THE NARROW MARGIN (RKO 1952) Warner Home Video

At just shy of 72 minutes, director, Richard Fleischer’s The Narrow Margin (1952) packs a wallop as one of the most suspense-laden and action-packed noir crime thrillers to emerge from Hollywood. Fleischer, son of famed cartoonist, Max Fleischer, and who, through a gracious whim of fate, would graduate from RKO’s B-cycle to helm some of the most expensive and prestigious movies during Hollywood’s golden age - 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), The Vikings (1958), Barabbas (1961), Fantastic Voyage (1966), Doctor Dolittle (1967), Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), and, Soylent Green (1973) among them – began his career rather inauspiciously with 1946’s Child of Divorce. As RKO in the late forties could hardly be called upon to produce A-list product, the once prominent studio in an irreversible financial spiral from which it would never recover, they fell back, rather desperately on a series of quick and dirty crime/thrillers, for which Fleischer harbored a particular yen; well-written, rapidly shot, and expertly scripted gritty flicks like Bodyguard (1948), Follow Me Quietly (1949), Armored Car Robbery (1950), and, of course, this movie.

Fleischer’s economy on The Narrow Margin so impressed his boss, Howard Hughes (rumor has it, Fleischer managed to shoot the picture in less than its 30-day allotment) it paved the way for better things ahead. Earl Felton’s screenplay, based on a story by Martin Goldsmith and Jack Leonard, begins in earnest with the arrival of Detective Sergeant Walter Brown (Charles McGraw) of the Los Angeles Police Department and his partner, Det. Sgt. Gus Forbes (Don Beddoes) assigned to provide witness protection for Mrs. Frankie Neall (Marie Windsor), the widow of a mob boss. The trick is to get Mrs. Neall in one piece from Chicago to L.A. so she can testify before a grand jury, exposing the payoff list that belonged to her murdered husband. On the way to their pick-up, Brown bets Forbes what Neall will look like, ‘cheap’ and ‘flashy’ – “Strictly poison under the gravy.” And, at least superficially, Brown’s first glimpse of Neall bears out this snap analysis. She’s course and superficially wearing a lot of bling she only thinks makes her look like a lady. Alas, as this trio exit Neall’s apartment by the back door they are waylaid by a mob assassin, Densel (Peter Virgo). Forbes is gunned down in cold blood, but Densel, although wounded by Brown, escapes. Hurrying Neall along to the depot, Brown realizes they have been tailed by gangster, Joseph Kemp (David Clarke); each, acknowledging the other as his mortal enemy.

Tricking the conductor (Harry Harvey), Kemp enters Brown's compartment under the pretense the train service has misplaced his luggage.  Kemp tries to open the door to the next compartment, where Mrs. Neall is hiding. But Brown cagily suggests there is nothing in that compartment and Kemp is forced to leave empty-handed. Knowing it is only a matter of time before Kemp returns, Brown conceals Neall and her baggage in the lady’s room before entering the dining car so Kemp will know his compartment is unguarded.  The assassin takes the bait but finds nothing in either compartment and returns to the dining car. However, by then, Brown has managed to smuggle Neall back to the relative safety of their adjoining rooms. Now, mob boss, Vincent Yost (Peter Brocco) entertains Brown at his pleasure and tries – without success - to elicit a bride in trade for Neall’s life, coolly appealing to Brown’s better angels, to use the payoff to help the family of his murdered partner. It would be so easy to ditch Neall – a haughty, naughty and caustic brunette who wastes no opportunity to chide Brown on what she perceives to be his incompetence. Besides, Neall shows no remorse for Forbes’ killing. Worse, she insists on playing a portable record player, endangering them both by drawing undue attention to her whereabouts. By happenstance, Brown makes the acquaintance of an attractive blonde, Ann Sinclair (Jacqueline White), and her much too-astute young son, Tommy (Gordon Gebert). When Kemp spots Brown with Ann, he mistakes her as his target. Brown manages to pummel Kemp, turning him over to railroad agent, Sam Jennings (Paul Maxey).  Alas, Densel has already boarded the train during its pitstop at La Junta, ambushing Jennings and thus freeing Kemp.

