House of Numbers

As director and screenwriter, Russell Rouse usually had something a little different up his sleeve, at least when he was toiling in film noir. His D.O.A remains one of the best-remembered films of the cycle, but he also contributed The Well, The Thief, Wicked Woman, and New York Confidential – each of them at least some distance off the beaten track. His films tended to be less ostentatious than their rivals – quieter even (none quieter than The Thief, that dialogue-free experiment).

House of Numbers was his last urban crime drama; he would go on to helm a few westerns and, in 1966, the dreadful The Oscar. But House of Numbers shows him in reasonably fine form. Jack Palance plays brothers: Arnie, in San Quentin for killing a man in a fight (he was a boxer so his hands are `lethal weapons') and Bill, who moves to San Francisco to spring him out. His helpmate in this Mission-Impossible-style scheme is Arnie's wife Ruth (Barbara Lang). The scheme is far from simple, involving Bill's smuggling himself into prison for a spell and posing as Arnie (not so far-fetched, since the same actor plays both roles). But things go wrong, such as Bill and Ruth happening to rent a house next to that of a prison guard who knows Arnie, and then falling in love with one another....

Though House of Numbers may be the least violent Big-House story ever filmed, Rouse doesn't let the reins go slack. He twists the plot along to its surprisingly sedate conclusion, and brings it off. Maybe the most memorable aspect of the film is Barbara Lang's subdued and touching performance. This blonde stunner's film credits could be counted on the fingers of a maimed hand, and that's both a puzzle and a shame.

The score, too is memorable, thanks to André Previn. His galley years in Hollywood, before he left to become a `serious' conductor and composer, were spent on a startling number of low-budget productions, including many noirs. He did them proud. Had he teamed up with a director of auteurist aspirations, like Hitchcock, he might have become legendary for his scores, like Korngold or Herrmann or Webb. (But then, we might not have gotten his opera A Streetcar Named Desire.)

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.

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.

Gimmicky plot that doesn't work despite the key ingredients. In 1957, Jack Palance was one of the most interesting actors around. His skeletal face and intense manner looked nothing like the pretty boy stereotypes that dominated male leads of the day. So why does this opportunity to play dual roles fall as flat as it does. I'm not sure, but the uninspired pacing of director Russell Rouse fails to generate much needed excitement. Then too, the script is not just confusing but fails to present Palance with a clear concept that can be acted out with his usual intensity. Where there should be a contrast between the bad brother Arnie and the sympathetic brother Bill, Palance ends up playing both in a confusingly similar fashion. That sort of ambiguity may play well with art house audiences, but here it drains the film of much needed dramatic tension. Then too, Barbara Lang as the moll shows why it takes more than a shapely figure and a good dye job to make an actress, even in the Marilyn Monroe-driven 1950's.

The film has two things going for it-- filming at unusual San Quentin locations, along with cult actor Timothy Carey in a brief but typically memorable role as Palance's cell mate. Note how real inmates (I think) try to get a moment of fame in the prison scenes, one of which apparently includes the actual mess hall. In a better film, these scenes would have contributed greatly, but here they simply pass without impact. One can only speculate as to the explosive potential of vintage Palance and the incorrigibly oddball Carey confined together in the same cell. Too bad, director Rouse and the writers didn't realize what they had. Just watch Carey's rolling eyes wheel away from whatever the mouth is saying as though they're hooked up to two unruly strangers. A potential clash between the exotics Palance and Carey would have created an exceptional moment for cult admirers everywhere.

All in all, the slack direction and sloppy script sabotage what could have been a memorably offbeat B-film.

"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!