Railroaded

Railroaded (1947)

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RAILROADED!

Reviewed by Heather Picker

Directed by Anthony Mann. Screenplay by John C. Higgins. Starring John Ireland, Sheila Ryan, Hugh Beaumont, Jane Randolph and Ed Kelly. 1947, 74 min., Not Rated.

Sultry Clara Calhoun (Jane Randolph, of Cat People) is a beautician and bookie; her boyfriend, Duke Martin (John Ireland), who is involved with the mob, plots with her to stage a robbery of her shop with a pal. Their plans go awry and Duke's partner, Cowie, and a cop, wind up dead. On his deathbed, Cowie points police in the wrong direction by implicating Steve Ryan (Ed Kelly). Detective Mickey Ferguson (Hugh Beaumont, also known as Ward Cleaver) investigates and arrests Ryan, and ends up falling for his sister, Rosie (Sheila Ryan). To prove her brother's innocence, Rosie gets dangerously close to Duke, who has been systematically killing those around him to protect himself. Rosie is next on his list.

Will Mickey save her in time? The answer to that is evident from the first time the two are in a room together. But in Anthony Mann's entertaining film noir, written by John C. Higgins from a story by Gertrude Walker, what happens along the way is surprisingly edgy and evocative of the pulp fiction it was inspired by. Well-paced and with good performances (by a cast of mostly unknown actors), Ireland's being most noteworthy, Railroaded is also confidently directed. Mann is better known for his later work, including Cimarron (1960) and El Cid (1961). Score by Alvin Levine, cinematography by Guy Roe.

DVD Details: Kino released Railroaded as part of their Noir: The Dark Side of Hollywood series with Hangmen Also Die and Ida Lupino’s The Hitch-Hiker. Priced at $29.95, it's a barebones disc with only menus, scene selection, and an insert containing passages from a vintage Variety review and the book Film Noir (Silver and Ward, the Overlook Press, 1979). The digitally remastered transfer is of sub-par quality, complete with grain, poor contrast, and nics and scratches but given the film’s low budget origins and the questionable condition of source materials I’m assuming that Kino, distributor of many lesser known pictures from the '20s and '30s, did the best they could. The mono soundtrack fares better; the score is occasionally strained but there is little static and the dialogue is clear.

The mono soundtrack, fortunately, is better. Again, it isn't as good as the soundtracks of the aforementioned releases, but, surprisingly, there is little static. The music is at times strained, but it is all audible, as is the clear dialogue.

Availability: Railroaded is available on video and DVD, as an individual title and as part of Kino's attractively priced film noir boxset.

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