Railroaded! (1947)

An unexpected masterpiece

A Major Disappointment

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

This is another fine Mann noir – though I'd personally rank it lower than, say, RAW DEAL (1948) or SIDE STREET (1950).On the debit side are the weak male leads – Hugh Beaumont as the cop (though he's better here than in BURY ME DEAD [1947]) and Ed Kelly as the framed boy – and the somewhat familiar storyline. On the other hand, John Ireland (surprisingly top-billed) is impressive as the heavy and Jane Randolph (hair dyed blonde) makes for an interesting femme fatale – but, just as striking, is lovely Sheila Ryan playing the spunky if naïve leading lady.As befits the genre – in which Mann excelled, before changing course eventually with the psychological Western – the film is at its best when relying on shadowy lighting to create mood or highlight moments of suspense, menace and outbursts of violence (notably the final showdown between Beaumont and Ireland in a darkened bar-room). The film is available on an old and expensive bare-bones DVD from Kino, from which the DivX copy I watched was culled.

Once I got into collecting film-noir movies, I had to have this one, so I paid big bucks for the VHS. I say that because it added to my disappointment. The film is okay, but if you have really high expectations before seeing this, you'll probably be let down, as I was. I liked this more on the second viewing when I knew what to expect.In the beginning, it dwells too long on the innocent man-being arrested theme but after that part is over, it picks up, but then bogs down again. For people who grew up watching "Leave It To Beaver" on TV, this film offers Hugh Beaumont as a main character. Since I did, I always find it interesting to see Beaumont in different roles. I also enjoyed ogling a pretty brunette, "Rosie," played by Sheila Ryan. The climax to this story was good, and it was surprisingly realistic. There was some decent film-noir photography in spots, too. Overall, okay but not what it's cracked up to be.

Hugh Beaumont, known to millions as Mr. Cleaver, stars with John Ireland in "Railroaded," a second feature that also features Sheila Ryan, Jane Randolph, and Ed Kelly. This is a fairly routine story of a young man framed for a murder/robbery he had nothing to do with. The robbery was an inside job, and the insider (Randolph) deliberately leads the police astray with her I.D. Poor Ed Kelly, who plays the wrongly accused man, is interrogated harshly with no lawyer present. Meanwhile, the police can't find the gun that killed the policeman on the scene or the stolen money. The accused's sister (Ryan) gets involved in trying to find out who did it. And of course, that would be the sinister John Ireland, a mean, violent man who's easy with his gun and fists.The thing that's unusual about this movie (for me anyway) is seeing women shot. Not only that, but Ryan and Randolph have an amazing catfight. The violence shown against the character played by Randolph is disturbing - but we've seen that before.I know some of the other comments mentioned that this is film noir and a real treasure - well, the print was pretty dark, but calling this a film noir is a stretch. Although well directed by Anthony Mann, this is a run of the mill B. As they say in the antiques world, "Just because it's old doesn't mean it's valuable" - well, just because this is old doesn't make it a classic.

This film has it all, great photography, well developed plot AND story, snappy dialogue and passable acting. I suppose I shouldn't say it has it "all" in that case, as the characters are not particularly round and because of that the acting is not always completely satisfying to me. But that doesn't prevent me from popping this movie in again and again, just because it's non-stop action and so so pretty to look at."Leave it Beaver" fans should see this, of course, but might be slightly disappointed that Beaumont is a bit more rigid than the sit-com serial allowed him to be - I wished for more warmth from his character, as I know he was capable of conveying. John Ireland, however, was brilliantly evil and his acting, at least, was top notch.