User reviews

Trains have it all over ships and planes when it comes to creating a microcosm. On an airplane, everybody's crammed together; nobody can sneak on or leave (except by parachute or defenestration). An ocean liner has its private staterooms and public spaces, but, again, is an island, entire onto itself. But trains stop regularly to take on and disgorge passengers, and they run along their fixed and earthbound course, with windows looking out on rivers and highways, at big cities at high noon and small towns in the dead of night. And so they've always been the preferred vehicle for suspense, with countless thrillers using the rails as their setting. One of the tautest and most toothsome, in its modest, low-budget way, is Richard Fleischer's The Narrow Margin.

It opens in Chicago, where a pair of Los Angeles police detectives are to escort the widow (Marie Windsor) of a recently slain gang leader back to the coast to testify before a grand jury. She's a hard case (`a 60-cent special...poison under the gravy'), and guarding her is a dangerous job. Sure enough, one of the cops takes a fatal bullet in the stairway of her low-rent apartment house (she shows scant sympathy). Windsor's finally smuggled aboard the train, in a Pullman car's locked compartment adjoining that of her custodian Charles McGraw. Almost certainly, one or more mobsters followed her. It's up to McGraw to smoke them out before they kill Windsor, who knows too much. But he slowly learns that some vital information has been deliberately kept from him....

Fleischer makes inventive use of the jostling in the cramped passageways – and of the all but vanished rituals of club cars and dining cars. He packs the train with seasoned character actors, notable among them Jacqueline White, Paul (`Nobody loves a fat man') Maxie, and Don Beddoe. The closely worked script, by Earl Fenton (based on a novel by Martin Goldsmith, who also penned the original material for Detour), doesn't stint on gaudy patter for them to spout (it's a moveable feast of salty epigrams).

Best of all, The Narrow Margin offers the addictive Marie Windsor her meatiest role, showcasing her tough-gal talents. Rolling her huge and extraordinary eyes, she aims her exhaled smoke like a stream of deadly gas and hard-boils her lines into hand grenades (to McGraw: `This train's headed straight for the cemetery. But there's another train coming along – a gravy train. Let's get on it.'). It's one of Hollywood's more perplexing secrets why Windsor toiled exclusively, with the possible exception of her Sherry Peatty in Stanley Kubrick's The Killing, in the B-movie ghetto. But she helped make that ghetto the liveliest part of Tinsel Town.

I'm a huge Charles McGraw fan. Every film he had a large part in, he excels and makes the film better.

Having seen this film 4 or 5 times, my respect for it has grown over the years.

The cinematography isn't perfect - the film probably could have benefited by staying dark and grainy as it seems to be in the early, night scenes.

The taut train scenes seem too bright, but there's nothing wrong with it, simply my preference. A darker train would have made for a more sinister film. Even so, there's plenty of excitement.

The crackling dialogue between Charles McGraw and Marie Windsor is consistently sharp. Seriously, you will have a hard time finding anything more bitter than those two. I'm not sure any other male-female could have made the dialogue (which in a 1950's way is almost corny) come off so terse, as they continuously bark at each other. Someone needs to count the number of times McGraw tells Windsor to "Shut up!".

The film has some exciting twists and turns; you'll enjoy each one.

Great story, solid performances all the way around. This is a FUN movie.

Here's an overlooked classic that more than holds its own over five decades after its release. Two-fisted detective Charles McGraw must protect a crucial witness (Marie Windsor) on a train trip from Chicago to Los Angeles. Since keeping a secret is hard, bad guys who aren't so keen on Windsor's testimony are also on board -- and will stop at nothing to silence her. Further complexities are added to an already tense situation when the hit men confuse another passenger as their target.

"The Narrow Margin" is known as a B movie, but you'd never know it from watching it. True, the film isn't flashy, but it does make the most out of everything it has. The story is original and full of twists, the suspense terrific and the acting memorable. With its creative take on what should be a simple story, and with its colorful characters and sharp direction, it's all more than a bit reminiscent of the master himself, Alfred Hitchcock. You won't regret picking this one up now that it's available on DVD.

