albertayler1

I finally saw Sleepers West (1941) which is based on a Frederick Nebel novel Sleepers East (1933), which I have not been able to obtain for comparison, adapted as a "Michael Shayne" vehicle as part of a series starring Lloyd Nolan. Thus I was immediately struck by the resemblance of the Sleepers East plot to Narrow Margin (1952) and its remake. A detective accompanies a not-so-innocent woman to the west coast to make sure she testifies against a criminal. She is hidden on the train and pursued by other criminals who wish to prevent her appearance at the trial.

No credit is given to Nebel or to the screenwriter of Sleepers West (1941). There was an earlier Sleepers East movie (1934) which portrays many of the details of the book that precede the train ride (which in Sleepers West are conveyed by the girl in a lengthy monologue). Sleepers East had Lester Cole and Oscar Levant among the screenwriters. Narrow Margin (1952) had Earl Felton, Martin Goldsmith, and Jack Leonard.

Narrow Margin gives no credit to Nebel or anyone else connected with the Sleepers East or Sleepers West films. The plots are very similar. Some details are different and there is "comic relief" in Sleepers West.

I thought some might be interested. This could merit further research.

I have seen two different versions of this "Mexican" film on the Fox Movie Channel (or its on demand version). The first time was the 1.33 version with no subtitles. While it's true that most of the Norte Americano characters (which in this case includes Von Sydow whose accent is very slight--he was reputed to have intentionally learned a mid-Atlantic version of English) have a limited or non-existent command of Spanish, you can't really understand what is going on without subtitles. The novel on which it is based notes that the Americans do not always understand what is going on but the dialog is in "English" anyway. A kind of stilted way of talking which suggests a translation. Also the Mexicans are really Indians except for the police chief who has been exiled from the big city and wants to get back. Even he might not understand what the Indians are saying among themselves. The second time I saw this film (on Fox Film channel, May 2016) it now had English subs and was letterboxed at 1.85 (though the opening title sequence clearly shows that this was a full Cinemascope frame originally!). I'd like to see this in HD (we don't get that for the Fox movie channel here) and a proper Cinemascope ratio. (TCM please) I would also recommend Michael Barrett's novel for richer detail which is hinted at in the film.

Another reviewer compared this film to "Treasure of the Sierra Madre". You could say that it falls into a certain subgenre which I call "a Mexican" like the Wild Bunch and other westerns or several film noirs that take place mostly in Mexico or a goodly number of other films and books which highlight our neighbor south as a place of danger, corruption, illicit behavior, serious crime, poverty, untold wealth, a place of refuge for those fleeing the law, etc. Mexico itself has had a first-class film industry which has had its ups and downs. Mexican noirs of the 40s and 50s are every bit as good as the Hollywood versions and laden with less censorship to boot!

I agree with another reviewer that there may have been more footage that didn't make it into the final cut which would have made elements of the story clearer. Certainly the ending is very abrupt. In any case this is a film that should be given the restoration treatment. Were it to happen it would probably have a much greater reputation. Perhaps the person who was in charge of production at the studio during the film who contributed some information in another review could tell us more about the process that led to its release. Maybe Von Sydow remembers something as well.

Worth seeing!

Let's get this out of the way. IMDb and the film itself do not credit a young Jack Elam as the thug Harry, who fails to do away with the principal characters. One of the spies later refers to him as "Harry". Elam looks almost ruggedly handsome here, not the messy, bugeyed, snaggletoothed psychotic he often portrayed in later years.

The real problem with this noirish road film is that the script is severely weakened from the plot and dialog of the novel "The Steel Mirror" by Donald Hamilton. The original novel had a very intricate plot that included psychological amnesia, guilt as a result of betrayal of resistance fighters in France in World WAr II, more fleshed out characters and motivations, etc. Kessler, the producer, director, and screenwriter failed to make anything of his material leaving the actors trying to salvage a dull script. Had this film been done by one of the noir specialists of the 40s it probably would have been a different film. If you can hunt down Hamilton's original version it is a fine read. I salute Sterling Hayden, Ruth Roman, and Werner Klemperer for their efforts.

Yes, of course it was your standard B-movie (the old-school B-movie) format. Beautiful young woman thrown into sinister, corrupt insane asylum (or psychiatric institute, etc.). Her relatives or others are conspiring to keep her there for financial reasons. So is the phony doctor director of the establishment. However there is one twist here. The narrator (with voice-over) at times is the corrupt orderly or attendant who molests patients and creates situations that will be blamed on the heroine to make her seem more insane. That's different! But it is not consistently used. Most of the story is told from the point of view of the heroine. Actually I didn't see the ending coming until quite late in the film....I would identify this as one of the those "Canadians." A film made in Canada with some American actors and several Canadians to meet the quota requirements for subsidy. The crew is mostly Canadian and it was produced in Canada to take advantage of cheaper production costs. There is no shame in this if it is good. This was reasonably well done. Michael Ironside is always good to watch. The others were professional. You can't expect too much from these things. It's bottom of the bill (today straight to video and cable) and does not aspire to more than that.

IMDb indicates Leader had a long career directing in TV and before that he was a prominent director of radio drama (Suspense, Murder at Midnight, etc.). While I have not seen any of the Bold Venture TV episodes, the radio version with Bogart and Bacall was superior radio. I suspect they were recycling some of the old radio scripts as the descriptions sound familiar. Perhaps someone could determine if there was anyone involved in the TV production that was also involved in the radio production which was owned by Bogart. Anyway it would be fun to see this. Wish someone would post it somewhere. I guess it is possible that I saw this as a child since I was an avid viewer of such programs and it was on film.

My recollection is that when I first saw this film (maybe at a drive-in) it was rated X, had a scene of male frontal nudity (Forster) and was actually first shown in theaters (some theaters anyway) under the title of Run, Shadow, Run. Can anyone verify this? I too saw the PG version once on TV years ago but last night saw the TV-MA (R?) version on Fox Movie Channel. This version seemed to have some scenes cut though I cannot be sure. A friend also told me at the time (he later became a film editor for Variety) that there was a trailer for the film that was a vicious diatribe against the studio for restricting the directorial control of Black. I was quite taken with the version I saw then, in part because I thought Black, the director of Pretty Poison, was an outstanding new director. Unfortunately his films after Pretty Poison have never lived up to it on subsequent viewings.