Fri 15 Sep 2023
An Archived Movie Review: THE NARROW MARGIN (1952).
Posted by Steve under Mystery movies , Reviews[10] Comments
THE NARROW MARGIN. RKO Radio Pictures, 1952. Charles McGraw, Marie Windsor, Jacqueline White. Directed by Richard Fleischer.
A cop from Los Angeles goes to Chicago to bring back a key witness in a grand jury investigation. The woman, the widow of a slain mobster, has a copy of the payoff list, and the syndicate is going all out to stop her from testifying.
Most of the movie takes place on a train heading back to the Coast, As the cop, McGraw talks tough, and for the most part, although no great thinker, he can back it up. Marie Windsor is even better in her part, and I think I’d have given her another ending.
– Reprinted from Movie.File.2, June 1980.
September 15th, 2023 at 10:56 pm
The film works so well precisely because the actors never overwhelm the story and suspense. I’m not sure it would work half so well with bigger stars, it is an almost perfect small noir gem that avoids big performances and the usual moody lighting and camera angles, and just let the plot and story carry the burden of setting the atmosphere.
September 15th, 2023 at 11:31 pm
A small noir gem? Yes. I wish I’d said more about the movie back then. I had a lot more I could have said. Why didn’t I? I wish I knew.
By the way, the movie was remade in 1990 with Anne Archer and Gene Hackman. Have you — or anyone — seen it?
September 15th, 2023 at 11:49 pm
September 16th, 2023 at 2:21 am
Your review, like the film, was short, pithy and effective!
September 16th, 2023 at 11:32 am
This film was also reviewed by Dan Stumpf in February, 2023. One of my favorite films.
September 16th, 2023 at 8:07 pm
Thanks, Walker. I must be getting old. I’d forgotten all about Dan’s review, and it was posted here on this blog not so very long ago.
It’s a long one, the review, I mean, not this little piddly one I just posted. It’s well worth everyone’s time. Here’s the link:
https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=82690
September 16th, 2023 at 10:00 pm
Yes I saw the remake at the movies when it first came out in 1990. About 10-12 years ago I saw the original. The original is, as has been noted, a noir gem. The remake was good enough but not in the same league.
September 16th, 2023 at 10:21 pm
Thanks, Moe. About what I thought. I don’t remember ever seeing Anne Archer in anything, but any film with Gene Hackman in it can’t ever have been a dud.
September 17th, 2023 at 2:17 pm
I fully agree on Hackman but I can’t quite imagine butterscotch Anne Archer playing a cold-hearted tramp or sleazy shrew. She’s an ‘All-American girl-next-door’ type if ever there was one.
She has played a call girl though –“Trackdown” with Bob Mitchum’s eldest boy –but good actress that she is, she was still only barely convincing.
I’m speaking strictly towards my own reactions, ‘natch.
September 17th, 2023 at 2:52 pm
postscript: I enjoyed that bit about “raspiest-voiced actor since Lionel Stander”.
Relish ‘thinking things out’ in terms of their audio.
What might such a list look like if it were rounded out with more classic names?
-Charles McGraw
-Lionel Stander
-Eugene Pallette
-Mike Mazurki
…?