Private Detective 62

Private Detective 62
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Michael Curtiz
Screenplay by	Rian James
Story by	Raoul Whitfield
Starring	William Powell
Cinematography	Tony Gaudio
Edited by	Harold McLernon
Music by	Bernhard Kaun
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release date	June 10, 1933 (1933-06-10)
Running time	66 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Private Detective 62 is a 1933 American pre-Code detective film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring William Powell as a private detective who falls for a woman whom he has been hired to frame in a scandal.

Plot

In France, U.S. State Department employee Donald Free is caught trying to steal French state papers. Free is released from his job and is deported. Back in the U.S., Free finds difficulty finding another job during the Great Depression. He convinces Dan Hogan, a crooked and incompetent private detective, to become his partner. Without Free's knowledge, Hogan is financed by gangster Tony Bandor and business booms.

Bandor complains that society woman Janet Reynolds is winning too much at his gambling tables and then hires Hogan to uncover some sort of scandal that he can use to prevent Reynolds from collecting her winnings. Hogan engages Free without telling him the true purpose of the request.

While keeping an eye on Reynolds, Free falls in love with her. When Reynolds informs Bandor that she wants to collect her winnings, Hogan suggests to Bandor that they fool Reynolds into thinking that she has killed Bandor under suspicious conditions. Hogan double-crosses Bandor by hiring a thug to shoot him after Reynolds leaves the apartment. Reynolds seeks Free's assistance. Free learns the identity of Bandor's actual killer and traces him back to Hogan. Meanwhile, Hogan tries to blackmail Janet. After Free has Hogan arrested, he is offered his old job again, but tells Reynolds that it is not the sort of life that he could ask anyone to share with him, so he leaves. As he is departing, Reynolds proposes marriage to him and he accepts.

Cast

• William Powell as Free
• Margaret Lindsay as Reynolds
• Ruth Donnelly as Amy
• Gordon Westcott as Bandor
• Arthur Hohl as Hogan
• Natalie Moorhead as Helen
• James Bell as Whitey
• Hobart Cavanaugh as Burns
• Irving Bacon as Taxi Driver
• Charles Lane as Process Server

Production

The film's working titles were Private Detective and Man Killer. It was shot over the course of 21 days at a cost of $260,000. Modern sources list Hal B. Wallis as the supervisor of production.^[1]

References

External links

• Private Detective 62 at IMDb
• Private Detective 62 at the TCM Movie Database
• Private Detective 62 at AllMovie
• Private Detective 62 at the American Film Institute Catalog

This page was last edited on 17 May 2023, at 03:54