The Narrow Margin
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| The Narrow Margin | |
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 Theater poster |
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| Directed by | Richard Fleischer |
| Produced by | Stanley Rubin |
| Written by | Screenplay: Earl Belton Story: Martin Goldsmith Jack Leonard |
| Starring | Charles McGraw Marie Windsor Jacqueline White |
| Cinematography | George E. Diskant |
| Editing by | Robert Swink |
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures Inc. |
| Release date(s) | May 4, 1952 (U.S.A.) |
| Running time | 71 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Narrow Margin (1952) is an American film noir directed by Richard Fleischer and written by Earl Belton, based on an unpublished story written by Martin Goldsmith and Jack Leonard. Writers Goldsmith and Leonard were nominated for an Academy Award for their story.[1]
The picture stars Charles McGraw, Marie Windsor and Jacqueline White. It was released by RKO Radio Pictures.
The story tells a cat-and-mouse stalk aboard a California-bound train. Walter Brown, a tough and conscientious detective, is assigned to safeguard a slain gangster's widow until she can testify before a Los Angeles grand jury. Keeping her alive keeps Brown busy.
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[edit] Plot
Detective Sgt. Walter Brown (Charles McGraw) is assigned to protect a mob boss's widow, Mrs. Frankie Neall (Marie Windsor), as she rides a train from Chicago to Los Angeles to testify to a grand jury.
Brown, on the way to meet her, tells his longtime partner Gus Forbes (Don Beddoe) about Mrs. Neall:
- She's the sixty cent special. Cheap. Flashy. Strictly poison under the gravy.
Forbes is killed by the mob just after they pick up the woman. At the station, Brown discovers that he has been followed by gangster Joseph Kemp (David Clarke).
On board, Brown makes friends with an attractive passenger, Ann Sinclair (Jacqueline White), and her too-observant young son Tommy (Gordon Gebbert). However, Kemp spots them together and thinks that Sinclair is the target. When Kemp tries to bribe him, Brown learns of the mistake. He turns Kemp over to overweight railroad agent Sam Jennings (Paul Maxey) and hurries to warn Mrs. Sinclair.
However, she has a surprise for him - she is really Mrs. Neall. The other woman is a decoy named Sarah Meggs. Meanwhile, Jennings is knocked out by Kemp's more-dangerous associate Densel (Peter Virgo), the assassin who killed Brown's partner, and Kemp is freed.
The gangsters enter Brown's compartment and kill Meggs. Then Densel goes for Mrs. Neall. He is cornered in a locked compartment with her, with Brown outside. Brown uses the reflection from the window of a train on the next track to shoot Densel through the door, then enters the compartment and finishes him off. Kemp jumps off the stopped train, but is quickly arrested.
[edit] Analysis
Film critic Blake Lucas makes the case that The Narrow Margin reflects the "noir view" of an unstable and deceiving moral reality."[2]
[edit] 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
[edit] Critical reaction
The film is considered by many to be the "model" B movie.
According to a review in The New York Times, "Using a small cast of comparative unknowns, headed by Charles McGraw, Marie Windsor and Jacqueline White, this inexpensive Stanley Rubin production for R. K. O. is almost a model of electric tension that, at least technically, nudges some of the screen's thriller milestones. Crisply performed and written and directed by Earl Felton and Richard Fleischer with tingling economy, this unpretentious offering should glue anyone to the edge of his seat and prove, once and for all, that a little can be made to count for a lot."[3]
[edit] Award nomination
- Academy Awards: Oscar, Academy Award for Best Story, Martin Goldsmith and Jack Leonard; 1953.
[edit] Adaptation
The film was remade as Narrow Margin with Anne Archer and Gene Hackman in 1990. It was directed by Peter Hyams.
[edit] References
[edit] Notes
- ^ The Narrow Margin at the Internet Movie Database.
- ^ Silver, Alain, and Elizabeth Ward, eds. Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style, film noir analysis by Blake Lucas, page 198, 3rd edition, 1992. Woodstock, New York: The Overlook Press, ISBN 0-87951-479-5.
- ^ The New York Times, film review, May 5, 1952. Last accessed: January 22, 2008.
[edit] External links
- The Narrow Margin at the Internet Movie Database
- The Narrow Margin at Allmovie
- The Narrow Margin at the TCM Movie Database
- The Narrow Margin at Film Noir of the Week
- The Narrow Margin at DVD Beaver (includes images)
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