May 2,
1952, release date
Directed
by Richard Fleischer
Screenplay
by Earl Felton
Music by Gene Rose, Leith Stevens, Dave Torbett,
Roy Webb (uncredited stock music composers)
Edited by
Robert Swink
Cinematography
by George E. Diskant
Charles McGraw as Detective Sgt.
Walter Brown
Don Beddoe as Detective Sgt. Gus
Forbes, Brown’s partner
Marie Windsor as Mrs. Frankie Neall
Jacqueline White as Ann Sinclair
Peter Virgo as Densel
Gordon Gebert as Tommy Sinclair,
Ann’s son
Queenie Leonard as Mrs. Troll
David Clarke as Joseph Kemp
Paul Maxey
as Sam Jennings
Distributed
by RKO Pictures
The Narrow Margin has one of the best opening sequences of any film. A
train whistle, no music, is heard over the RKO logo. Viewers hear another loud whistle
behind a blinding headlight that fills the screen, and then they see the film’s
title card. In 1950s movie theaters, the effect must have been especially
effective. Then a train moving slowly on railroad tracks passes onscreen behind
the opening credits. When the credits are completed, the train stops and Detective
Sergeant Brown, played by Charles McGraw, steps off the train and onto a platform.
It is a seamless opening and perfect for a movie about two police detectives
responsible for picking up a witness against the mob and bringing her to Los
Angeles to give her testimony.
(This
blog post about The Narrow Margin
contains spoilers.)
Detective Sergeant Walter Brown and
his partner Detective Sergeant Gus Forbes have arrived in Chicago to pick up
Mrs. Neall. Her husband has been killed by the mob, and now several mobsters
are after her. Both Brown and Forbes are aware of the danger to their own
lives, but they are committed to their work and to their assignment. The lighting in the foyer of the witness’s
apartment building accentuates the building tension. The camera, from the upstairs
landing, shows the two detectives climbing the stairs cautiously, with shadows
of railing slats falling across them.
The
witness, Mrs. Neall, is hostile to both detectives. She is concerned about her
own safety, but she doesn’t stop playing her jazz music and thus bringing
attention to herself. All of them have reason to worry: A shooter is waiting in
the dark in the first-floor hallway of Neall’s apartment building. When the
detectives and the witness head down the front hallway stairs, Detective Forbes
is shot and killed. The killing of a main character, and a member of law
enforcement, so early in the narrative is very noir.
The
scenes on the train are claustrophobic. In one sequence, Brown is trying to
evade a mobster, Joseph Kemp, who is wearing a plaid overcoat. The camera
lurches as though it is handheld. The jarring movement adds to the tension and sense
of impending violence. The fight scene later in the film between Detective
Brown and Joseph Kemp is a long one, but it is realistic. It takes place in a cramped
railroad compartment. At one point, Detective Brown kicks Kemp in the face: We
see the sole of his shoe coming at the camera, at the viewer. It’s a bit of
first-person point of view (POV) that works well.
While on
board the train, Detective Brown meets Ann Sinclair and her son Tommy. Ann’s
presence creates some confusion. The mobsters tailing Detective Brown on the
train begin to think that she is the witness who will give her testimony at the
trial in Los Angeles, and Brown is forced into the position of having to
protect two people, and without any help because his partner has already died
in the line of duty.
Jennings is
traveling on the same train as Detective Brown and Mrs. Neall. At one point,
suspicion is cast on his character because he and Brown argue over Brown’s
double accommodations. In one scene, the camera lingers on Jennings, with bars
of light falling across him, as he stares after Detective Brown in a rail
corridor. Viewers learn later that he is a special agent for the railroad, but
Jennings’s character at first helps to add more tension to an already tense situation.
Jennings also gives some comic relief, however, when he says that no one likes
a fat man: He is a portly gentleman traveling on a train with small spaces, and
he and Detective Brown get stuck once or twice in a narrow train corridor.
One of my favourite Noir films! I agree with you about how claustrophobic it is. I love the decision to have no music. The dialogue is some of the best in the genre.
ReplyDeleteMarie and Charles's chemistry is wild and they get some of the best lines. I think this is Marie's best performance.
Maddy
Thank you so much for stopping by, Maddy!
DeleteI think Marie Windsor is always great, even in her supporting roles. Her performance in City That Never Sleeps (1953) is also stellar.
I agree she was always great. That's a good one too. I also like her in The Sniper(another really underrated Noir).
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