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                         The Narrow Margin (1952)
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STARS...........: Charles McGraw, Marie Windsor, Jacqueline White
DIRECTOR........: Richard Fleischer
WRITERS.........: Earl Felton, Martin Goldsmith, Jack Leonard
GENRE...........: Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
IMDB............: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044954
RUNTIME.........: 1h 12mn
SIZE............: 3.44 GB
VIDEO CODEC.....: HEVC (Main10@L4)
BITRATE.........: 6640 Kbps (CRF)
RESOLUTION......: 1440x1080 (AI Upscaled)
ASPECT RATIO....: 1.33:1
FRAMERATE.......: 23.976 fps
AUDIO1..........: English AC3 1.0 192kbps
AUDIO2..........: Commentary with William Friedkin
SUBTITLES.......: ENG, FRE, SPA
SOURCE..........: NTSC DVD
ENCODE DATE.....: 2021-04-29


The Narrow Margin is generally considered a "model" B picture; some film buffs go farther than that, labelling this 1952 RKO suspenser as the best low-budget studio production ever made. Nail-hard detective Walter Brown (Charles McGraw) is assigned to protect gangster's widow Mrs. Neall (Marie Windsor) as she rides the train from Chicago to LA, en route to testifying at a grand jury. There's no love lost between the ill-tempered Neall and Brown, especially since Brown's partner (Don Beddoe) was killed by mobsters while shielding Neall from harm. On the train, Brown makes the acquaintance of a likeable woman (Jacqueline White) and her playful young son. He also comes in contact with a rather secretive fat man (Paul Maxey), who may well be a mob assassin. Not long before the train pulls into California, Brown is approached by small-time crook (Peter Brocco), who offers the detective a great deal of money if he'll permit Neall to be silenced. Brown appears to be tempted, but this is only a smokescreen to throw the crooks off the trail. The Narrow Margin was remade (and unnecessarily padded and attenuated) in 1990