Railroaded! (1947)

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

Railroaded (1947)An almost amazing movie, well made, beautifully photographed, held back by a stiff script but still it manages. And it has a dark current that makes it both creepy and contemporary. Director Anthony Mann seems to have made a dozen great films that are just under the radar, noirs and westerns that have some edge to them to keep them from falling into the abyss of their genres.This is Mann at his mature earliest. He had made a few films in the earlier 40s, but this, along with "Desperate," marks his coming into his own. Yes, you might find too much of a formula at work here, but it's not derivative, just a little stilted in the dialog. And yes, you might ask, near the beginning, why the cops couldn't see how easy the frame up would be (anyone could have stolen the truck and committed the crime), but remember, this one fact was supported by several others, including an eyewitness confirmation. So, once over these humps, you are for a good ride.Who to watch for amongst these relative unknowns? John Ireland, most of all, for his bad guy personification, all charm and heartlessness, simultaneously. His girlfriend, played by Sheila Ryan, is his match, in a sharp performance also dripping with selfish cruelty, but tempered, critically, by doubt and remorse.The third star is the little known cinematographer Guy Roe, who must have been inspired by the young, rising director. The filming right from the opening, subtle crane shot of the beauty parlor facade is artfully gorgeous without becoming baroque the way Orson Welles had become (beautifully) by 1947 with "The Lady from Shanghai." Both are great examples of where the movies were just after the war, both with a dark, brooding, searching uncertainty. And both showing off the amazing movie-making machinery of post-War Hollywood. I say this because both films were smaller budget affairs, and yet they have uncompromised production.Give this a serious look. It's imperfect, for sure, but it has such high points, including some dark dark filming that is so kinetic and scary it surprised even an old film noir fan like me, you'll be glad.

Some people refer to PRC films as "Pretty Rotten Cinema", but like Monogram, in spite of its historical place on the ranks of "Z" Grade movie studios, it had a very interesting output of entertaining movies that are now coming to the light of day thanks to such DVD distributors such as Alpha and Kino. "Railroaded" is a typical post-war Film Noir where someone is accused of a crime they did not commit and the law must find the culprit with the help of various types of characters. At the beginning of the film, we meet the typically cynical film noir femme fatale, blonde Jane Randolph. She is a beautician who runs a bookie joint in the back room of her salon, and when it is robbed, a cop is killed after hearing one of Randolph's co-workers scream. A young man (Ed Kelly) is identified as the killer, even though Randolph's co-worker insisted the killer had a different hair color. Kelly is booked after he is fingered by the wounded robber (shot horrifyingly in the throat!), and his sister (Sheila Ryan) vows to prove his innocence. She begins to work with cop Hugh Beaumont (Ward Cleaver again in one of his typical film roles) as well as villainous John Ireland, who is involved with the shady Randolph and has kept her under wraps from the cops ever since the shooting. In a short span of 71 minutes, we see the shooting, the accusation, and the investigation, which leads to a rather typical conclusion. It's what happens during the investigation that is interesting and unique. The photography is definitely typical film noir, dark and moody, and filled with some twists that are both frightening and riveting. It's also fun to watch Randolph sink from wise-cracking and hardened to drunken desperation, one of the few times a femme fatale is allowed to crack enough early in the film to see what's underneath their hardboiled surface. She is great. It's pretty obvious throughout who the guilty party is and that they'll get their come-uppance, but how it happens is fun to watch. There is one sequence that did occur to me as senseless. That is when someone is shot at close range and manages to pull out the shooter's handkerchief which will identify them. The shooter had plenty of time to notice this, but steps over the body and leaves even though the handkerchief is lying plainly in site. Other than that and other predictable moments, it gets a higher rating thanks to crisp dialog, great photography, and rip-roaringly faced pacing.

This is another fine Mann noir – though I'd personally rank it lower than, say, RAW DEAL (1948) or SIDE STREET (1950).On the debit side are the weak male leads – Hugh Beaumont as the cop (though he's better here than in BURY ME DEAD [1947]) and Ed Kelly as the framed boy – and the somewhat familiar storyline. On the other hand, John Ireland (surprisingly top-billed) is impressive as the heavy and Jane Randolph (hair dyed blonde) makes for an interesting femme fatale – but, just as striking, is lovely Sheila Ryan playing the spunky if naïve leading lady.As befits the genre – in which Mann excelled, before changing course eventually with the psychological Western – the film is at its best when relying on shadowy lighting to create mood or highlight moments of suspense, menace and outbursts of violence (notably the final showdown between Beaumont and Ireland in a darkened bar-room). The film is available on an old and expensive bare-bones DVD from Kino, from which the DivX copy I watched was culled.

Anthony Mann directed some of the very best noirs of the 1940s and early 1950s.This one is brutal, hard-hitting, and unrelenting till its Hollywood ended. (The ending may have been tacked on. I don't know. But it works organically with the whole, unlike many others.)The problem for me with some of his movies, this one included, is that they are so dark they're almost impossible to see at times. Yes, it's atmospheric. But it's also frustrating.The literal noir in some -- not all -- of his movies reminds me of the staging of Wagner at the Metropolitan Opera. Yes, it's brooding and intense. But it's also really hard to see.