Whispering Smith (1948) on Netflix
The Barton brothers hold up a train and shoot a guard. The railroad sends Luke Smith, called Whispering, to investigate. His old friend Murray Sinclair runs the wrecking crew.
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- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb6.6/101,631 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes83%
Trailer
Plot summary
Luke Smith is an iron-willed railroad detective known as Whispering for his quiet manner. The railroad sends him to look into a holdup in which the Barton brothers, Blake, Leroy and Gabby, shot a guard. Murray Sinclair, who runs the company's wrecking crew, is an old friend of Smith's and is glad to see him. Marian, who gave Smith a harmonica long ago, is now Sinclair's wife, and Smith and Marian each take an interest in the other. Smith shoots Leroy and Gabby, and a bullet meant for him is stopped by the harmonica in his pocket.
Cast
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Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Whispering Smith (1948)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The filmmakers built a Western town on five acres of the backlot for $70,000, laid 2,000 feet of railroad track through it and ran authentic 1870 locomotives owned by Paramount on the line.
- Announced in early 1947 as a vehicle for Alan Ladd, Whispering Smith was the star's first Western and his first film in color.
- The railroad detective Whispering Smith was partly based on frontier lawmen Joe Lefors and Tim Keliher, both of whom spent part of their careers as railroad detectives; his friend-turned-criminal Murray Sinclair was supposedly inspired by Butch Cassidy.
- The Western town set built for the film was later re-used in many other productions, among them the television series Bonanza.
- The script made several changes to the novel it was based on, among them turning the book's double love story into a single one.
