Midnight Limited

In the 1930s and 40s, there were at least 6,000,004 B-mystery movies made...or so it seems. It was one of the most popular genres and while there were some excellent ones, the rest mostly fall in the category of Time Passers....and "Midnight Limited" is one such time passer.

The film is set mostly on trains, where a criminal genius keeps robbing folks of huge sums of money...and the police seem powerless to stop this. However, Val ('Dusty' King) promises to solve the case.

Dusty King was an actor known for B-westerns and action movies. In other words, he was pretty good at punching folks and the like....but wasn't the most charismatic or sexy actors. In fact, in this one he seems incredibly ordinary. He couldn't help it...he just wasn't a strong leading man type for this sort of film. Add to that the rather cheap look of the film and you've got a film that isn't bad...but isn't all that good either.

This movie was interesting but a little corny at times( when Val sings) They had to cram a lot in 61 minutes. the movie's movement had a little Dragnet to it.."just the facts'. The police characters seemed a little stiff and the mechanics of the railroad police etc was not very believable.( Adding Majorie to the force just because she said she would help) The addition of Willie the conductor was a nice a piece but the dialog with him was too simple and not as comic relief as it could have been... Majorie Reynolds was good and you can see her potential...remembering her as the wife to Chester a Riley is quite easy..The plot was good and could have been developed better but...All in all a good investment of your time far better that reruns on TV.....

By the humble standards of Poverty Row, this is a fairly intriguing mystery offering, despite a script that often seems to be marking time rather than getting on with the plot. A major fault here is that none of the leading characters are so much as "filled in", let alone developed. At movie's end, we know as much about the leading man as we did at the beginning—namely zilch. True, a more appealing hero than John "Dusty" King would have certainly have helped. Edward Keane—in a rare, major role—proves no great shakes either.

The heroine is also little more than a cypher, but fortunately she is so charismatically played by charmingly vivacious Marjorie Reynolds that our almost total lack of any knowledge at all as to her likes and dislikes, her background and personality, seems not to matter. True, the script stratagem that cements her into the plot is most obtrusively unconvincing, but nonetheless I'm not complaining on this score. What does upset me is that an opportunity for a first-class little "B" has been thrown away by inadequate scripting.

Another minus is that all the exterior train footage is so obviously stock material—and rather ancient stock material at that! This lessens the movie's appeal for train buffs. And the usual racist "humor" with the eye-rolling porters doesn't help matters either. Tighter film editing was certainly called for. Any volunteers?

Midnight Limited is a compact and atmospheric thriller that makes the most of its brief runtime. Set almost entirely aboard a train, the film captures the claustrophobic tension and suspense that classic whodunits thrive on.

The story wastes no time plunging the audience into mystery. With a string of unexplained robberies haunting a night train, suspicion spreads among the passengers - each with just enough character to feel suspicious without tipping the plot too early. The lead detective is cool and composed, but it's the sharp pacing and tight dialogue that really keep things moving.

This isn't a grand production, but that's part of its charm. The train setting is used cleverly, creating a sense of urgency and movement that mirrors the unraveling mystery. While it might not have the visual flourishes of later noirs, it delivers a solid, engaging ride for fans of classic crime cinema.

If you're looking for a forgotten gem from the 1940s that knows exactly what it is, Midnight Limited is worth hopping aboard.

"Midnight Limited" was a 1940 B film out of Monogram - well, I suppose writing Monogram and B film is the same thing. It stars John King and Marjorie Reynolds.

What to say about the plot...well, Reynolds is on a train when the compartment next door is robbed of $75,000 in diamonds, and her papers that prove she and her mother are entitled to an estate are taken when the perpetrator sees her looking out her door.

She gets a fair look at him and insists on helping the lead detective (King) find the criminal.

There were scenes in this film that were absolute dead space - like the interrogation of the crew and passengers - a 61-minute movie and that part alone seemed like 61 minutes.

It also seemed to me that the police could have done a better job of rounding up this guy faster.

Then it was over. Pleasant cast, with the always lovely Marjorie Reynolds who had better things ahead for her. Well, there really was no place to go but up after this.