While director Richard Fleischer gets plenty of credit for his role in making the film noir classic "The Narrow Margin" on a shoestring budget, it is hard to imagine this picture without actor Charles McGraw in the lead role. As a tough cop escorting a witness to testify in Los Angeles, McGraw's performance is what holds the picture together. Try to think now of one actor around today who could portray a cop who is at times calculating, other times sarcastic and almost always menacing. In the Hollywood of the 1940s and 50s,Charles McGraw usually played secondary roles in A pictures. In "The Narrow Margin," McGraw shows that with a competent director, he could put on some performance as the star of a movie.

Fast, smart and tough. A real treat. Masterfully paced and scripted. Wow. Holds up very very well. This movie sucks you in from the opening credits and never lets go. It's also a bit of a mind game, with an interesting moral dilemma at its center and a beautiful plot twist towards the end. Nobody tells a hysterical dame to "shut up" quite like Charles McGraw and few femme fatales can blow cigarette smoke quite like Marie Windsor (who looks astonishingly like the present day actress Illeana Douglas). The two of them have great smoldering chemistry together. Richard Fleischer's direction is nearly flawless. A joy to watch. Can't wait to see it again. There's a lot going on in this one. By no means, a routine thriller.

The Narrow Margin is excellent. It's too bad more of our new directors have forgotten how to make a great film with a minimal budget, using instead inventive camera angles, good characters and dialog, and some surprises along the way. I really loved Marie Windsor as the mobster's wife who's going to LA to sing to the Grand Jury. She's one of the toughest broads I've ever seen! Charles McGraw does his standard tough cop role and turns in a performance that sets the standard by which all others are judged.

This is the original, and beats the heck out of the re-make.....

"The narrow margin" is a remarkable film-noir with great merits, unfortunately marred by an implausible story.

There is a policeman (Charles McGraw) committed to protect a key witness (Marie Windsor), in severe danger of life, along a train journey. The only reasonable and likely behavior for the cop is to take some sandwiches, lock in the cabin with the witness, and sit down with a machine-gun on his lap. Of course, that would be the end of the film. So, to get a story, McGraw goes everywhere and does everything on the train, but staying with and protecting the witness. There is also a big surprise at the end. That is really unexpected. But if we think back to the previous events, this big twist makes the behavior of some characters wholly illogical.

Well, enough with the faults of the movie. The merits of this low-budgeted B-movie overcome its defects. The stylish cinematography is first-rate, and the camera-work is outstanding. The (few) action scenes are brilliant and filmed in a very original way. See, for instance the play of mirrors in the finale. Marie Windsor is sensational, and every scene with her is a treat. What a gangster moll, gutsy tough gal she is! In my opinion, she is even better here than in "The killing". Her lines are a perfect instance of cynical wisecracking. McGraw and the rest of the cast make a good job, as well. There is a good amount of suspense and no moments of bore.

Let me conclude with a somehow daring comparison. Independently by the composers, classic music of the 18th century is always beautiful. In a similar way, I think that American movies of the 1940s and early 1950s are all good: that is just a question of style, and how I love this style!

I recommend "The narrow margin", for its intrinsic merits, and to pay homage to a great season of cinema.

This is a fast paced and edgy film noir which could be used as a perfect example of the style. Crisp dialogue, hard characters and sarcastic humor blend perfectly to create a wonderful movie that is over before you know it. This film is really a lost treasure.

The Narrow Margin (1952)

A compact, beautiful, thrilling little B-movie. Everyone involved is relatively unknown. The director, Richard Fleischer, is less famous than some of his films, however, including the cult favorite, "Soylent Green" and the courtroom drama with an ending where Orson Welles bursts on the scene, "Compulsion." So this early one is clearly Fleischer's baby, and he gets clear, believable performances from a small ensemble cast.

Yes, it's a kind of ensemble film, where half a dozen people hold their own. Central is Charles McGraw as a detective guarding a witness en route from Chicago to L.A. McGraw has the benefit of being just a plain old detective, not an actor filled with character and presence, and he's great. The witness is played by Marie Windsor, and she's cutting and commanding, a terrific female lead that should have had a bigger career. The two or three bad guys are not quite caricatures, and the other cast--seemingly innocent passengers--are spot on perfect, too.

