Prison Train (1938)

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

I did not expect much at all, but I was pleasantly surprised by "Prison Train" (1938) in which director Gordon Wiles, of all people, makes such an ingenious use of his real locations, stock footage and second- string cast that the result is quite a thrilling film noir which can be favorably compared with "The Narrow Margin", despite the minuscule budget allotted to "Prison Train". Dorothy Comingore comes across as a pleasing heroine, while Peter Potter does okay as the obliging hero, but the movie's stand-out performance is delivered by Clarence Muse who makes the most of his best role ever as one of the villain's heavies on the train.Photographer Marcel Le Picard, who worked on nearly two hundred motion pictures (despite a four year break in the middle of his career, 1934-1937) also does some mightily impressive noirish work here.The film editing of Edward Schroeder is likewise a stand-out. Train buffs, of course, will need no encouragement to watch this movie, but they too will be thrilled far beyond their modest expectations. (Available on a quite presentable Alpha DVD).

Frankie is a big-shot mobster who is in charge of the numbers racket. Another big hood, Manny, works for Frankie. Frankie has a sister who is unaware of his career choice and Manny's boy won't take no for an answer and paws the lady--unaware of how mean and tough her brother is. Frankie naturally takes offensive and roughs up the guy--and accidentally kills him in the process. During the trial, Manny tries to kill Frankie and both end up being sentenced to Alcatraz. Manny vows that Frankie will die--sooner than later! Much of the movie is set aboard the train and there is a lot of tension as you know SOMETHING wrong is going to occur aboard this death train.Despite being made up of a no-name cast by a no-name studio, most of the film pretty good job. However, one guy plays a real smart-aleck and wow is he annoying--too annoying to be real. But apart from him, the film is loaded with tension and is well worth seeing--and a bit like the later film noir classic, "The Narrow Margin".

Entertaining despite it's low budget production values "Prison Train" is a "Narrow Margin" like suspense movie, made fourteen years earlier, about a man marked for death on his way to the "Big House". Being the number one man in the New York City numbers racket Frankie Terris, Fred Keating, suspects that his rival in crime gang boss Mannie Robbins, Alexander Leftwich, is turning states evidence against him. Making up his mind to get out of the rackets since he's drowning in cash,more money that he can ever spend, from his illegal activities Frankie decides to hand over his share of the business to Robbins and then go with his kid sister Louise, Dorothy Comingore, on a trip to Europe.Robbins son Joe, James Blakely, meets Louise at a get-together at the "Swing Club" where his dad and Frankie are to iron out their latest differences and Joe really gets hooked on Louise. At his suite Frankie spots Joe with his hands all over Louise and tells him to get lost and away from his sister if he knows whats good for him. Later Frankie follows Joe outside and after slugging it out with Joe Frankie smashes his brains in with a lead pipe killing him.It turned out that Frankie killed Joe on government property, the Post Office grounds,and is tried by the Federal Government and sentenced to life and sent to the "Rock", Alcatraz Island, to serve out his time that would be the rest of his natural life. Joe's dad Mannie Robbins want's Frankie to pay with his life and comes up with a plan to have him murdered before he get's there. Having a number of his hoods, including his top Harlem numbers man Sam, Clarense Muse, border the train Robbins plans to kill Frankie himself before the locomotive pulls into the San Francisco station. Also boarding the New York to San Francisco run is Louise who want's to see Frankie off for a last good-by just before he's sent away for good. Even more interesting is US Government Agent Bill Adams, Peter Potter, who's on he train to make sure that nothing happens to Frankie. Adams who's supposed to see to it that Frankie arrives safely to the "Rock" gets so interested in Louise that he completely forgets what he's on he train for in the first place. Which results in the movie's somewhat surprise ending. Robbins could have had Frankie killed almost as soon as he bordered the train with about a dozen of is hoodlums, including Sam disguised as a train steward, on board but waited until the train stooped in Kansas so he alone could board it and do the job himself.Frankie who at first looked as if he was going on vacation without a show of concern at all soon began to turn paranoid with close ups of his face looking like he was a spaced-out zombie as the train came closer and closer to it's final destination. I guess it must have been the cigarettes that he was constantly smoking which must have had something more then tobacco in them. Tightly directed and acted "Prison Train" delivers the goods and only the ending was a bit off and pulled the movie down a few notches. The fight between Frankie and Joe earlier in the movie was so low-keyed and serene, with both men looking like they were sparing with each other and pulling their punches, that for a moment you thought they were doing some kind of dance number until Frankie ended it all by cracking Joe's skull open with a pipe.

Considering its lowly production origins (Equity Pictures), this is a surprisingly tight, absorbing action picture with some good comic asides. Director Wiles, who also helmed several other fine B-pics (like The Gangster) keeps the film moving at a rapid pace without sacrificing character nuances and unexpected camera angles. The ending is a little abrupt, but still nifty. As always, Clarence Muse does an excellent turn with the little material provided in his pivotal part, and the comic relief gets off some good lines. Would make a fine double bill with The Narrow Margin or The Tall Target.