The Narrow Margin

The Narrow Margin is a 1952 American film noir starring Charles McGraw and Marie Windsor. Directed by Richard Fleischer, the RKO picture was written by Earl Felton, based on an unpublished story written by Martin Goldsmith and Jack Leonard. The screenplay by Earl Felton was nominated for an Academy Award. A police detective plays a deadly game of cat-and-mouse aboard a train with mob assassins out to stop a slain gangster's widow before she can testify before a grand jury. Plot Detective Sergeant Walter Brown of the LAPD and his partner, Sergeant Gus Forbes, are assigned to protect Frankie Neall, a mob boss's widow, as she rides a train from Chicago to Los Angeles to testify before a grand jury. She also carries a payoff list that belonged to her murdered husband. The mob's hitmen do not know what she looks like. As the detectives and Mrs. Neall leave her apartment, they are waylaid by Densel, a mob assassin. Forbes is shot to death, and Densel, wounded by Brown, escapes. At the train station, Brown discovers that he has been followed by gangster Joseph Kemp. Each man knows the other is a mortal enemy. With the help of a conductor, Kemp comes into Brown's room under the pretense that he is looking for lost luggage.