All of this might be enough, but the cinematography is so virtuosic, without showing off, it lifts the whole experience higher. George Diskant never became one of Hollywood's big names, but he had just shot two legendary films for Nicholas Ray, and was clearly poetic and tactile with his camera and lights. You sometimes won't even notice--as when the detective and the blonde walk on the platform at a station stop, the camera following them and pivoting and keeping the moving, turning couple in perfect focus. Other times the shots are just sensational, as with the fistfight in the tight confines of a cabin. The railroad car scenes are shot with palpable claustrophobia, things getting in the way in the foreground, people having to nudge and move around each other.

There are almost two parts to the movie. The first is a more classic night in the city with a noir feel, and this is the most gorgeous and vivid. You get sucked into the problem, and are surprised right away by a couple of twists. Eventually the main characters end up on the train, and another kind of movie, a cat and mouse, mixed-up identity kind of scenario, takes over. Equally interesting, and with more twists than you would think plausible.

But they are plausible. and Fleischer pulls of a real gem.

Charles McGraw with that raspy voice and rugged look was always cast as a tough guy on either side of the law. But only in The Narrow Margin was he a lead in a film.

He and partner Don Beddoe draw a tough assignment, escort mob widow Marie Windsor to Los Angeles from Chicago to turn over a list of payoffs the mob has been making to law enforcement officials. Right from the start it goes bad as Beddoe is killed just taking Windsor out of her apartment.

So McGraw has to keep an eye out on Windsor for the next few days as the train goes to Los Angeles. Strangely enough the hit men have no idea what their target looks like, but they know McGraw is now the only cop escorting so they focus on him.

Now I have to say that throughout the whole film I kept thinking this was a truly stupid idea, sending out contract killers who have no knowledge of what their target looks like. But as it turns out this was a very clever plot gimmick and there's a good reason why.

McGraw and Windsor are at their best here. Windsor is frightening as one coldhearted woman who has a secret that's the key to the whole story.

The Narrow Margin got an Oscar nomination for the writing. Deservedly so.

Detective Sergeant Walter Brown (Charles McGraw) and his longtime partner Detective Sergeant Gus Forbes (Don Beddoe) are assigned to travel to Chicago to bring the mobster's wife Mrs. Frankie Neal (Marie Windsor) to testify to the grand jury in Los Angeles against the mafia. They are ambushed at Mrs. Neal's building and Forbes is murdered by a mobster wearing a coat with fur.

Brown and Neal travel by train to LA and soon the detective realizes that there are hit men hired by the mafia to kill Mrs. Neal. However, the assassins do not know how she looks like, and Brown hides Neal in Forbes' room. Brown meets Ann Sinclair (Jacqueline White) in the restaurant, who is traveling with her annoying son Tommy and his nanny, and the mobsters believe that she is Mrs. Neal. Now Brown has to protect not only the unpleasant Mrs. Neal, but also Ann from the mobsters.

"The Narrow Margin" is a great film-noir with a tense story developed in an adequate pace and an unexpected plot point in the end. The direction is perfect and the cast has solid performances. The dialogs between Brown and Mrs. Neal are tough and her character does not worth a penny. I saw the excellent remake of this movie in the early 90's ("Margin Call") with Gene Hackman and Anne Archer, but unfortunately I had never seen the original movie. Today I have had the chance and I recommend it. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Rumo ao Inferno" ("Bound to Hell")

The plot will have you pulling the hair out of your head and yelling at McGraw (the cop who's supposed to be protecting the witness), "just stay in the room with her you moron!" Additionally, McGraw makes a tactical decision that is ethically indefensible and annoying in the context of the film. But, still, it's a fun little movie and Marie Windsor is as entertaining as all get out. She's one of the great noir tough girls.

It's true that there wouldn't be much of a plot if McGraw didn't keep leaving and putting the witness in peril. But this movie might have been even better if McGraw and Windsor had just stayed in the same room and jawed at each other for an hour.

