Le Grand Attentat

This story takes place in February, 1861. It is a story built around a plot to assassinate president-elect Lincoln during his twelve-day inaugural train trip from Springfield, Missouri to Washington, D.C. Dick Powell plays police detective John Kennedy who is aware of the plot and meets indifference from his superiors when he tries to take action. Kennedy takes it on himself to try to foil the plot single-handedly and most of the story takes place on trains where Kennedy gets in tight situations in trying to unravel the conspiracy. That part of the movie plays out as a classic crime drama, but there is much more here than a crime drama.

Many scenes establish the mood of the country at the time. With the beginning of the Civil War only a couple of months away, the tensions leading to that war were in strong evidence on the train. In an early conversation between two women one of them says, "We must take a firm stand against slavery once and for all, don't you agree?" to which the other responds, "As far as I am concerned madame, the new president is Jefferson Davis of Mississippi." Another passenger remarks, "If someone puts a bullet into Abe Lincoln, I'll be the first to shake his hand. That man is heading us straight into war." From the distance of a hundred and fifty years it is interesting to understand that Lincoln, who has become the most admired U.S. president, was so detested at the time by so many.

Another topic broached is the relation between Rachel, a young slave (Ruby Dee) and her owners, the Beauforts. When challenged by Kennedy about her slave ownership, Ginny Beaufort turns to Rachel and says, "I never thought to ask for your freedom and I never thought of giving it to you," to which Rachel responds, "It's not a thing you should have been able to give me. Freedom is something I should have been born with." Certainly this comment resonated with the nascent Civil Rights Movement in the early 1950s.

The black and white photography is well done; the portrayal of the inaugural train seems to be historically accurate.

After seeing this I was left wondering just what the truth was and I was provoked to do a little research. From "Life of Lincoln" by John Caroll Power, H.W. Rokker publisher, 1889, p.51, in referring to a detective who had been hired (behind Lincoln's back) to ferret out the possibility of an assassination attempt planned for when Lincoln passed through Baltimore, the author says, "He (the detective) found out beyond a doubt that a plot was formed for a party of conspirators to crowd around him (Lincoln) in the guise of friends , and at a given signal Mr. Lincoln was to be shot and stabbed." From "The Time Life History of the United States," vol. 5, p.97, 1963, referring to president Lincoln, "Leaving Harrisburg secretly by train on February 22, he transferred at Philadelphia to a sleeper, taking a berth reserved by a female Pinkerton operator for her invalid brother. The party passed safely through Baltimore at 3:30 in the morning and reached Washington at 6 a.m. on the 23rd. The elated Pinkerton sent a code to Harrisburg: Plums Delivered Nuts Safely." Obviously a lot of liberties were taken with history in coming up with this film to turn it into a noir thriller, but there is at least enough of a kernel of truth behind it so it can be enjoyed for the fictionalized version it is without thinking that history has been totally savaged. I thought it was a particularly nice touch to reference a three-cent piece, in circulation at the time.

Tall Target (1951)

The simple idea of Anthony Mann approaching a crime movie about Abraham Lincoln made me seek this out. And it's great stuff, filmed with the lively, dramatic black and white of the time. And in a weird quirk, the leading man (played by Dick Powell) is named John Kennedy. Mann was just beginning his legendary set of eight Westerns with James Stewart.

While not a bit a film noir officially, this is coming from that era, and has the dark, ominous feel of a good noir. Powell (a noir staple) plays a detective with a somewhat modern air (not 1861, when is when the film is set), and he some of that man alone against the world quality. And then, on top of it, this is a "train movie," one of that unnamed genre of films that is primarily or entirely set on a train, up and down the length in various ways (what one character with a drink in his hand calls "the longest bar in the world, New York to Baltimore").

This one starts beautifully at night, and there is some terrific stuff just to look at, as the lights against the night sky are stark and the shadows heavy. The smoke and steam billows gray into the black sky. The plot, proceeding, is remarkably visual, too, with Powell looking for clues as things start to look increasingly ominous.

There are some great side characters here, including Ruby Dee in her young elegance and strength. And then there are some side actors who play their caricatures a little too hard (like the train conductor, briefly, but several times).

The cloak and dagger plot is fairly linear—the story is based on fact loosely, so there might not have been total freedom. But I'm not sure how many times on one train ride Mr. John Kennedy can get himself into a total lethal trap and then fight, trick, or luck his way out of it. But that's part of the fun of it, I suppose.

And there is enough other stuff going on here to make it really interesting and beautiful. A surprise for me.

