I am removed from the primary individual to level out that trains are inherently cinematic. There’s built-in narrative momentum to any story that takes place on a prepare: A large automobile is in movement, zooming from one location to a different, and in contrast to planes, A) a prepare travels shut sufficient to the bottom that individuals can bounce or be thrown off (an enormous plot level in Steve McQueen’s current “Blitz”), and B) there’s nonetheless simply sufficient room for dozens of passengers to stand up, stroll round, work together, and even brawl if the state of affairs requires it. (Fortunately, there are many motion motion pictures the place the state of affairs does certainly name for it, like Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man 2.”) Video essayist Patrick H. Willems has a fantastic current video about this that I like to recommend testing, however right this moment, I need to discuss one specific prepare film — top-of-the-line I’ve ever seen.
The movie, which got here out in 1952, is known as “The Slim Margin.” Here is the premise: A few cops are tasked with accompanying a murdered gangster’s widow on a cross-country prepare experience so she will testify in opposition to the gang, however the mobsters have despatched assassins out to kill her earlier than she will convey the entire group down. Many of the film — which is just 71 minutes lengthy, by the way in which — takes place on a prepare, with the first cop (performed by Charles McGraw) begrudgingly defending the sassy moll (performed by Marie Windsor) from the hit males who’re decided to finish her life. Sounds superior, proper? It’s — and I am not the one one who thinks so.
The Slim Margin has a 100% ranking on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes would not listing many opinions from the period (most are from this century, wanting again on the film), so its 100% ranking is admittedly not as spectacular as a film with 100-plus opinions. However “The Slim Margin” did have one big-name defender: Francois Truffaut, a movie critic who finally grew to become one of many key administrators behind the French New Wave. In his essay “From A to Z,” which analyzes “South Sea Sinner” and “The Slim Margin,” he writes that the latter “is charged with very ethical nitroglycerine however confers a grace that any sweaty driver of a heavy, slow-moving automobile may envy.” However extra trendy critics clearly respect the movie, too: In actual fact, it ended up on /Movie’s listing of underrated movie noir motion pictures only a few years in the past.
That is the kind of movie I like to suggest to people who find themselves interested by older motion pictures, however aren’t certain the place to start out. Certain, it is essential to take a look at the classics, however motion pictures like this one — extremely well-constructed thrillers and not using a trace of aspiration past their means — are what’s stored this trade working for over 100 years. There’s one thing particular a couple of easy B-movie with a humble funds executed to perfection, with characters who make good choices making an attempt to out-wit one another and survive in tight quarters with a metaphorical ticking clock counting down the entire time. (The entire movie was shot in simply 13 days.) And with out giving something away, there finally ends up being slightly extra to “The Slim Margin” than initially meets the attention, which makes it much more satisfying than a simple model of this story may’ve been. I do know there are lots of of memorable train-centric movies, lots of them large and flashy, however this unassuming little thriller is among the perfect Hollywood ever produced.
I spoke slightly in regards to the movie on right this moment’s episode of the /Movie Day by day podcast, which you’ll be able to hearken to beneath:
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