a stereotype. But it has a few mitigating factors. First, every soul in the thing is a comic stereotype, from the pug, the palooka, moll, Irish copper, German sanatorium doctor and so on. The big thing is that Fetchit's acting is what I call folded. He plays a moron, with a vocal rhythm that bests today's rappers. Sure he plays a moron. But the character is constantly talking to himself about what morons the other characters are. And the fold — he knows he is playing a fake being and opens a separate channel with the audience, winking at himself and you for going along.

The US has a strange racial history, and there is much to be ashamed of. But talent is talent and this guy is good.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

One of the movies I've previously reviewed for IMDb is 'Sleepers West', a taut low-budget thriller. '36 Hours to Kill' has a set-up so similar to 'Sleepers West' that at first I thought they were both based on the same novel. They aren't, and the films go in different directions after that initial set-up. Both films feature the same three archetypes as main characters: a tough cynical lawman, a young woman reporter of the 'news hen' Lois Lane type, and a gangster who won't hesitate to murder anybody who gets in his way. Also, both films set most of their action aboard a cross-country train.

And that's part of the excitement. Movies set aboard a moving vehicle (especially a train) are pretty much boredom-proof.

'Duke' Benson has always prospered from his illegal activities as a mid-level gangster, secure in the knowledge that the Feds are more interested in going after bigger gangsters. But somehow Benson has been promoted to public enemy #1, and he doesn't fancy the attention. Now, Benson has attracted even more attention for an unexpected reason: he's just won the sweepstakes! As he notes, this is the first *honest* money he ever made. (I recall a real-life case from the 1980s, when a mid-list Mafiosa won a big lottery prize. After some investigation, the lottery officials conceded that this career criminal had won the lottery drawing honestly.)

Benson and his cheap moll wife Jeanie are aboard the same train as G-man Evers and news hen Marvis, and that's no coincidence. Marvis is trying to get a big scoop on Benson, while Evers hopes to arrest him. Big macho hero Evers is played by Brian Donlevy, who should have played gangster Benson instead. Donlevy has a cold personality that made him miscast in sympathetic roles (including Professor Quatermass), but which worked well whenever he played a villain.

'36 Hours to Kill' starts out like a semi-comedy in tone, then plunges us into a borderline-noir action thriller, climaxing in a gun battle in Benson's hideout. Speaking of comedy: one unfortunate resemblance between this film and 'Sleepers West' is that both films feature a 'comedy' performance by a black actor in a stereotypical role as a Negro porter. Here, the role is given to Stepin Fetchit ... no further comment is necessary, surely. Fetchit's character is named Flash, so you know he's a slowpoke.

There are good performances by Warren Hymer (one of my favourite character actors) as Benson's goon, and by reliable stalwarts Jonathan Hale, Charles Lane and Julius Tannen. Speaking of which: it was Tannen who invented the catchphrase that has been attributed to George M Cohan. When Cohan was still performing in vaudeville with his parents and his sister as the Four Cohans, he attended a Friars Club dinner at which comedian Tannen did imitations of several vaudeville headliners. Tannen attempted to do an imitation of all Four Cohans at the same go: a turn which ended with Tannen imitating George M Cohan and saying to the audience 'My mother thanks you, my father thanks you, my sister thanks you and I thank you.' Knowing a good line when he stole one, the real Cohan appropriated the fake Cohan's curtain line.

In a rare leading role as the news hen, Gloria Stuart shows considerable beauty and talent: I'm disappointed that this fine actress walked away from the stardom she could have had, decades before her splendid comeback in 'Titanic'. '36 Hours to Kill' isn't quite as good as 'Sleepers West', largely due to the miscasting of Donlevy and a bad performance by Douglas Fowley, who was more effective in smaller roles. But this is a highly enjoyable and fast-paced film, and I'll rate it 8 points out of 10.

Brian Donlevy, Gloria Stuart, Stepin Fetchit, Isabel Jewell, and Douglas Fowley star in "36 Hours to Kill" from 1936.

Douglas Fowley plays Public Enemy #1, Duke Benson, who finds out he's holding the winning sweepstakes ticket for $150,000. But how to get it and stay anonymous? He and his cronies board a train so he can collect the money in Kansas City.

On the train, no one is as they seem. There's a beautiful blonde Anne Marvis (Gloria Stuart) leaving Los Angeles to escape a subpoena. There's a reporter (Brian Donlevy) trying to get an interview with a famous scientist, and of course, Benson, keeping a low profile but very attracted to Anne at the same time.

To say more would give the game away, but this is a fun film that moves as fast as the train the characters are traveling on. Brian Donlevy is young and handsome here and is delightful in the lead role. Gloria Stuart is wonderful and flirtatious as Anne. The only truly dramatic role in the movie is that of Isabel Jewell, who plays Duke's girlfriend and is desperate to hold onto him. She is excellent.

What a different world we live in today. There is a little girl wandering around train all by herself asking strange men to read her a story. And then there's Stepin Fetchit doing his act as a shuffling, bumbling, mumbling attendant on the train.

Some people would view his performance as cringeworthy, but he was the first black actor to have a successful film career and make a million dollars - and he knew exactly what he was doing. As a character, he is very funny.

Today, scholars note that the character of Stepin Fetchit was not as he seemed. He was instead a trickster who fooled his white employers so they would do his work. The con, known to blacks at that time, was called "putting on old massa."

The actor, Lincoln Perry, was actually very literate, wrote for a newspaper, and enjoyed friendships with people like Will Rogers and Mohammed Ali. He is definitely worth reading about.

All in all, a very entertaining film.