Although the film is a work of fiction, The Tall Target is based in part on an actual incident that involved an attempt to assassinate President- elect Abraham Lincoln on his way to Washington to assume the presidency in early 1861. A planned stop in Baltimore was canceled and Lincoln was spirited into Washington in the wee small hours of the morning with no kind of fanfare or publicity, as he put it, 'like a thief in the night'.

Anthony Mann directed this 19th century noir type film starring Dick Powell as a New York police sergeant who gets wind of a plot to murder Lincoln in Baltimore. After he confides his suspicions to colleague Regis Toomey, Toomey winds up dead and Powell's more convinced than ever of the rightness of his belief. He boards the train that Lincoln is scheduled to board in Baltimore on to warn him, but Powell's got a lot of people on that train ready to do him in and he doesn't know who to trust.

The Tall Target is very similar to Mann's other classic Winchester 73 in the tautness of the direction and script. There isn't one wasted frame of film in The Tall Target and the suspense is kept throughout, even though history tells us Lincoln dodged a bullet that day. Mann assembled a very strong supporting cast for Powell that includes Adolphe Menjou as a militia colonel called to the colors, Leif Erickson as a Bowery tough, Will Geer as an officious conductor, Marshall Thompson as a southern hothead and resigned West Point cadet and his sister Paula Raymond.

Best performance in the film though is that of young Ruby Dee who plays a slave to Thompson and Raymond traveling with them. She proves to be the only real friend Powell has on the train. It's a quiet understated performance of dignity and strength.

By the way in case any of you are wondering why she doesn't just run away and claim her freedom, a couple of things stops her. The Dred Scott decision for one which obliterated the Missouri Compromise of 1820 with the northern free and southerns slave states and the new Fugitive Slave Law from the 1850 Compromise. However Dee knows that freedom is coming her way and soon.

The Tall Target is one excellent film, one of the best from Dick Powell when he decided to stop making musicals. Catch it absolutely.

"Ninety years ago a lonely traveller boarded the night train from New York to Washington D.C., and when he reached his destination his passage had become a forgotten chapter in the history of the United States. This motion picture is a dramatisation of that disputed journey."

The Tall Target is directed by Anthony Mann and written by George Worthing Yates, Daniel Mainwaring (as Geoffrey Holmes) and Art Cohn. It stars Dick Powell, Paula Raymond, Adolphe Menjou, Marshall Thompson and Will Geer. As the above opening salvo suggests, story is disputed, it's based around the so called Baltimore Plot, a plot to assassinate Abraham Lincoln; the tall man of the title who is on the train heading for his inauguration.

Set mostly aboard a train, Mann's The Tall Target is a very tight noirish type period thriller that sees Powell's gruff detective try and protect Abe Lincoln from assassins lurking within the confines of the locomotive hauled express. Although a low budget production, there is some smart period detail to enjoy and the cramped setting of the train interiors allows Mann to infuse the story with paranoia and claustrophobic tints. Major bonus is that the makers excellently capture what must have been a powder keg of political uncertainty in 1861, this is born out by the number of interesting characters with a voice aboard this train. Thus the suspense and mystery elements are not confined to being of the obvious variety.

With Paul Vogel's black and white photography adding some period bite, and putting the noirish sheen to scenes such as the ones involving smoke, it's a shame that the cast are mostly hit and miss. Powell just about carries off the tough-guy persona, with the scenes shared with Menjou good value, and Geer is the stand out as the jobs worth conductor. Raymond is lovely, but hardly puts a stamp on proceedings, while Thompson is badly inadequate when it comes to putting the threat into threatening situations. But they are only minor itches that fail to derail the film from the tracks, because ultimately it's the story that is the star, a story boosted no end by Mann's taut direction. 7.5/10

In 1861, New York detective John Kennedy (Dick Powell) is convinced there's a plot to assassinate President-elect Abraham Lincoln but no one seems to believe him. So he resigns from the force and takes the train to Baltimore, determined to prevent the assassination.

In my opinion, this is Dick Powell's last great screen role. He made a few more movies before finishing his career out as a director and doing some minor TV work. He's very good here, as usual. Strong support from Adolphe Menjou, Will Geer, Leif Erickson, and Ruby Dee. It's a gripping period thriller from Anthony Mann that looks like a film noir, thanks to Paul Vogel's fine cinematography. Plus, it's a train movie and those are always fun.

There's a lot in this movie for history buffs to chew on. A guy named John Kennedy trying to prevent a presidential assassination in a film made over a decade before President Kennedy was killed is certainly interesting. The plot is loosely based on the 1861 Baltimore Plot, which resulted in one of Lincoln's earliest public relations nightmares because he was accused of cowardly sneaking into the city for fear of assassins. Times have certainly changed. Anyway you should definitely read up on that as it's pretty fascinating, especially considering what happened to him four years later.