The Narrow Margin

Infobox_Film
name = The Narrow Margin


image_size =
caption = Theater poster
director = Richard Fleischer
producer = Stanley Rubin
writer = Screenplay: Earl Belton Story: Martin Goldsmith Jack Leonard
starring = Charles McGraw Marie Windsor Jacqueline White
music =
cinematography = George E. Diskant
editing = Robert Swink
distributor = RKO Radio Pictures Inc.
released = May 4, 1952 (U.S.A.)
country = United States
language = English
runtime = 71 minutes
amg_id = 1:34464
imdb_id = 0044954

"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Narrow Margin" (1952) is an American film noir directed by Richard Fleischer and written by Earl Belton, based on an unpublished story written by Martin Goldsmith and Jack Leonard.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. [imdb title|id=0044954|title=The Narrow Margin.]

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.

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.

Analysis

Film critic Blake Lucas makes the case that "The Narrow Margin" reflects the "noir view" of an unstable and deceiving moral reality." [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.]

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

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." [ [http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9C07E3DB133BE23BBC4D53DFB3668389649EDE "The New York Times"] , film review, May 5, 1952. Last accessed: January 22, 2008.]

Award nomination

* Academy Awards: Oscar, Academy Award for Best Story, Martin Goldsmith and Jack Leonard; 1953.

Adaptation

The film was remade as "Narrow Margin" with Anne Archer and Gene Hackman in 1990. It was directed by Peter Hyams.

References

Notes

External links

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* [http://noiroftheweek.blogspot.com/2007/10/narrow-margin-1952.html "The Narrow Margin"] at Film Noir of the Week
* [http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/DVDReviews15/noir_box-2.htm#the-narrow-margin "The Narrow Margin"] at DVD Beaver (includes images)