The Narrow Margin

directed by Richard Fleischer
Category: "Suspense"
Year of Release:1952
Date Added:10/25/2024
Date Watched:10/25/2024
Description:Sgt. Brown (Charles McGraw) and his partner are tasked with getting Mrs. Neall (Marie Windsor), the widow of a gangster, from Chicago to Los Angeles on a train. She supposedly has a list (read "MacGuffin") that will damage the mob. Before they even leave the apartment building, Brown's partner is shot dead. Brown quickly identifies the gangster on the train who is gunning for the widow, but instead of arresting him or putting him off the train, he tries to put him off the track by hiding Mrs. Neall in the bathroom and letting the gangster search their adjoining rooms. The bad guy is foiled, so another bad guy shows up who offers Brown a large bribe. He refuses to take it. Meanwhile, he gets chummy with Ann Sinclair (Jacqueline White), a mother who is also on the train with her young son. Before long, the bad guys think Ann is Mrs. Neall. But when the widow insists on playing music in her room, the bad guys break in and kill her. They search the room and find a badge — the widow is really an undercover cop distracting the bad guys and also testing Brown to see if he'll take a bribe. Brown goes to warn Ann that the bad guys think she's his witness, and she tells him that she is. She's the real gangster's widow, but she mailed the list and doesn't have it with her. The bad guys show up and hold her at gunpoint, but Brown manages to shoot them through the door. When they get to Los Angeles, they decide they don't need to worry about the bad guys and walk arm in arm to the D.A.'s office.
My Rating:5

Reviews for The Narrow Margin

Review - Narrow Margin, The

This is supposed to be a film noir classic, with some of the best dialogue in moviedom. Some consider it the best B movie ever made. Some people are morons. This was basically just a string of plot holes stuck together. Why did the undercover cop playing the widow insist on playing music in her room so the bad guys would know she was in there? Why didn't she have any backup. For that matter, why didn't Brown call for backup when his partner got shot. And why couldn't Brown know Ann was the real witness? The undercover cop could have still been on the train watching to see if he'd take a bribe. And why did nobody care when she was killed? And why, when they spent the entire movie talking about how huge the mob was, was it suddenly OK to walk to the D.A.'s office? If the dialogue was great, I missed it.

Reviewed by Roger on 2024-10-25 15:52:16

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