Railroaded! (1947)

railroadedIt’s really no wonder that the police in this film arrest the wrong guy during a robbery investigation. The great, seedy cinematography here is so dark and full of shadows that it’s amazing anyone here can properly see anything. It’s a good little noir though, quick, stark, and as simple as a bullet in the stomach. A slimy John Ireland is the guy who really did the robbery and blonde floozy Jane Randolph is his woman who helps perpetuate the frame-up. Hugh Beaumont is the straight-arrow police detective who’s digging for the truth. Pencil-necked Ed Kelly is the poor sap who got arrested and the uncomfortably matronly (though the film tries to sell her as sexy) Sheila Ryan is his sister out trying to prove his innocence.

One of director Anthony Mann’s early B-movies. It’s a minor film, but it breezes by at only seventy-two minutes. It also contains one of the best catfight scenes (between Jane Randolph and Sheila Ryan) of the 1940s.