The Narrow Margin

Unrated

5/3/19521h 11m

Theatrical Release (US)

~ A Fortune If They Seal Her Lips!...A Bullet If They Fail! ~

Overview:

A tough cop meets his match when he has to guard a gangster's widow on a train journey from Chicago to Los Angeles.

Director:

Richard Fleischer

Status:

Released

Language:

English

Buget:

$10,000,000.00

Revenue:

$0.00

Key words:

hitman
widow
telegram
overweight man
police protection
blonde
little boy
film noir
murder
undercover cop
police detective
railroad detective
gunman
brawl
followed
train trip
hard-boiled dame

Cast

Charles McGraw

~ as ~

Det. Sgt. Walter Brown

Marie Windsor

~ as ~

Mrs. Frankie Neall

Jacqueline White

~ as ~

Ann Sinclair

Gordon Gebert

~ as ~

Tommy Sinclair

Queenie Leonard

~ as ~

Mrs. Troll

David Clarke

~ as ~

Joseph Kemp

Peter Virgo

~ as ~

Densel

Don Beddoe

~ as ~

Det. Sgt. Gus Forbes

Paul Maxey

~ as ~

Sam Jennings

Harry Harvey

~ as ~

Train Conductor

View full cast & crew

Reviews (1)

John Chard
Written 6 year(s) ago
~~
The witness protection programme just got hard boiled.

After finally waking herself up, a mobsters wife decides to testify against him and his organisation. As the trial draws closer she is constantly under threat of being murdered before she can spill the beans. Tough detective Walter Brown and his partner Gus Forbes are assigned to escort her safely across country via a train from Chicago to Los Angeles, but nobody can be trusted, and the threat of death is around everyone on board this speeding train.

Yes it may well be a "B" movie, but as "B" movies go this has to rank as one of the finest exponents of that particular arc. With the film taking place almost entirely on board the train, the tension sapping and claustrophobic feel is perfectly executed by director Richard Fleischer. The plot twists and turns and throws up genuine moments of surprise that thrill instead of hinder, whilst the ending doesn't cop out by pandering to the normal requisite of witness protection thrillers.

Charles McGraw is great as Brown, putting the hard into hard boiled and Jacqueline White is very precious as Ann Sinclair. Truth is, is that all the cast work well within the confines of this tightly produced picture. It was a surprise hit for RKO, where made on a small budget of under a quarter of a million dollars, it turned out to be a very profitable "B" production for the company. It wowed audiences back in the 50s and it's testament to the film's worth that today, here in the modern age, it's still being sought out and praised by movie lovers of all ages. 8/10