It’s time to dive back into the vaults as Hammer brings us another of their B-movie crime thrillers that most people have never heard of. This time it’s the turn of 36 HOURS aka TERROR STREET, an almost Cornell Woolrich-type tale from author (screenplay and novel) Steve Fisher, to get the 4K UHD and Blu-ray treatment and apparently marks the first time the film has been released on physical media.
Major William Rogers (Dan Duryea) sneaks away from his military posting in the US to find out what has happened to his wife Katie (Elise Albiin), who lives in London and from whom he hasn’t heard in months. He eventually tracks her down and confronts her, only for him to be knocked out. When he regains consciousness she’s dead, he’s holding the gun, and the police are on the way.
The 36 hours of the UK title of this one refer to the time Rogers has before he has to get back to the plane that will return him to his military base so he won’t be registered as AWOL. The film itself is pretty much a perfunctory by the numbers tale of a smuggling scheme. Director Montgomery Tully (THE TERRORNAUTS - not exactly the highest recommendation) stages many of the dialogue scenes in the most workmanlike way possible which, if nothing else, makes this a useful comparison piece to demonstrate just how good directors like Terence Fisher (MANTRAP) and Francis Searle (THE MAN IN BLACK, WHISPERING SMITH HITS LONDON) were at staging this sort of material.
Of course by now everyone should be used to the concept that you’re not buying these packages for the film alone but for the extras, and once again Hammer have outdone themselves. You get two versions of the film - the UK 36 HOURS which comes with a commentary track from experts Barry Forshaw and Kim Newman which is up to their usual standard, and the US TERROR STREET which gets a commentary from US critics Toby Roan and Heath Holland. The US version is only ten seconds shorter than the UK version (both run at close to 85 minutes) and it’s difficult to tell if there are any real differences between the two. Sources have stated that the UK version should be five minutes shorter at 80 minutes but there’s nothing anywhere here about that.
Other extras include a decent 38 minute chat between Vic Pratt and Dr Josephine Botting of the BFI about the neglected genre of British noir of this period, Maxim Jakubowski talking about pulp crime in general and author Steve Fisher in particular (17 minutes), Chris Alexander on Dan Duryea, kicking off with the actor’s contribution to the Twilight Zone (22 minutes), Sergio Angelini discussing the film in relation to other crime pictures of the period (23 minutes) plus the usual trailers, censor card and image galleries.
You also get two episodes of the radio series Suspense starring Dan Duryea - The Man who Couldn’t Lose (1947) and Remember Me (1952). Both run nearly half an hour. Finally there’s the obligatary book which wasn’t provided for review but which apparently contains articles on the making of the film as well as production paperwork.
36 HOURS is out on 4K in a limited edition UHD and Blu-ray combo set on Monday 15th June 2026
No comments:
Post a Comment