The Narrow Margin (1952) on Netflix
Approved19521h 11mCrimeDramaFilm-Noir
Detective Sergeant Walter Brown must guard Frankie Neall, a murdered mob boss's widow, on a cross-country rail trip to Los Angeles, where she is to testify. A gangster follows them aboard.
- Netflix4.4/5
- IMDb7.6/1010,107 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes100%
Trailer
Plot summary
Frankie Neall, the widow of a murdered mob boss, is scheduled to testify before a grand jury in Los Angeles, and she carries the payoff list her husband left behind. Detective Sergeant Walter Brown and his partner, Gus Forbes, are given the job of bringing her by rail from Chicago. The mob wants that list. A gunman waylays the group as they leave her apartment, and on board Brown discovers that Joseph Kemp, a gangster who knows him, has followed the same train. With a conductor's help, Kemp searches the compartments on the pretext of looking for lost luggage, while Brown keeps Neall out of sight. Vincent Yost offers Brown money to identify her and walk away.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Narrow Margin (1952)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- RKO owner Howard Hughes considered reshooting most of The Narrow Margin with Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell so it could be released as an A feature, and the film ended up shelved for two years because of it, according to director Richard Fleischer.
- Cinematographer George E. Diskant used a handheld camera extensively so he could shoot inside the film's cramped train sets without removing any walls, an innovative practice at the time.
- The film's train follows a route like the real Super Chief but uses stock footage instead, scenes set at Chicago's Dearborn Station were shot at Union Station in Los Angeles, and the train interiors were filmed on an RKO soundstage with rear projection for the window views.
