I'm far from the first person to point out that trains are inherently cinematic. There's built-in narrative momentum to any story that takes place on a train: A giant vehicle is in motion, zooming from one location to another, and unlike planes, A) a train travels close enough to the ground that people can jump or be thrown off (a huge plot point in Steve McQueen's recent "Blitz"), and B) there's still just enough room for dozens of passengers to get up, walk around, interact, and even brawl if the situation calls for it. Video essayist Patrick H. Willems has a great recent video about this that I recommend checking out, but today, I want to talk about one particular train movie -- one of the best I've ever seen.

The film, which came out in 1952, is called "The Narrow Margin." Here's the premise: A couple of cops are...