The Narrow Margin

An edge-of-your-seat thriller that clocks in at a lean-as-hell 71 minutes.

This movie was a pleasant surprise. Really good use of the train scenario to build claustrophobia and tension, with some neat photographic tricks and an unexpected twist ending. Short, but sweet.

Sometimes simplicity is an asset for a film, if executed correctly, and that's the case here. Following a quick set up we're treated to a tense hour of tight spaces and suspense aboard a train with slight interludes of levity. It works really well and has some well executed twists.

You just can't go wrong with suspense on a train. Impossible.

With so much happening in its 71 minute runtime it's impossible not to be on the edge of your seat the entire time. It's also very impressive the number of notable characters introduced throughout the film, and the twists and turns that follow. The dialogue is fantastic, the story is simple but told very well, and overall incredibly entertaining.

The twist caught me by surprise, but I thought it was a shame the film ended so quickly afterwards and the consequences of the revelation were essentially ignored. Apart from that it was very good; a brisk, economical thriller with a simple premise, well-written characters and sharp dialogue. Marie Windsor steals the show as the hard-nosed moll, played with just a hint of vulnerability. Some good action sequences, too, including a great fight scene in a cramped train carriage.

Makes great use of the train setting, the results are suspenseful and often inventive. It seems to be put in the film noir category, but I wouldn't say it has many of the noir characteristics. There are some excellent twists and surprises which make it a first-rate thriller though. The main drawback is McGraw, who lacks the charisma to be a compelling leading man.

Near-excellent, minimalistic thriller with a satisfying, twisty-turny plotline.

Fast-paced, highly entertaining piece of great noir.

The conclusion leaves some open gaps, but it's ok, for a short film that keeps its action all the way down until the last minute.

Decent thriller with all the 50s cliche hard-boiled cops, and even a railway detective! Not sure the plot actually makes sense, but still much better than what they serve today in the genre. Watch how they send messages from the running train: not by radio..

Intriguing "cat and mouse"-noir.

Viewed March 16, 2021. Running a tight 71 minutes, the simple premise leaves plenty of room for twists and all of the characters are well-drawn, with plenty of snappy dialogue to accentuate the movie's general sense of cynical detachment. Fleischer is so good at the close-quarters action scenes that you're disappointed when the train makes a stop and all of the passengers step outside for a bit.

Marie Windsor sells this movie as she did in "The Killing". Surprisingly good for a film of this type.

One of those '50s budget thrillers that knows how to use its shoebox-sized sets. Very good, even if you've already seen the remake

Uniquely raspy. Great opening scene (with the two guys in the car). All sorts of funny noir lines, like: "I think I'm gonna be sick"/"Use your own sink." Inescapably claustrophic--and even 3-Stoogey in places. Ultimately I suppose a bit much ado about nothing--but still fun. (That kid was a human poodle.)

Pretty 'aight. Very fast paced 'noiry' film. Trains are great for suspense, but Hitchcock did it better in 'The Lady Vanishes'

sahit, tanik, tanik koruma programi, polis, mafya baglantili kisi, tren (filmin %90'ı trende geciyor) ikili calisan polis (mafya esi olan kadin esi hakkinda ifade verecektir. İki polis korumasinda ifade verecegi yere götürülür. İlk anda polislerden biri catismada ölür. Diger polis tanigi korumaya devam eder. Büyük bir sirket ise tanigin elinde ki rüsvet listesinin elindedir. Trende kovalamaca baslar.) IYI KARA FILM

Under appreciated noir that really holds up despite some shoddy acting and, at times, cheesy dialogue. The entire situation and premise is just great, right up my alley. Even features a few twists and the run time is short and doesn't waste a second of film, worth seeing.

Compact and straightforward with snappy dialogue. A nice watch.

This is an extremely gritty and tense thriller that uses the confined spaces of the train extremely well. Richard Fleischer had a real talent for deliver tense, streamlined genre fare, and this is one of his best early films.

Interesting plot, interesting characters, fast paced, with a few unexpected twists, and a refreshing lack of music. On the downside, the script isn't well enough thought out to thoroughly maintain believability, especially during some of the action scenes: The policeman is too often reckless, and at one point a seasoned mobster makes demands even while clearly cornered, and there is more...

With distinctive characters, a well-utilised setting and a couple of neat twists, this ably establishes itself as a cut above the average B-movie noir in almost every department. There's not a scrap of fat on it either, with the brief runtime and breakneck pace ensuring that the tension is sustained throughout.

Nicely handled B noir thriller. Cheap and fast, as it should be.

Extremely entertaining, efficient noir that packs a lot into its 71 minutes without ever feeling rushed. It requires suspension of disbelief (how does the criminal organization not know what their former boss's wife looked like?), but for what was made as a B movie, it packs a good A movie's worth of entertainment. So good that RKO apparently considered reshooting it with Mitchum/Russell as an A picture. The (Oscar nominated) screenplay is excellent and there's a legitimately surprising twist.

Great trainoir! Only thing separating this from a Hitchcock thriller was a more glamorous leading guy than Charles McGraw. Not that McGraw did poorly. He made the effort to be the tough guy he was supposed to be portraying, and years later would play supporting character in a real Hitchcock movie. This Richard Fleischer directed suspense thriller gets praise for it's tight camera work, making use of tight spaces to create it's excitement. And it certainly works! Cool and snappy crime picture!

Solid thriller that held up for me--although I suspect that some modern viewers may find the plot developments and suspense a little too mild and unexciting (no high tech fx or complicated stunts). For me all the details came together quite nicely and at a little over 70 minutes, it's not a high investment of my time.

Perfect noir. Expanded (and early) version of North By Northwest train sequence. Also may have inspired some westerns: Anthony Mann's The Naked Spur and Budd Boetticher's "Ranown Cycle" films. The most beautiful thing about the movie is that the policemen always make mistakes, ordinary and amateur people. not familiar types.