The Narrow Margin 1952

Hard and fast. In black and white and black and blue all over and without a music score. This little snot is bruised all over. Set mostly on a cramped fast moving train going from Chicago to L.A. with tough as nails police detective Charles McGraw bringing a late gangster’s wife to the west to testify against the head of a mob. In tight spaces and rough as a new piece of sandpaper Marie Windsor as the wife was never better with her big dark eyes, black shinny hair and cigarette smoke pouring out of her mouth and nostrils like a brick smoke stack she taunts and teasers McGraw with her nasty but funny cracks. This is a fast moving 71 minute noir blast of B movie making with sharp edges and no nonsense direction by Richard Fleischer, the good no frills director and son of the great innovative animator Max. It’s all done on a dime with lots of tight close-ups and a set that moves and shuttles like a real train, this was a big money maker for R.K.O. and fits nicely into the sub-genre of thrillers and mysteries that take place on trains. I’ve seen this little hard nut several times and it always pleases and surprises me, and some of the surprises will be left unsaid by me. With a good supporting cast and one of the worst kid actors I have ever encountered in a movie, but a small price to pay for this top notch thriller.