House of Numbers

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.

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.

San Quentin inmate Jack Palance hatches quite a scheme to get out of jail--get his lookalike brother to trade places with him in prison for a day while he constructs a foxhole to hide in, leading to his and his brother's escape. Filmed on-location in Cinemascope at San Quentin prison, with officers and inmates used as extras. It's a ludicrous plot, but the director keeps everything very low-keyed, and Jack Palance is excellent in demanding dual role. Extraordinarily silly, but so well-made you may be absorbed and interested despite yourself. Harold Stone is steely-eyed and cunning as a prison guard and Edward Platt(later of TV's "Get Smart")is believably sympathetic as the nicest prison warden you'll ever see. Barbara Lang also good as the convict's wife, obviously cast for her platinum hair and curvy figure, but giving a grounded, natural performance without showy airs.

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.