Brown desperately tries to explain to Ann the situation at hand, but is bowled over by the revelation Ann is actually the woman he has been hired to protect; the woman posing as Mrs. Neall, a policewoman planted in her stead just in case Brown proved he could be corrupted. Also, Ann has already mailed the payoff list to the Los Angeles’ District Attorney. So, now, the only thing left for Brown is to see the real Neall safely to the courthouse.  Meanwhile, Densel and Kemp enter Brown's compartment in search of the payoff list. Discovering the fake Mrs. Neall and, as yet unaware she is only a decoy, Densel shoots her dead as she tries to reach for her service revolver. Only afterward does Kemp spy the badge and police identification, the body of Chicago PD Sarah Meggs resting at his feet. Deducing Brown has been in contact with only one other woman while on the train, Densel now rightly assumes Ann Sinclair is the real target. Bribing his way into Ann’s compartment, Tommy is taken hostage.  Densel orders Ann to unlock her door or he will kill the boy. Begrudgingly, she does, and Densel locks himself in with his intended victim. Meanwhile, Brown and Jennings arrive, trapping Densel inside.  Using the reflection from the window of a train on the next track to see inside Ann’s compartment, Brown skillfully wounds Densel through the locked door without endangering her life, then bursts into the compartment to finish him off. Kemp makes a run for his accomplices’ car which has been tailing the train on a road parallel to the tracks. But Brown has telephoned ahead. Kemp and his cohorts are quickly apprehended. The movie concludes with the train’s safe arrival in L.A. and Brown escorting Ann into the court house to give her testimony.

Shot on back lot facades utilized in countless movies before it, with rear projection process plates to simulate the travelling train, The Narrow Margin is about as cost-effective as the picture-making business gets; and proof positive that obscene amounts of money are not required to make a brilliant piece of well-crafted cinema click as it should.  The performances are what sell this picture; McGraw’s craggy, tough guy, and Windsor’s razor-back resolve, as tough as nails, and, White’s sincerity as the unlikely and genuinely terrorized widow of a mob boss turned state’s evidence against the men who knocked off her husband. Fleischer’s direction is intentionally short on staging. There are no long shots, or even long takes to establish mood or period. Instead, we are thrust right in the thick of things from the outset; Fleischer and his cinematographer, George E. Diskant playing the action in tight medium two-shots or close-ups to keep Albert S. D'Agostino and Jack Okey’s skinflint production design at bay. Let’s be honest; there is only so much you can do with set dressing on the confined quarters of a moving train. And what is here is very effectively utilized. Most people are unaware The Narrow Margin was shot in less than 30 days in 1950, edited and ready for prevue during the first half of that year. Alas, reclusive studio head, Howard Hughes, having heard ‘good things’ about Fleischer’s work, requested the master be sent to his private screening room for consideration. He enjoyed the movie so much, Hughes ran it over and over again, contemplating an immediate ‘remake’ to star his two favor actors under contract to RKO - Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell. Instead, Hughes plucked Fleischer from the relative obscurity on his next assignment to work on the Mitchum/Russell fluff noir, His Kind of Woman, seemingly forgetting about The Narrow Margin for almost two years before it was officially released in theaters in the Fall of 1952.

Aside: In 1990, director, Peter Hyams remade Fleischer’s classic, introducing a new twist on the time-honored plot, going for the prerequisite flashier opener and a more brutal and exhilarating action sequences, and, simply re-titling it, Narrow Margin. Starring Gene Hackman and Ann Archer, Hyams’ offering is one of those rare occasions where the remake is almost as good as the original. To date, Fleischer’s The Narrow Margin has not found its way to Blu-ray, although Hyams’ Narrow Margin, originally distributed by Carolco, is set to make its hi-def debut via Kino Lorber later in May. For now, fans of the original B&W classic must content themselves with Warner Home Video’s DVD, which sports impressive visuals. The B&W image is solid with very deep blacks, clean whites and film grain looking indigenous to its source. The image is nicely contrasted and very sharp throughout, beautifully capturing the evocative chiaroscuro lighting. Occasionally, age-related artifacts crop up but these do not distract. There are no digital anomalies. The audio is mono and well-represented. An audio commentary is the only worthwhile extra. Bottom line: very highly recommended.

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)

4.5

VIDEO/AUDIO

4.5

EXTRAS

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