Charles McGraw plays edgy cop Walter Brown. His job is to protect a dead racketeer's wife, Mrs Neil (Marie Windsor) from the mob. She's a key witness in a grand jury probe, and also has a payoff list linking gang members to the LAPD. Most of the film's action takes place on board the train taking Brown and Neil to Los Angeles, where she will testify.In Mrs. Neil, played to perfection by Windsor, the queen of B movies, the tough talking, wise-cracking Brown meets his match. On the way to meet her, he glibly tells his partner, Gus Forbes that "She's the sixty cent special. Cheap. Flashy. Sticky poison under the gravy." When he and Forbes, both from Los Angeles, first meet her, she says, "How nice. How Los Angeles." Then looking Brown up and down, she snarls, "Sunburn wear off on the way?" My favorite wisecrack occurs after Brown has finally had enough of her wise remarks and lashes out, "You make me sick to my stomach." Her retaliation is a gem: "Well, use your own sink." Unlike the banter between Nick and Noira Charles of The Thin Man series, there's nothing the least sophisticated about the way Brown and Neil talk each other. Director Richard Fleischer uses inventive camera work, the sounds of the train rather than a music score, and the train's claustrophobic atomsphere to create and sustain tension. An RKO picture, The Narrow Margin is an unpretentious, taut low-budget thriller, a minor classic far superior to the 1990 Gene Hackman-Anne Archer remake.

The milieus, landscapes and aesthetics of film-noir were often related to big cities and cold streets. In The Narrow Margin directed by Richard Fleischer the story is taken to train and the narrow halls of it, which perfectly furthers the compact feeling of the film. The film is very well directed and the exquisite cinematography of it reminded me of the classic The Lady Vanishes (1938) by Alfred Hitchcock, which also takes place in a train. This brief 75-minute long ride offers some really sharp noir-dialog and exciting twists till the last minute. When a mob boss dies, a police officer gets a job to escort the boss' wife from Chicago to LA to a trial. The task gets a little harder when a suspicious group of crooks join the train and are willing to do anything with regards to prevent the arrival of the woman to the trial.

Los Angeles and New York were often the big cities of film-noir, but even if big cities had a lot to do with the aesthetics of film-noir it doesn't mean that anyone didn't have the guts to try something else. Many tried to transfer the pattern of film-noir to new milieus. Nicholas Ray tried a snowy small town village in On Dangerous Ground (1953) and Ida Lupino brought film-noir to the seats of a car and deserts of Mexico in The Hitch-Hicker (1953) just to mention a few. The claustrophobic space Richard Fleischer chose in The Narrow Margin works brilliantly and the thrilling scenes are directed with care.

Many have realized what a great place a train is for excitement, murder and paranoia. As mentioned before Alfred Hitchcock made The Lady Vanishes, but he also used train as a place of suspense in Shadow of a Doubt (1943), North by Northwest (1959) and Strangers on a Train (1951). Of course when talking about trains and cinema one cannot forget the Buster Keaton masterpiece The General (1926). Train means both getting away and letting go, which is highlighted in the masterful melodrama Brief Encounter (1945) by David Lean where the motive is taken of a superior level when trains and railways turn into symbolism. The narrow margin of a train is of course quite metaphorical to the story in The Narrow Margin, but also in all the thrillers mentioned by Alfred Hitchcock. In The Narrow Margin the police officer faces challenges so tough that he is not sure can he make it through. His margin is getting more narrow and narrow, inch by inch.

The name of Richard Fleischer might not ring a bell for all of the readers so I think it's quite alright to reminds you for some of his works. He started as a b-class director but with the help of The Narrow Margin he rose to the A-class and the film even got an Oscar nomination for best writing. Before it he had already made a few film-noir such as Bodyguard (1948) and Armored Car Robbery (1950), which unfortunately are part of his 'b-class era'. But on the other hand they're still quite interesting and excellent in their on league. Nowdays Fleischer is probably more known for directing the two fantasy action movies Red Sonja (1985) and Conan The Destroyer (1984).

The Narrow Margin has its unintentional humor and clumsiness but overall it stands out as a fine piece of film-noir. It offers some excellent dialog and twists that will keep the interest of the audience till the last minute. I think the power of The Narrow Margin is in its story charged with compact emotion, the lack of film-noir clichés, the cinematography and the construction of state in the narrow halls of the train.

