William Eythe is Johnny Douglas, novice railroad special agent assigned to the middle of nowhere, the boondocks as they call it condescendingly. That's what happens to the novices before they get the frenzied burst of activity for the big cities, and usually what happens is that they sit around, drink too much coffee, flirt with the women, and complain about being bored. But that's about to change for agent Eythe as the train approaching the station he works in is suddenly robbed, resulting in murder.
Eythe, chief agent Tom Powers and local sheriff Raymond Bond begin a thorough investigation, questioning everybody, including experts on evidence which has been found, and this leads them to the identity of the two suspects, brothers Paul Valentine and George Reeves, one violent and unpredictable, and the other basically a follower and quite slow witted. They are made aware of the investigation by the girlfriend of the more volatile brother ("Bewitched's" Kasey Rogers, billed as Laura Elliott), who works in the station. The brothers' grandfather Frank Puglia also lends a land in locating the two which leads to some frenzied searching and a confrontation in the dead of night which promises to turn deadly.
As most films of this nature are made, this is done as a true crime story complete with narrator, and that is done tightly with a minimal amount of cliches and trite dialog. Made by the independent producing team at Pine/Thomas and released through Paramount, this is standard fair for the body of work they made throughout the 1940's, yet perhaps a bit more violent and gritty. Available prints are in much need of restoration with the night scenes extremely dark and with a sort of green hue that makes the film at times difficult to watch and often hard to hear. The acting is decent, if not remarkable, although some of the line readings seemed force. Puglia is touching as the grandfather, and Eythe determined and strong as the agent who realizes that he needs to be careful about what he wishes for.
Eythe, chief agent Tom Powers and local sheriff Raymond Bond begin a thorough investigation, questioning everybody, including experts on evidence which has been found, and this leads them to the identity of the two suspects, brothers Paul Valentine and George Reeves, one violent and unpredictable, and the other basically a follower and quite slow witted. They are made aware of the investigation by the girlfriend of the more volatile brother ("Bewitched's" Kasey Rogers, billed as Laura Elliott), who works in the station. The brothers' grandfather Frank Puglia also lends a land in locating the two which leads to some frenzied searching and a confrontation in the dead of night which promises to turn deadly.
As most films of this nature are made, this is done as a true crime story complete with narrator, and that is done tightly with a minimal amount of cliches and trite dialog. Made by the independent producing team at Pine/Thomas and released through Paramount, this is standard fair for the body of work they made throughout the 1940's, yet perhaps a bit more violent and gritty. Available prints are in much need of restoration with the night scenes extremely dark and with a sort of green hue that makes the film at times difficult to watch and often hard to hear. The acting is decent, if not remarkable, although some of the line readings seemed force. Puglia is touching as the grandfather, and Eythe determined and strong as the agent who realizes that he needs to be careful about what he wishes for.