Midnight Limited

1940 "DEATH RIDES THE RAILS!"
5| 1h1m| en| More Info
Released: 20 March 1940 Released
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Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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Synopsis

The Phantom Robber gets a fortune in jewels and some valuable papers from a robbery on the crack train "The Midnight Limited" and Val Lennon and his pretty assistant, Joan Marshall, are on his trail. But the Phantom strikes three more times and adds murder to his list. Val decides to use himself as bait, although Chief Harrigan and Joan beg him not to risk his life. But Val, disguised as a wealthy Canadian, boards the train for a rendezvous with a killer.

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Reviews

Tetrady not as good as all the hype
GurlyIamBeach Instant Favorite.
Peereddi I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.
Salubfoto It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.
MartinHafer 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.
kidboots Marjorie Reynolds was a bright, vivacious leading lady, who could also sing. Her career high point was co-starring with Bing Crosby in "Holiday Inn" (1942) and "Dixie" (1943), but she dressed up any movie she was in no matter how cheap the production.Joan Marshall (Marjorie Reynolds) is traveling on the Midnight Limited, a night train from New York to Montreal. She hears a scuffle in the next compartment and when she goes to investigate is also robbed by "The Phantom Robber"!!! She was robbed of papers that prove that she and her mother are the rightful heirs of a large estate but this plot goes nowhere. When she admits she had a glimpse of the robber she is immediately made a member of the police force (of course!!!) who are investigating the case. There are no surprises - it is obvious that the booking agent is involved after a gambler books a ticket on the train. It is well known that he is carrying $60,000 with him and surprise, surprise - he is robbed. Everything seems to fall into place for the viewer, long before the police figure it out!!!John "Dusty" King is a very lack lustre leading man. I was so surprised to read that he was a band singer. At one point in the film he is sitting down at the piano and sings "Quiet Hands" - very badly I thought!!! I was wishing why couldn't Marjorie have sung - she would have really livened up the film.
JohnHowardReid 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?
orzobino 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.....