Confined spaces make good environments for suspenseful thrillers, as many filmmakers have noticed. Trains in particular have been featured in many memorable scenes in films like Alfred Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train (1951), Buster Keaton's silent comedy classic The General (1926) and, say, Ryûhei Kitamura's modern horror piece The Midnight Meat Train (2008). A noiry example of a movie set almost entirely on a train would be Richard Fleischer's crime tale The Narrow Margin from 1952.

The film tells the story of a Detective Sergeant Walter Brown (Charles McGraw) who has been assigned to escort an important female witness, a mob boss's widow named Frankie Neal (Marie Windsor), to a courthouse in another town to testify against her late husband's criminal accomplices. The sprawling criminal organization has no plans of allowing her to reach the destination alive, something that Mrs. Neal is well aware of. As the train seems to be full of potential hit men and other suspicious figures, Sgt. Brown is put under heavy stress when trying to keep his target alive when the long journey on rails begins.

The narrow corridors and compartments of the train automatically thicken the atmosphere and limit possible camera angles and movements dramatically, which of course fits in formidably with theme of increasing anxiety in Sgt. Brown's mind. Besides having to deal with the superficially tough but truly scared Mrs. Neal, Brown is also troubled by his intense feelings of guilt about the unfortunate fate of his colleague at the beginning of the movie and the constant uncertainty about other passengers' motives and identities. Is the annoyed fat man (Paul Maxey) a mere traveler? How to get rid of the nosy little boy and his attractive mother (Jacqueline White)? Maybe she could be used in a scheme to outwit the villains or would that be too immoral?

The questions above, along with others, keep the audience guessing throughout the story until the big plot twist near the end. Brown's working methods obviously don't conform to highly realistic conventions of police work but a stylized movie naturally allows some artistic license regarding the antics of the characters. Charles McGraw delivers a perfectly adequate performance in the lead role but in my opinion many supporting actors come across as far more memorable than him. To name a few, at least Marie Windsor as the feisty Mrs. Neal, David Clarke as the hard-hitting bad guy Kemp and Peter Virgo as the ruthless lead schemer Densel can be mentioned. However, the young Gordon Gebert is very irritating as the little boy Tommy, although he is not the first or last kid actor to nearly ruin a movie with loud squeaking and overt enthusiasm.

Besides the camera work, the lack of non-diegetic music also heightens the tension neatly by not distracting the audience from the overhanging stress in scenes like the rough fistfight in a closed train compartment. In addition, I liked the use of reflections on the train windows as a one more way for the filmmakers to work their way around the limitations of the narrow spaces on the set. However, the movie is not without its flaws, or shall we say 'things I would have liked another way'. Namely, I would have wanted to get to know the characters better, even if more fleshing out would have increased the runtime from the compact 71 minutes. Additionally, as in many noirs, the very ending feels a little too easily resolved and light considering the plot twists we have seen just before it – such lackluster endings may have something to do with the strict film censorship of the era that always demanded a positive conclusion where crime never pays.

Anyway, I think the good things ultimately outweigh the bad ones. The suspense and the sensation of stress are skilfully created and the characters are well portrayed, so the film easily belongs among the better noirs I have seen. Besides noir buffs, I can also recommend The Narrow Margin to train enthusiasts and thriller fans in general.

A dead mobsters wife (Marie Windsor) is going to testify against the mob. Detective Sergeant Water Brown (Charles McGraw) is hired to take her from Chicago to Los Angeles by train and protect her. There are bad guys on the train--but they don't know what she looks like. Can Brown keep her a secret all the way?

Fast (70 minutes), tight B film. A perfect example of how to shot an exciting movie in a small setting--95% of the film takes place in small train compartments. Director Richard Fleischer deserves a lot of credit for this. The script moves quickly and there's a great twist at the end (I'm almost ashamed to admit I didn't see it coming). Also a very violent fight in a compartment is a highlight. Windsor and McGraw are fine in their roles--no Academy Award performances here but they are as good in their roles as is possible.

A classic B film noir. Well worth catching. Avoid the terrible 1990 remake.

Slick production values and star names do not necessarily ensure a superior film and this is certainly true of Peter Hyam's 1990 remake of 'The Narrow Margin' from 1952.

