"The Tall Target" (1951 MGM) starring Dick Powell and Adolph Menjou Is A Great "Thriller On A Moving Train" Movie! "Moving train movies" always work, and this is a good example.
Abe Lincoln, elected but not yet in office, tries to sneak into Washington DC and must get past southern sympathetic and very hostile Baltimore Maryland USA on a train......assassins wait to shoot him during a planned Lincoln whistle stop speech from the rear of his train stopping briefly in Baltimore Maryland USA on its way to to Washington DC.
Most of the movie takes place aboard the train, and most scenes show the passing scenery from the train windows.....the movie takes place mostly in the inside of the train's passenger compartments.
Train movies are worth studying and comparing....."The Lady Vanishes" (1937 UK) starring Michael Redgrave, "A Hard Day's Night" (1964 United Artists) starring the Beatles, "North By Northwest" (1959) starring Cary Grant, "The Thirty Nine Steps" (1935 Gaumont) starring Robert Donat.....all great train movies which "move" because they take place in a visibly moving train (airplane movies can't compete with moving train movies, and neither can ocean liner and "ship" movies).
Train movies require very good actors, and "The Tall Target" (1951 MGM) starring Dick Powell, Adolph Menjou, and Will Geer deliver the "good actor goods" in first class style.
Train movies are an excuse for many facial closeups, and prolonged conversation and dialog sequences where two main actors in a small space (a train compartment, most often) talk back and forth, and have to sound interesting, convincing, and at the same time be visually interesting (i.e. the camera must "like" the actors.....put another way, the main actors must have "star quality" in train movies).
Train movies also provide great chances for interesting and unusual character actors.....weird people traveling on the train main characters are stuck with....trains are claustrophobic, part of their charm and and dramatic usefulness in "train movies." Eccentric old ladies, obnoxious yet precocious children, beautiful ladies of various types, entertainers, uniformed soldiers......an excuse to use all the costumes in the famous Western Costume Co. (Hollywood) storage tower on Melrose Ave. located in Hollywood, Calif. USA. An excuse to beef up the monotonous, predictable scenery on trains, especially older ones usually dull and dark and claustrophobic.
"The Tall Target" (1951 MGM) takes place almost completely on board the insides of a moving passenger train, right to the end of the movie....the train is still moving as it enters 1861 Washington DC USA and the final "The End, Made In Hollywood USA, MGM Studios" credit flashes on the screen (BTW, MGM was located in Culver City, California, far away from Hollywood, Caifornia....not even a short automobile drive away....far away!)
It's a good "moving train movie," and is worth seeing and comparing to other movies of its interesting, always successful type.
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Written by Tex Allen, SAG-AFTRA movie actor. Visit WWW.IMDb.Me/TexAllen for more information about Tex Allen.
Tex Allen's email address is TexAllen@Rocketmail.Com.
See Tex Allen Movie Credits, Biography, and 2012 photos at WWW.IMDb.Me/TexAllen. See other Tex Allen written movie reviews....almost 100 titles.... at: "http://imdb.com/user/ur15279309/comments" (paste this address into your URL Browser)
Abe Lincoln, elected but not yet in office, tries to sneak into Washington DC and must get past southern sympathetic and very hostile Baltimore Maryland USA on a train......assassins wait to shoot him during a planned Lincoln whistle stop speech from the rear of his train stopping briefly in Baltimore Maryland USA on its way to to Washington DC.
Most of the movie takes place aboard the train, and most scenes show the passing scenery from the train windows.....the movie takes place mostly in the inside of the train's passenger compartments.
Train movies are worth studying and comparing....."The Lady Vanishes" (1937 UK) starring Michael Redgrave, "A Hard Day's Night" (1964 United Artists) starring the Beatles, "North By Northwest" (1959) starring Cary Grant, "The Thirty Nine Steps" (1935 Gaumont) starring Robert Donat.....all great train movies which "move" because they take place in a visibly moving train (airplane movies can't compete with moving train movies, and neither can ocean liner and "ship" movies).
Train movies require very good actors, and "The Tall Target" (1951 MGM) starring Dick Powell, Adolph Menjou, and Will Geer deliver the "good actor goods" in first class style.
Train movies are an excuse for many facial closeups, and prolonged conversation and dialog sequences where two main actors in a small space (a train compartment, most often) talk back and forth, and have to sound interesting, convincing, and at the same time be visually interesting (i.e. the camera must "like" the actors.....put another way, the main actors must have "star quality" in train movies).
Train movies also provide great chances for interesting and unusual character actors.....weird people traveling on the train main characters are stuck with....trains are claustrophobic, part of their charm and and dramatic usefulness in "train movies." Eccentric old ladies, obnoxious yet precocious children, beautiful ladies of various types, entertainers, uniformed soldiers......an excuse to use all the costumes in the famous Western Costume Co. (Hollywood) storage tower on Melrose Ave. located in Hollywood, Calif. USA. An excuse to beef up the monotonous, predictable scenery on trains, especially older ones usually dull and dark and claustrophobic.
"The Tall Target" (1951 MGM) takes place almost completely on board the insides of a moving passenger train, right to the end of the movie....the train is still moving as it enters 1861 Washington DC USA and the final "The End, Made In Hollywood USA, MGM Studios" credit flashes on the screen (BTW, MGM was located in Culver City, California, far away from Hollywood, Caifornia....not even a short automobile drive away....far away!)
It's a good "moving train movie," and is worth seeing and comparing to other movies of its interesting, always successful type.
---------------
Written by Tex Allen, SAG-AFTRA movie actor. Visit WWW.IMDb.Me/TexAllen for more information about Tex Allen.
Tex Allen's email address is TexAllen@Rocketmail.Com.
See Tex Allen Movie Credits, Biography, and 2012 photos at WWW.IMDb.Me/TexAllen. See other Tex Allen written movie reviews....almost 100 titles.... at: "http://imdb.com/user/ur15279309/comments" (paste this address into your URL Browser)