| Private Detective 62 | |
| Director: | Michael Curtiz |
| Screenplay: | Rian James |
| Story: | Raoul Whitfield |
| Starring: | William Powell |
| Music: | Bernhard Kaun |
| Cinematography: | Tony Gaudio |
| Editing: | Harold McLernon |
| Distributor: | Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Runtime: | 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.
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.
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]