Sleepers West (1941)

Sorry, this movie sucks

Fantastic!

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Spoiler Alert. I must be the only person in the world who doesn't like Lloyd Nolan. I find him intensely annoying and totally unbelievable as private detective Michael Shayne (who originally was a hard-boiled type). And in "Sleepers West," he just seems inept. A guy is on trial for his life, but he's innocent, and the real murderer is the governor's son (I think -- this was a very confusing movie). But a single witness can blow everything open. Naturally all the forces of evil will do everything to keep this witness from testifying. So what does Shayne do to protect her on a train en route to the trial? He sticks her in a compartment, says "Keep your door locked," and leaves her totally unattended as he wanders around the train and swaps sarcasms with his old flame, an eager girl reporter who wants the story. The witness has no other protection. And evidently Shayne doesn't even carry a gun. If the witness was so vital and her life so endangered, why wouldn't she have been guarded by lots of people, including a couple of heavies armed to the teeth right there in the compartment with her? I also didn't buy the witness's abrupt change of heart, from a tough alcoholic who didn't care about saving a guy's life to a girl with a heart of gold. I would've given this mess one star, but I added a couple of stars because I love trains. If you want to see a vastly superior comedy train mystery, find "Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone."

In terms of suspense and action, this is one of the weaker entries in the Shayne series. Most of the storyline is confined to a train ride carrying a secret witness to a west coast trial, who Shayne is supposed to protect from those who don't want her to appear. Unfortunately, not much use is made of the confined conditions to build suspense. Then too, we know early on the identity of the witness and who's on board to silence her, so there's not much mystery, either.Fortunately, there is a sparkling cast, led by the breezy Nolan, along with a brassy Hughes and a bumptious Bari. In fact, Bari and Hughes are natural personality rivals, setting off some delicious undercurrents. Then there's an unheralded threesome of black porters, who contribute humorously to the overall lightweight mood. Look also for Louis Jean Heydt, a familiar face from that era, who does well with a larger than usual role. All in all, it's an entertaining 70-minutes, but not up to the series' trademark mix of suspense plus humor.

And I mean surprising in two different ways. Firstly, on a plot level: it seems for a long while that the action will take place on a speeding train for the entirety of the movie, until an unexpected event changes the course (no pun intended). Also, there are some people on that train who are not who they seem to be. But if you had trouble following the story in "Michael Shayne, Private Detective", don't worry, it's much easier to do that here. Secondly, it's surprising on a character level: I'm talking specifically about Mary Beth Hughes' and Louis Jean Heydt's characters, who have more depth than you'd expect for a 72-minute B-movie to achieve. Lloyd Nolan is even more comfortable in his second go-round as Michael Shayne, and Lynn Bari (with her good looks, characteristic voice, and spirited line delivery) makes a perfect screen partner for him. **1/2 out of 4.

"Sleepers West," originally titled "Sleepers East," is one of the most enjoyable of the seven Michael Shayne detective mysteries from Sol Wurtzel's B-picture unit at Fox. This entry, however, is not based on any of the scores of Shayne pulps written by Brett Halliday, but on a novel by Frederick Nebel, notable as the first star writer of the legendary BLACK MASK magazine in the 1920's. Although Nebel licensed his most famous character, Torchy Blaine, to the movies in the 1930's, he held Hollywood in contempt and avoided adapting any of his material to the screen.The film's premise has Shayne covertly escorting a secret surprise witness to a high-profile San Francisco trial aboard a cross-country passenger train. While trying to keep her location and identity a secret, he also has to contend with sinister on-board forces that are trying to silence her. The setting of a sleeping car has traditionally been an intriguing background for thrillers from Hitchcock's "The Lady Vanishes" to Sidney Lumet's "Murder on the Orient Express," and the restrictions of narrow dining cars and narrower sleeping berths, the incessantly repetitive sound of the train's mechanics, and the readily available supply of red herrings add an air of claustrophobic excitement to the proceedings.If the film's plot of a secret witness threatened by sinister forces sounds familiar, it is because that entire premise was later borrowed without attribution for the highly-acclaimed 1952 Noir thriller, "The Narrow Margin" directed by Richard Fleischer. It was remade in 1990 with Gene Hackman under the same title and credited the '52 film as the source. Despite the fact that "Sleepers West" is largely ignored and forgotten, as is the entire Shayne series, one must wonder why it receives so little attention.A possible explanation lies with Fox's conception of the Shayne persona. The original Halliday stories were largely ignored by the studio's screenwriters, and the tough, no-nonsense character of Shayne himself was reshaped for the wise-cracking, breezy style of actor Lloyd Nolan, who bears little resemblance to Halliday's hard-boiled gumshoe.No matter. "Sleepers West" and the other series entries are great escapist fun, filled with sharply witty dialogue and some of Hollywood's most idiosyncratic character actors at their peak, including Mary Beth Hughes, George Chandler, Eddie Brophy, and, in possibly the best role of his lengthy career, Louis Jean Heydt. "Sleepers West" also gives significant screen time to some of best black comedians of Hollywood's Golden Age as Pullman porters. Those of you who remember and appreciate the unsung talents of Mantan Moreland, Ben Carter (Moreland's old nightclub partner), Fred "Snowflake" Toones, and Sam "Deacon" McDaniel are in for an enjoyable 74 minutes.