CONNECTION TO PREVIOUS ENTRY: Glenn Ford
SOURCE: Personal Collection, Kino Lorber Blu Ray
STARRING: Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, Broderick Crawford
CO-STARS: Edgar Buchanan, Kathleen Case
DIRECTOR: Fritz Lang
COMPOSER: Daniele Amfitheatrof
STUDIO: Columbia
SUMMARY: Jeff Warren (Ford) is a Korean War veteran who has just returned to town and resumed his position as a train engineer for Central National railroad. He hauls passenger trains and streamliners. His co-worker and friend is Alec Simmons (Buchanan). Prior to leaving the war, Jeff became close with Alec’s family, especially his daughter, Ellen (Case). When Jeff arrives at Alec’s home to resume being a boarder, he is surprised to see that the young, gawky pigtailed teenager he left behind has grown-up into a curvaceous young woman. Thankfully, the film does not have Jeff pursue Ellen. Instead, Jeff becomes interested in Vicki Buckley (Grahame), a woman he meets on the train. Vicki is married to the abusive Carl (Crawford). How did Carl score a woman like Vicki, anyway? A hard-drinking and violent man who forces his wife to use her family connections and influence to win back his job. Not surprisingly, Carl has trouble holding down a job as his temper and mouthiness leads to him being fired by his boss, Owens. When Vicki returns home after 5 hours of talking to Owens, Carl naturally assumes that she’s cheated on him. Knowing that Owens will be on the same train that he and Vicki will be taking, Carl forces her to arrange for a meeting with Owens in his sleeping car drawing room. Owens and Vicki meets and Carl murders him. While trying to escape, Carl spots Jeff and has Vicki distract him while he escapes. While Jeff is tied up with Vicki, they start to fall for one another and pursue a relationship. Their relationship seems pretty red-hot until Vicki wants Jeff to kill Carl.
FAVORITE PART(S):
1) Vicki’s reaction to learning that Jeff did not follow through on her plan of him killing Carl.
2) The Jeff and Vicki relationship is really the highlight of the film.
3)Ellen’s ridiculous bullet bra that she wears around the house. I’m so happy that she and Jeff were not paired up as a couple.
BEST QUOTE(S):
VICKI (upset that Jeff didn’t kill Carl): You’ve killed before!
JEFF: Before? Oh the war, huh. I’d almost forgot. You thought I could do it because of that, huh? Well, there’s a difference. In the war you fire into the darkness…something moving on a ridge, a position, a uniform, an enemy. But a man coming home helpless, drunk…that takes a different kind of killing.
VICKI: Yes, and a different kind of man.
ELLEN: What would you men do if there were no women around to sew buttons on?
ALEC: If there were no women around, we wouldn’t need any buttons!