Special Agent (1949)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

William C. Thomas

Writers:

Milton Raison (story)
Whitman Chambers (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

22 July 1949 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | History

Plot:

Johnny Douglas investigates a train robbery, committed by brothers Paul and Edmond Devereaux, in which Lucille Peters' father was killed.

Plot Keywords:

Train | Robbery | Murder | Railroad | Foreclosure

Cast

William Eythe	...	Johnny Douglas
Kasey Rogers	...	Lucille Peters (as Laura Elliot)
Paul Valentine	...	Edmond Devereaux
George Reeves	...	Paul Devereaux
Carole Mathews	...	Rose McCreary
Tom Powers	...	Chief Special Agent Wilcox
Raymond Bond	...	Sheriff Babcock
Frank Puglia	...	Grandfather Devereaux
Walter Baldwin	...	Pop Peters
Jeff York	...	Jake Rumpler
Virginia Christine	...	Mabel Rumpler
Robert Williams	...	Supt. Olmstead (as Robert B. Williams)
Joseph Granby	...	Sheriff Dodson
Morgan Farley	...	Dr. Bowen
John Hilton	...	Frank Kent

Runtime:

71 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #13192) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Chatsworth, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Pine-Thomas Productions

Trivia:

Kasey Rogers' film debut.

Tidy low budget programmer

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

This later entry from the Pine-Thomas unit, that made a lot of competent B pictures in the 1940's, adopts the pseudo-documentary style that came into fashion in the late 40's and 50's. Here William Eythe (The Oxbow Incident, Colonel Effingham's Raid etc.) plays a young railroad detective with a rural California assignment, who leads an investigation into a daring daylight train robbery. Mysterious thieves bomb a train and steal several sacks of mail, one containing a large payroll shipment. The thieves get away almost undetected except that one man's mask drops causing his partner to shoot four potential witnesses. The Alpha Video print is very washy and somewhat grainy, just barely watchable. George Reeves (TV's Superman of the 1950's) gets top billing on the box, but actually his performance does not stand out. Eythe, who never really made it, gives a solid performance, and is supported by a number of very good character actors who make the best of some occasionally clunky dialog. Paul Valentine who played one of Kirk Douglas's henchmen in the classic noir Out of the Past gives the most interesting performance as a charming and self-righteous bad guy with a habit of eliminating witnesses. The film becomes a blend of police procedural and Western, but it is competently done and the robbery sequences morethan that. The story holds your attention, even if it is nothing special. The score by the French composer Lucien Caillet is good but intrusive. The direction is efficient. The narrator intones with the right authority. This tribute to railroad detectives is worth the look.