The Narrow Margin - Warner Archive Collection

It was the little engine that could. The Narrow Margin, a bargain-basement B movie that takes place largely aboard a transcontinental train, wasn't expected to generate more than a mild blip on the box office radar, but this tense, tidy, cleverly plotted film noir captured the fancy of audiences and became a cinematic juggernaut, raking in more money than any other 1952 RKO release. Director Richard Fleischer's railroad adventure continues to chug along to this day, maintaining its grip on discriminating film fans and outclassing a splashy 1990 remake with Gene Hackman and Anne Archer.

The genius of The Narrow Margin lies in its simplicity and efficiency. While noir elements abound, they never steal focus from the tightly constructed narrative, which earned an Oscar nomination for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story. The plot chronicles the efforts of Detective Sergeant Walter Brown (Charles McGraw) to safely transport mob widow Frankie Neall (Marie Windsor) from Chicago to Los Angeles so she can testify against her late husband's crooked cronies. The sassy Frankie is a piece of work, a hard-to-handle, mouthy dame who jeopardizes the mission at every turn. Once aboard the train, Walter tries to keep Frankie's identity a secret and the hitmen dispatched to kill her at bay, a task that's complicated by his involvement with passenger Ann Sinclair (Jacqueline White), a young mother with a nosy, rambunctious son.

Clocking in at a brisk 72 minutes, The Narrow Margin never takes its foot off the gas and delivers a couple of nifty twists along its narrative route. The cramped confines of sleeper compartments, dining and club cars, and slim aisles produce a claustrophobic atmosphere that ramps up suspense. The innovative use of a handheld camera - a novelty at the time - mimics the rattling and rumbling of the unsteady train and allows cinematographer George E. Diskant to navigate narrow spaces, giving viewers the illusion of train travel and masking the fact that the movie was mostly shot on a soundstage.

Fleischer, who would go on to helm such masterfully crafted, creepy thrillers as Compulsion, The Boston Strangler, and 10 Rillington Place, cut his teeth on The Narrow Margin and managed to withstand the incessant meddling and maddening indecision of RKO studio chief Howard Hughes, who allowed the movie to languish on the shelf for almost two years while he dithered over potential rewrites and whether to scrap the footage with McGraw and Windsor and replace them with Robert Mitchum and Jane Russell. Somehow the movie managed to emerge relatively unscathed, and its success substantially raised Fleischer's reputation, leading to his employment by Disney to direct 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea two years later.

The lack of big-name actors also contributes to the movie's success and realistic feel. McGraw is a familiar face; he earned his stripes playing countless second bananas and scowling heavies, but The Narrow Margin at last puts him in the spotlight in a starring role. His square-jawed, just-the-facts-ma'am demeanor makes him a perfect fit for the no-nonsense part, and he tangles with the strident Windsor to perfection. Perhaps best known for Stanley Kubrick's classic heist film The Killing, Windsor goes to town here, filing a magnetic performance that brims with brash attitude and trashy sex appeal.

The Narrow Margin is the type of film that holds up over multiple viewings. A few dated aspects betray its era, but the story and its presentation are timeless. Sometimes the best gifts come in small packages, and like Detour, Raw Deal, and Gun Crazy, The Narrow Margin belies its miniscule budget and packs a huge punch. They don't make 'em like this anymore, but I sure wish they did.

Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray
The Narrow Margin arrives on Blu-ray packaged in a standard case. Video codec is 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 and audio is DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono. Once the disc is inserted into the player, the static menu without music immediately pops up; no previews or promos precede it.

A brand new HD master struck from a 4K scan of the original camera negative yields a spectacular 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 transfer that makes this low-budget B movie look slicker and richer than ever before. Grain is evident, but it enhances the narrative's hard-boiled tone, preserves the feel of celluloid, and faithfully honors the cinematography of George E. Diskant, who shot a number of RKO film noirs in the late 1940s and early 1950s, including They Live by Night, The Racket, and On Dangerous Ground. Excellent clarity and contrast, dense blacks, and a healthy grayscale produce a vibrant, detailed image that immerses us in the train's claustrophobic atmosphere. Top-notch shadow delineation heightens the noir accents, and sharp close-ups showcase sweat, facial hair, and Wilson's angular features. No dirt, marks, or scratches mar the pristine print and no digital anomalies could be detected. I don't own the 2005 DVD, but it's impossible to imagine The Narrow Margin looking any better than it does here. If you're a fan, you'll definitely want to upgrade.

The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track outputs robust sound that greatly contributes to the movie's tense mood. Sonic accents like gunshots, fisticuffs, and shattering glass are potent, while atmospherics like the omnipresent rumbling of the train and footsteps crunching on concrete are crisp. There's no music score, but the incidental music that crops up at various times exhibits a nice fullness of tone. All the dialogue is easy to comprehend and no age-related hiss, pops, or crackle intrude.

Warner Archive imports the audio commentary and trailer from the 2005 DVD, and adds a vintage short subject and Looney Tunes cartoon.

• Audio Commentary by film director William Friedkin, with archival audio interview excerpts of director Richard Fleischer
• Vintage Short: So You Never Tell a Lie (SD, 10 minutes) - This episode of the long-running Joe McDoakes series finds Joe (George O'Hanlon) trying to placate both his wife and boss while fighting off the advances of the office siren. He gets himself in quite a pickle, of course, and as usual it doesn't end well for him.
• Vintage Cartoon: The Super Snooper (HD, 7 minutes) - Daffy Duck stars in this amusing Looney Tunes cartoon with film noir accents as a private detective who conducts a murder investigation at a ritzy mansion and tangles with a femme fatale duck who looks like a prototype for Jessica Rabbit.
• Theatrical Trailer (SD, 2 minutes) - The film's original preview promises non-stop action on a cross-country thrill ride.

B-movies don't get much better than this. The Narrow Margin takes a simple story and beefs it up with plenty of action, atmosphere, and tension. This classic, low-budget film noir has been given a big makeover by Warner Archive, with a gorgeous transfer struck from a 4K scan of the original camera negative and remastered audio. All aboard for one helluva train ride. Highly Recommended. 

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