Train to Alcatraz

Train to Alcatraz (1948)

*** (out of 4)

Highly entertaining "B" picture about a train full of criminals headed to Alcatraz. One of the men, Tommy (William Phippps) was a former criminal gone good but he was wrongly convicted. Everyone else on the train knows that if they reach Alcatraz that their lives will be over so they hatch a plan to escape.

TRAIN TO ALCATRAZ is one of many movies that have been forgotten over the years and that's really a shame because this one here deserves to be better known. Just because you're a "B" movie doesn't mean you're going to be poorly made, campy or just pure trash. It basically just means a lot of money wasn't spend but that doesn't mean with a great idea you can't do wonders with it.

Director Philip Ford does a very good job at building up the tension. At just sixty minutes there's really not a single frame to where you're not glued into what's going on. Several of the characters are fully developed or at least enough to where you feel as if you know them and draw an interest in them. This includes not only the Tommy character but also the supporting criminals as well as the cops guarding them.

The film doesn't feature any former "A" star but it does have nice work by Donald Barry, Janet Martin, Phipps, Roy Carcoft and Ralph Dunn as the Marshall. The film also works perfectly as a crime picture as well as a noir with its seductive female luring our hero into the crime. TRAIN TO ALCATRAZ is a nice little picture where the story, the cast and the direction really come together to make a gem.

"Train to Alcatraz" is a frustrating B-movie. Despite having a cast of mostly no-name actors, it really is incredibly tense and exciting. But, sadly, the writing sometimes is pretty poor--with logical and dialog issues that could have been resolved given a minor re-write.

The film is set on a train headed to Alcatraz prison. There are regular passengers and prisoners in their own well guarded car...and you KNOW by the end of the movie the prisoners are going to make an attempted escape. When it does finally arrive, the film heats up and becomes incredibly exciting. But as for the writing, the women in the film are written horribly. The lady who is trying so hard to see the prisoners because she feels sorry for them is pretty dumb-- as is the reaction to the guard she keeps bothering to 'get a peek'. You sure would think this would arouse SOMEONE'S suspicions as well as the other woman. Yet, inexplicably, no one seems to notice...and the women are quite illogical throughout the film...and completely unnecessary. Sad...but in spite of this the film is worth seeing.