More films set on Trains! The Narrow Margin

Ahh Summer. That time of year to sit next to the pool in your sexiest bathing suit, sip an icy cold mint-julep as the warm breeze of dusk blows though your hair, and watch some jerk get in the back from some brassy dame with dollar signs for eyes. Well, that is if you're me.

For some reason Summer always brings on Noir fever for me. Spending the short summer evenings watching shady characters cross and double cross each other is as refreshing as a picnic in the park.

My latest Film Noir favorite, is Richard Fleischer's 1952 B-film The Narrow Margin*. Starring Charles McGraw as a jaded cop escorting and guarding a tough talking gangster's moll (Marie Windsor) as she travels from Chicago to Los Angeles to testify for the grand jury. But, will syndicate hit-men who don't know what she looks like, find her before she gets there? The Narrow Margin is an incredibly fast paced thriller, chock-full of suspense. The dialog is sharp, the photography is beautiful, and the direction is stylish and amazingly resourceful (down to the magnificent use of costuming, which is both clever and economic). The Narrow Margin is a hard-boiled 71 minutes of nail-biting suspense, that after 53 years has barely aged. Not to be missed.

*Later remade in 1990 as simply Narrow Margin starring Gene Hackman. I haven't seen that film so I cannot compare.