Boring, over-political, tech fuzed mess

An absolute waste of money

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

When somebody knows the time automatically without even having to look at a watch, they are somebody whose warnings should be heeded. For the female passenger on the seat next to him, listening to his story of a murderer on the run might seem like a minor time-killer, but when destiny calls, you will be there to answer the phone.The story the elderly man tells concerns the killer on the run (Charles Russell) who picks up a ride with a chatty salesman (Billy House) who drops him off at a boarding house run by Nana Bryant. Ironically, staying there is the kid (Dale Belding) who saw Russell drop the body on a departing train, afraid to tell because his rather abusive mother (Lee Patrick in an extremely obnoxious performance) will hit him. Russell hits it off with Bryant's pretty sexpot niece (Mary Beth Hughes), a 9:00 girl in a 5:00 town who longs for life outside the boarding house. Russell, worried that the kid knows more than he's telling, plots to silence him.Some outlandish plot developments diminish what might have been an intriguing poverty row film noir. Belding, the freckle-faced kid, initially comes off as goofy and meddlesome (getting giggles with his toothy grin), but as his dangerous situation increased, he begins to win more sympathy. Veteran stutterer Roscoe Ates only gets to do a bit of his stuttering act for a moment, playing a drunken resident of the boarding house whose obviously had one too many. That's a relief, considering that his over-kill of this schtick from movies of the 30's made this gag tired beyond amusement.There's a brilliant denouncement at the end which wraps up everything neatly and explains everything in short and sweet detail. As far as film noir goes, this bottom of the bill second feature may not be great, but elements of the plot's structure will keep you rivited none the less.

I caught this B film noir quickie on a public domain DVD too, and it held my interest for it's brief running time. Handsome but sinister-looking Charles Russell is the killer on the run from the law who hides out in a small-town boarding house. Trouble is, the only witness to his crime (murdering a woman at a train station, then putting the body on the departing train) is a young boy who is the son of the widowed owner of the boarding house! The kid idolises him first, then grows to fear him as he realises that the nice guy he met at the station is really a killer. The blonde, sultry niece wants him too, but for other reasons.It all runs along neatly, as well as can be expected for a B feature. Russell becomes genuinely frightening as we realise he will do anything to shut the kid up. The real interest of the film, however, is in the beginning and ending. It seems at first as if the events of the film are a flashback, as a pretty young woman listens to a fortune-teller not to hop off the train. But, after we've seen Russell's tale, we go back to the train scene, and we actually end up at the beginning again. The woman listening to the story runs off the train, ignoring the fortune-teller, to her death. But why? Is she so enthralled by his tale that she somehow wants it to happen to her? Is she so spooked that she thinks Russell has already killed someone (he hasn't)? She doesn't know him from a bar of soap, and the poor guy really does seem to have had fate tap him on the shoulder. But is he a ruthless bastard anyway, with his treatment of the innocent young boy? Hmm, fascinating

This rather dark film noir with its uneasy comics (Roscoe Ates, Nana Bryant, and Billy House who even repeats his checkers trick from The Stranger) and desperate heroine (Mary Beth Hughes), is further strengthened by the forceful performance of Charles Russell who manages to make his rather ambivalent drifter somewhat sympathetic. Admittedly, he is helped in this goal by the obnoxious loudmouth and light-on-brains Mike, who, whether by accident or design, is made even more repulsive than the screenplay requires by the over-enthusiastic acting of Dale Belding. Fortunately, when the script gives her a chance, Mary Beth Hughes comes to the rescue with her animated portrait of the girl who wants to escape her small town "prison".In keeping with the nocturnal atmosphere of the radio series, most of the action takes place at night. However, although the picture is big on atmosphere, despite its obviously limited budget, it is somewhat deficient in characterization and motivation. The screenplay overstates the one-dimensional comic interludes, but dwells little on the forces that drive the main characters. Why does Russell murder the girl? Is it an accident? Self-defense? The script hints at these factors. But why hint? And what is the background to this meeting? So many questions remain unanswered.

Late in the game film revisiting of the classic radio anthology series. Several years prior to this Universal released a series of films starring Lon Chaney Jr based on the series. In that series Chaney played a different character in each supernatural tinged story. Here there are no big stars. The story begins on a train where a strange man who seems to know the time with out a watch and knows the rain route having never been on it before, tells a fellow passenger the story of someone who got off a train when they were warned not to. The bulk of the film is the story told which concerns murder and attempts to cover it up with the clearly visible sting in the tail of how the story is a warning of future events. Its a good but unremarkable little film, one where you can pretty much guess whats going to happen (which is the reason I'm sparse on details, if I tell you any more than I have you'll figure it all out in about ten minutes). Its worth a look but its far from memorable because its so easy to know whats going to happen.