Coming in at the beginning of the 1950's, this film is an extremely well made noir made on a low budget with a minimum of sets, and a cast of "B" actors which actually give a lot of verisimilitude to the film's plot.
Charles McGraw plays the tough cop transporting a mobster's spouse on a train so she can testify at an important criminal trial. The wife played by Marie Windsor is one tough cookie who McGraw basically can't stand. The action in the film comes from McGraw having to keep Windsor alive while a couple of mob hit men try to knock her off. The enclosed space on the train which is imaginatively photographed and staged, creates a lot of tension.
The director is Richard Fleischer at the start of his career before he moved on to bigger budgets and more prestigious assignments. The screenplay is by Earl Felton who would go on to write Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea and a good comedy called The Happy Time.
The running time is a tight 71 minutes.
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