Train movies are usually kind of fun. Everything is tick-tocking back and forth while the train is underway, so there is a sense of constant motion, of imminence in each scene. Also, you get to see the scenery flashing by, which you don't see in an airplane or aboard a ship. And the train can make multiple stops, with something new cropping up each time, opportunities and missed opportunities, which is likewise difficult with airplanes and ships. The train, further, encloses spaces with varied characteristics -- there are seats, compartments, sleeping berths with curtains drawn across them, dining cars, an observation platform on the caboose, a baggage car, a locomotive with a greasy engineer. Put these all together, along with the limited expense involved in a mockup of a train, and it's all pretty appealing. This one is a rather typical noir set aboard such a vehicle in 1861. It has political undertones too. Nobody believes the hero. As is so often the case he finds himself pursued by both the police and the would-be assassins.
The villainy shifts shape. There are lots of shadows. Too many shadows in fact, except for the one or two brief outdoor daytime scenes. It always seems to be nightime aboard the train, whatever time it may be outside. The acting is competent, with Will Geer doing quite well in the part of the conductor, and Ruby Dee a beautiful young woman. It ends happily.
Well, it had to end happily, really. How can you make a movie that ends up with Lincoln being assassinated in 1861? Actually, Pinkerton did smuggle Abe into Washington, with a set of whiskers newly grown for the occasion, which he kept for the rest of his life. But Pinkerton also went on to serve as head honcho of intelligence during Lincoln's administration and lord only knows how many lives were lost through his consistent overestimations of Confederate strength. He gave McLellan all the reason he needed to develop a case of "the slows." Abe should have thanked Pinkerton, shaken his hand at Union Station, and wished him well. Then maybe appointed John Kennedy in his place. One wonders, where are today's Lincolns? Some of our modern presidents give the impression that they could barely read the Gettysburg address, never mind write it. What a calculated and beautifully framed set of ideas in those two hundred and forty-some words. Gary Wills has a neat book on the subject.
The villainy shifts shape. There are lots of shadows. Too many shadows in fact, except for the one or two brief outdoor daytime scenes. It always seems to be nightime aboard the train, whatever time it may be outside. The acting is competent, with Will Geer doing quite well in the part of the conductor, and Ruby Dee a beautiful young woman. It ends happily.
Well, it had to end happily, really. How can you make a movie that ends up with Lincoln being assassinated in 1861? Actually, Pinkerton did smuggle Abe into Washington, with a set of whiskers newly grown for the occasion, which he kept for the rest of his life. But Pinkerton also went on to serve as head honcho of intelligence during Lincoln's administration and lord only knows how many lives were lost through his consistent overestimations of Confederate strength. He gave McLellan all the reason he needed to develop a case of "the slows." Abe should have thanked Pinkerton, shaken his hand at Union Station, and wished him well. Then maybe appointed John Kennedy in his place. One wonders, where are today's Lincolns? Some of our modern presidents give the impression that they could barely read the Gettysburg address, never mind write it. What a calculated and beautifully framed set of ideas in those two hundred and forty-some words. Gary Wills has a neat book on the subject.