I am removed from the primary particular person 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 leap 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 scenario requires it. (Fortunately, there are many motion motion pictures the place the scenario does certainly name for it, like Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man 2.”) Video essayist Patrick H. Willems has a great recent video about this that I like to recommend testing, however in the present day, I wish to speak about one explicit prepare film — the most effective I’ve ever seen.
The movie, which got here out in 1952, is known as “The Slim Margin.” This is the premise: A few cops are tasked with accompanying a murdered gangster’s widow on a cross-country prepare experience so she will be able to testify in opposition to the gang, however the mobsters have despatched assassins out to kill her earlier than she will be able to convey the entire group down. A lot of the film — which is simply 71 minutes lengthy, by the best way — 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% score on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes would not listing many opinions from the period (most are from this century, trying again on the film), so its 100% score 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 admire the movie, too: In reality, it ended up on /Film’s list of underrated film noir movies just some years in the past.
That is the kind of movie I like to advocate to people who find themselves inquisitive about older motion pictures, however aren’t positive the place to start out. Positive, it is necessary to take a look at the classics, however motion pictures like this one — extremely well-constructed thrillers with out a trace of aspiration past their means — are what’s saved 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 sensible choices attempting 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 a little bit extra to “The Slim Margin” than initially meets the attention, which makes it much more satisfying than an easy model of this story may’ve been. I do know there are tons of of memorable train-centric films, a lot of them massive and flashy, however this unassuming little thriller is among the perfect Hollywood ever produced.
I spoke a little bit in regards to the movie on in the present day’s episode of the /Movie Day by day podcast, which you’ll take heed to beneath:
You possibly can subscribe to /Movie Day by day on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and ship your suggestions, questions, feedback, issues, and mailbag subjects to us at bpearson@slashfilm.com. Please go away your identify and basic geographic location in case we point out your e-mail on the air.
I am removed from the primary particular person 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 leap 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 scenario requires it. (Fortunately, there are many motion motion pictures the place the scenario does certainly name for it, like Sam Raimi’s “Spider-Man 2.”) Video essayist Patrick H. Willems has a great recent video about this that I like to recommend testing, however in the present day, I wish to speak about one explicit prepare film — the most effective I’ve ever seen.
The movie, which got here out in 1952, is known as “The Slim Margin.” This is the premise: A few cops are tasked with accompanying a murdered gangster’s widow on a cross-country prepare experience so she will be able to testify in opposition to the gang, however the mobsters have despatched assassins out to kill her earlier than she will be able to convey the entire group down. A lot of the film — which is simply 71 minutes lengthy, by the best way — 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% score on Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes would not listing many opinions from the period (most are from this century, trying again on the film), so its 100% score 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 admire the movie, too: In reality, it ended up on /Film’s list of underrated film noir movies just some years in the past.
That is the kind of movie I like to advocate to people who find themselves inquisitive about older motion pictures, however aren’t positive the place to start out. Positive, it is necessary to take a look at the classics, however motion pictures like this one — extremely well-constructed thrillers with out a trace of aspiration past their means — are what’s saved 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 sensible choices attempting 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 a little bit extra to “The Slim Margin” than initially meets the attention, which makes it much more satisfying than an easy model of this story may’ve been. I do know there are tons of of memorable train-centric films, a lot of them massive and flashy, however this unassuming little thriller is among the perfect Hollywood ever produced.
I spoke a little bit in regards to the movie on in the present day’s episode of the /Movie Day by day podcast, which you’ll take heed to beneath:
You possibly can subscribe to /Movie Day by day on Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, and ship your suggestions, questions, feedback, issues, and mailbag subjects to us at bpearson@slashfilm.com. Please go away your identify and basic geographic location in case we point out your e-mail on the air.
