The Narrow Margin (1952)
A compact, beautiful, thrilling little B-movie. Everyone involved is relatively unknown. The director, Richard Fleischer, is less famous than some of his films, however, including the cult favorite, "Soylent Green" and the courtroom drama with an ending where Orson Welles bursts on the scene, "Compulsion." So this early one is clearly Fleischer's baby, and he gets clear, believable performances from a small ensemble cast.
Yes, it's a kind of ensemble film, where half a dozen people hold their own. Central is Charles McGraw as a detective guarding a witness en route from Chicago to L.A. McGraw has the benefit of being just a plain old detective, not an actor filled with character and presence, and he's great. The witness is played by Marie Windsor, and she's cutting and commanding, a terrific female lead that should have had a bigger career. The two or three bad guys are not quite caricatures, and the other cast--seemingly innocent passengers--are spot on perfect, too.
All of this might be enough, but the cinematography is so virtuosic, without showing off, it lifts the whole experience higher. George Diskant never became one of Hollywood's big names, but he had just shot two legendary films for Nicholas Ray, and was clearly poetic and tactile with his camera and lights. You sometimes won't even notice--as when the detective and the blonde walk on the platform at a station stop, the camera following them and pivoting and keeping the moving, turning couple in perfect focus. Other times the shots are just sensational, as with the fistfight in the tight confines of a cabin. The railroad car scenes are shot with palpable claustrophobia, things getting in the way in the foreground, people having to nudge and move around each other.
There are almost two parts to the movie. The first is a more classic night in the city with a noir feel, and this is the most gorgeous and vivid. You get sucked into the problem, and are surprised right away by a couple of twists. Eventually the main characters end up on the train, and another kind of movie, a cat and mouse, mixed-up identity kind of scenario, takes over. Equally interesting, and with more twists than you would think plausible.
But they are plausible. and Fleischer pulls of a real gem.
A compact, beautiful, thrilling little B-movie. Everyone involved is relatively unknown. The director, Richard Fleischer, is less famous than some of his films, however, including the cult favorite, "Soylent Green" and the courtroom drama with an ending where Orson Welles bursts on the scene, "Compulsion." So this early one is clearly Fleischer's baby, and he gets clear, believable performances from a small ensemble cast.
Yes, it's a kind of ensemble film, where half a dozen people hold their own. Central is Charles McGraw as a detective guarding a witness en route from Chicago to L.A. McGraw has the benefit of being just a plain old detective, not an actor filled with character and presence, and he's great. The witness is played by Marie Windsor, and she's cutting and commanding, a terrific female lead that should have had a bigger career. The two or three bad guys are not quite caricatures, and the other cast--seemingly innocent passengers--are spot on perfect, too.
All of this might be enough, but the cinematography is so virtuosic, without showing off, it lifts the whole experience higher. George Diskant never became one of Hollywood's big names, but he had just shot two legendary films for Nicholas Ray, and was clearly poetic and tactile with his camera and lights. You sometimes won't even notice--as when the detective and the blonde walk on the platform at a station stop, the camera following them and pivoting and keeping the moving, turning couple in perfect focus. Other times the shots are just sensational, as with the fistfight in the tight confines of a cabin. The railroad car scenes are shot with palpable claustrophobia, things getting in the way in the foreground, people having to nudge and move around each other.
There are almost two parts to the movie. The first is a more classic night in the city with a noir feel, and this is the most gorgeous and vivid. You get sucked into the problem, and are surprised right away by a couple of twists. Eventually the main characters end up on the train, and another kind of movie, a cat and mouse, mixed-up identity kind of scenario, takes over. Equally interesting, and with more twists than you would think plausible.
But they are plausible. and Fleischer pulls of a real gem.