The Narrow Margin

So that possibly for me is where it started.

And then I can think of films like Narrow Margin, the original.

The original, the Richard Fleischer.

Yeah.

Director Richard Fleischer was still early in his feature film career when he made Bodyguard (1948), but he was beginning a remarkable run of economical RKO crime pictures.

He followed this film with Follow Me Quietly (1949), and Armored Car Robbery (1950), eventually directing one of the great confined space film noirs, The Narrow Margin (1952).

Fleischer's early crime films demonstrate how much tension could be squeezed out of the modest budget and short running times.

Lawrence Tierney plays Mike Carter, an LA police detective whose temper and refusal to play by the rules quickly cost him his badge.

Inexpensive, compact, and unwilling to waste much time, it gives us a disgraced policeman, the murder investigation, the false accusation, institutional corruption, and the protagonist is forced to operate outside of normal police procedures.

It's also an important step in Richard Fleischer's development as a crime director.

The documentary-infused efficiency seen here would become even more effective in Follow Me Quietly (1949), Armored Car Robbery (1950), and particularly The Narrow Margin (1952).

And Tierney makes this picture particularly interesting.