Working within budgetary limitations and with a second tier cast, director Richard Fleischer has succeeded in turning a 'B' movie into an 'A' Film Noir.

There are few places to hide on a train and George E. Diskant's camera has used narrow corridors, cramped compartments and reflections in windows to great effect whilst the tension is maintained by Robert Swink's customarily taut editing.

The very nature of the genre requires the characters to be somewhat one-dimensional but the direct, hard-boiled, no-nonsense performances by Charles McGraw and Marie Windsor are spot on. The supporting players are capable although for this viewer at any rate the villains are more buffoonish than menacing.

Unusually for IMDb there are twice as many reviews for this than for the glossy remake which is both encouraging and gratifying.

After finally waking herself up, a mobsters wife decides to testify against him and his organisation. As the trial draws closer she is constantly under threat of being murdered before she can spill the beans. Tough detective Walter Brown and his partner Gus Forbes are assigned to escort her safely across country via a train from Chicago to Los Angeles, but nobody can be trusted, and the threat of death is around everyone on board this speeding train.

Yes it may well be a "B" movie, but as "B" movies go this has to rank as one of the finest exponents of that particular arc. With the film taking place almost entirely on board the train, the tension sapping and claustrophobic feel is perfectly executed by director Richard Fleischer. The plot twists and turns and throws up genuine moments of surprise that thrill instead of hinder, whilst the ending doesn't cop out by pandering to the normal requisite of witness protection thrillers.

Charles McGraw is great as Brown, putting the hard into hard boiled and Jacqueline White is very precious as Ann Sinclair. Truth is, is that all the cast work well within the confines of this tightly produced picture. It was a surprise hit for RKO, where made on a small budget of under a quarter of a million dollars, it turned out to be a very profitable "B" production for the company. It wowed audiences back in the 50s and it's testament to the film's worth that today, here in the modern age, it's still being sought out and praised by movie lovers of all ages. 8/10

I've read several books and who knows how many articles about film noir and this title was never mentioned. I have no idea whatsoever why it hasn't been acknowledged as a film at the very top of its kind. The pacing is phenomenal with nothing extraneous or unnecessary and trimmed to the bone. I don't think there was even a musical score at all. It wouldn't have added anything that wasn't already there. The acting is uniformly excellent and the plot has some fascinating turns that gave me some pleasant surprises. The dialog is crisp, even ingenious at times, particularly between the policeman and he gangster's wife. This film should be studied at film schools around the world for its budget and its bang. We need more like it!

Curtis Stotlar

The novelty of this Richard Fleischer-directed crime thriller rests on the fact that nearly the entire film takes place on board a train. Fleischer, who was adept at slicking up pulpy B material and giving it style to spare, treats the cramped shooting spaces as an advantage rather than a liability -- he uses extreme closeups, packed compositions and clever reflections (in train windows, mirrors, etc.) to enhance the story's claustrophobic appeal. No where is this more apparent than in a wild fist fight that takes place in a tiny mens' room.

The story surrounds a hard-boiled detective's (Charles McGraw, who looks like he was born to play leading men in B noirs) efforts to escort a dead mobster's wife to L.A. so that she can testify in front of a grand jury. The bad guys want to bump her off before she gets there, but they don't know what she looks like. McGraw delivers the tough-guy patter with confidence, and Marie Windsor (who reminded me a bit of the contemporary actress Illeana Douglas) swaggers her way through the role of a gangster's moll with flair. When McGraw tells her at one point that her amorality makes him sick, she replies, "Use somebody else's sink."

A plot twist toward the film's end caught me completely off guard.

Grade: B+

OMG, this is a very silly movie. It should have been billed as a comedy. Honestly, this is probably the worst so called 'noir' that I've seen. It's difficult to comment on it without spoilers. The premise, revealed at the end, and the protagonist's actions defy basic logic & common sense. McGraw's character talks tough, but is such an inept & pathetic dolt, that in the real world he would, at least, get fired.

I was curious about McGraw after thinking he had a perfect face for a thug in the similarly low-budget, but superior, noir 'T-Men', and after being impressed with his performance in a supporting role in 'In Cold Blood', but 'The Narrow Margin' is definitely not on a par with those two films.