Tue 5 Jan 2021
A Locked Room TV Episode Review: FRONT PAGE DETECTIVE “Murder Rides the Night Train†(1951).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , TV mysteries[11] Comments
FRONT PAGE DETECTIVE. “Murder Rides the Night Train.†DuMont, 1951 (Season 1 Episode 14). Edmund Lowe (David Chase). Guest Cast: Lyle Talbot, John Sebastian, John Harmon, Pamela Blake (as Pam MaGuire), Angelo Rossitto. Screenplay: Herbert Moulton, Robert Leslie Bellem. Director: Arnold Wester.
As the star of Front Page Detective, Edmund Lowe was 61, but to me he looked older. The series lasted only a year and on a minor network, so it isn’t one even fans of old TV shows bring up to talk about amongst themselves. Several individual episodes do exist, probably because it series went into syndication after its initial showing.
Lowe played David Chase, a newspaper columnist who always ended up helping the police catch criminals and other members of the underworld. There were (I believe) other members of the recurring cast, but none of them appear in this episode, almost all of it taking place on a train taking a former gangster to Washington to tell all to a congressional committee. The problem is, others still in the mob are not interested in having him do any of the talking he intends to do.
Although he is warned off, Chase chooses to take the same train, and in spite of a bodyguard close at hand, the subpoenaed gangster is shot and killed. The problem is, the dead man was alone in his train compartment with Chase right outside the door.
With only 30 minutes to tell the story, the “locked room†aspect of the story gets short shrift. It’s not set up properly for the viewer to have a chance to solve it, for one thing, and the fun of doing so is the only reason why killers do their work in such silly, complicated ways. I won’t tell you how it was done, but I will give you a hint. If you recognize the right name in the cast above, you will know all.
The rest of the cast consists of some semi-familiar character actors playing crooks of one kind or another, save for the welcome addition of Pamela Blake (under an assumed name) as a purported gun moll who is there only so the show doesn’t consist solely of a bunch of guys playing with guns. The locked room aspect was a nice surprise as well, even if it was mostly a dud.
January 5th, 2021 at 10:20 pm
Edmund Lowe. Very storied, well-tenured actor; one of those guys with a filmography as long a city block. A workhorse. It gives one pause how many forgotten legends like this there are on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Industry stalwarts!
January 5th, 2021 at 10:28 pm
Robert Leslie Bellem!
January 6th, 2021 at 12:09 am
Yes, indeed! Glad you spotted that, too. After a long career writing for the pulps, Bellem didn’t go into paperbacks as some other pulpsters did, but into TV, where he had another lengthy career. He did six episodes of FRONT PAGE DETECTIVE, according to IMDb, and these were the first ones he did.
January 5th, 2021 at 11:42 pm
Right you are, Lazy.
Steve, Lowe looks older because life was harder and television presented people in a less flattering light than films. I used to watch the show, liked it, wanted to love it, no dice with early tv. By the way, it was on Dumont, so was Jackie Gleason. Success was possible. Rosco Karns had a series that seemed to go out live, doubt it though, called Rocky King, Detective. Was lighter than Lowe’s and little better produced.
January 6th, 2021 at 12:05 am
And right you are, Barry. I’m sure that with better light and more money spent on making this particular episode (I haven’t watched any of the others), Lowe could easily have been filmed the way he should have been, as the dapper, sophisticated gentleman I’m sure he was.
January 6th, 2021 at 9:22 am
The great Angelo Rossitto had a long, busy career too, from silent movie days through FREAKS and MAD MAX BEYOND THUNDERDOME.
January 6th, 2021 at 9:28 am
That’s a career that extended from 1927 to 1985. almost 60 years. How many other actors can say that?
January 6th, 2021 at 9:30 am
If you’d care to watch this episode for yourself, let’s see if this direct link will work:
https://www.solie.org/alibrary/FrontPageDetective_114MurderRidesTheNightTrain.html
January 6th, 2021 at 7:14 pm
Lowe looked much better in films like HELLER IN PINK TIGHTS in color with good lighting. Television did him no favors in that era.
Wasn’t FRONT PAGE a soap opera on radio, or at least a continuing daily program in serial form? I seem to recall from Jim Harmon’s book that Richard Widmark played David Chase at one point, and I seem to recall Chase was married on the radio series. I think Staats Costworth played Chase too.
January 6th, 2021 at 7:31 pm
David, I’m fairly sure you’re thinking of a program on the radio called Front Page Farrell, which was a 15 minute afternoon soap opera. Apparently seven episodes still exist from its 12 year run:
https://www.otrcat.com/p/front-page-farrell
January 6th, 2021 at 7:29 pm
Re Bellem and television he also wrote the Lone Ranger, Death Valley Days, and I seem to recall The Adventures of Superman. Among other pulpsters who went to the small screen, W.T. Ballard wrote DICK TRACY and even wrote a satirical novel about his misadventures.