The Narrow Margin (1952)

The Narrow Margin (1952)

starring Charles McGraw, Marie Windsor, Jacqueline White

directed by Richard Fleischer

71 minutes

Detective Sergeant Walter Brown (Charles McGraw) escorts Mrs. Neall (Marie Windsor), the wife of a deceased mob boss, from Chicago to Los Angeles so that she can provide testimony to a grand jury. They travel by train and are pursued by at least two hit men who are aboard the same train as them.

Brown flirts with Ann Sinclair (Jacqueline Sinclair), another passenger on the train who is traveling with her young son and a nanny.

The tension rises as they get closer and closer to the West Coast. The stakes get a little higher when another would be killer boards the train halfway from Chicago to Los Angeles.

Thoughts

I saw this movie as part of the 2025 edition of the Noir City DC film festival.

Richard Fleischer also directed Armored Car Robbery (1950) which also starred Charles McGraw and which I saw at the 2024 edition of Noir City DC.

I've seen Charles McGraw in a few other movies but the only other one is which he played one of the leads was Armored Car Robbery (1950). I also saw him in an episode of 87th Precinct (1.21 King's Ransom).

I've seen Marie Windsor in a few other films but I think this is the most prominent role she has had in the movies that I have seen. Her most prominent role in a film that I've seen prior to now was probably in The Killing (1956).

The Narrow Margin was remade in 1990 with Gene Hackman and Anne Archer playing the lead roles. I believe I saw it in the theater when it was first released but I don't recall being very impressed by it. I haven't seen it since then.

I enjoyed this movie very much. There was tension throughout, almost from the first scene to the last one. I really liked the interplay between McGraw and the two female leads. All three were really good to great. The rest of the cast was also very good.