RKO Radio Pictures
Not part of a collection.
The Narrow Margin
A Fortune If They Seal Her Lips!...A Bullet If They Fail!
A tough cop meets his match when he has to guard a gangster's widow on a train journey from Chicago to Los Angeles.
- Original title
- The Narrow Margin
- Language
- EN
- Country
- US
- Budget
- $10,000,000
- Revenue
- —
John Chard
Nov 7, 2019 · via TMDB
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
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
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Charles McGraw
Det. Sgt. Walter Brown
Marie Windsor
Mrs. Frankie Neall
Jacqueline White
Ann Sinclair
Queenie Leonard
Mrs. Troll
David Clarke
Joseph Kemp
Don Beddoe
Det. Sgt. Gus Forbes
Paul Maxey
Sam Jennings
Harry Harvey
Train Conductor
Peter Brocco
Vincent Yost (uncredited)
George Chandler
Accomplice Running Newsstand (uncredited)
Franklyn Farnum
Train Passenger (uncredited)
Don Haggerty
Det. Wilson (uncredited)
Milton Kibbee
Tenant (uncredited)
Harold Miller
Train Passenger (uncredited)
Bess Flowers
Restaurant Diner (uncredited)
Don Dillaway
Reporter (uncredited)
Mike Lally
Taxi Driver (uncredited)
Howard M. Mitchell
Train Conductor (uncredited)
George Sawaya
Reporter (uncredited)
Jeffrey Sayre
Train Passenger (uncredited)
Ray Spiker
Train Passenger (uncredited)
Napoleon Whiting
Redcap (uncredited)
Albert S. D'Agostino
Art Direction
Leith Stevens
Additional Music
Roy Webb
Additional Music
George Sawaya
Stunt Double
William Cameron Menzies
Co-Director
Richard Fleischer
Director
Der Hammermörder
Examinación cruzada
The strange case of detective Jones
Murderers Club of Brooklyn
Once Upon a Time in America
The Silence of the Lambs
Jerry Cotton: Tip Not Included
Léon: The Professional
Double Indemnity
M
Manhattan Night of Murder
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Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead
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The Lifeboat
Amnesty
The Mystery of Murder: A Horizon Guide
Slugger
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Love You to Death: Mommy's Missing
Behind the Crime: The Nipsey Hussle Murder
NOKTURN
Double Indemnity
Dial M for Murder
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Excess Baggage
Overdrive
Marlowe
The Mirror Crack'd
Angel Eyes
Thick as Thieves
The Quiller Memorandum
Cause for Alarm!
The Critic
The Caveman's Valentine
Apr 25, 1952
Cincinnati, Ohio
May 3, 1952
New York City, New York
