So impressive what travel by rail was like in the 1950s. The glass top canopy is so enticing. The dining car matches any that I saw in Europe. Train stations were important hubs of urban life. What a shame that the USA can no longer “afford” such an effective, stress-free means of travel.

This movie doesn't seem to know what it should be, comedy or drama. The crime part is rather funny and the comedy part is a crime.

Frank physically hurting his dad and shooting him is truly a psychopath. How sad and despicable ☹️

Are there still train hobos? I love trains. My mom took one from Massachusetts..Springfield..to Laguna Beach California in mid 30s. She was 16. It sounded pretty exciting to me. She stayed a year then came back to go to work. Those depression years were something huh? Looks like history is repeating itself. Oh boy here we go again. No romance left for this one. Nuclear war wont allow it. Thanks Brandon.

hello brothers and sisters.

Hey, thanks for this rare movie!! Frank was played by Mickey Knox, whose Hollywood career (he had small roles in White Heat and I Walk Alone, for example) got derailed during the HUAC/ blacklist period of the early '50s. He was a John Garfield-like actor and this is the biggest role I've ever seen him in. (In fact Garfield himself played a similar kind of character the same year, 1950, in He Ran All the Way.) Knox went to Europe and worked on the production end of Sergio Leone films in the '60s. In the early 2000s he wrote a fascinating autobiography about his career too.

When you become addicted to old cinema even the weaker productions were generally well produced. Then there's the clothes, cars, architecture and in this case, small town culture.

Never trust a bindlestiff with a shiv.

elmer the guy with the glasses was very funny,,,

The guy with the glasses was the real star of this movie. Also the respectable lady on the train who perked up when she heard about the double murder and robbery.

What a marvellous

"Come and get me, copper!" Classic.

Those little B movirs were real gems ! No stars but a lot of good actors ans a solid story; who aks for more !

Thanks for a great move.......love the old cars and the train

Thanks for making another rare classic available for viewing.

Kent Taylor (1907 - 1987) now a largely forgotten mainly B picture actor has one enduring (if somewhat accidental) legacy - his name, along with that of Clark Gable (1901 - 1960) was the inspiration for the name of Superman's alter-ego, Clark Kent. He began his film career in 1931 as an extra but slowly climbed the "greasy pole" and won a contract with Paramount. In the 1930s and 1940s he appeared in mainly B pictures with many of his roles uncredited although occasionally had roles in more significant movies such as the Doc Holliday role in Tombstone, The Town Too Tough To Die (1942). By the early 1950s, his film career had waned and he began working in TV and he played the title role in 58 episodes of the detective series Boston Blackie (1951 - 1953) and then the lead in 39 episodes of The Rough Riders (1958 - 1959). He appeared in most popular TV shows including Zorro, The Rifleman, Peter Gunn and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. By the 1960s he was reduced to appearing in potboilers such as Brides of Blood, Blood of Ghastly Horror and Satan's Sadists. His last film was Girls for Rent in 1974. When this movie was released on DVD in 2008, the New York Times called it "a terse crime film".

I was surprised to see Robert Lowery with a very small part.Sheila Ryan was married to Pat Buttram for 23 years until her death he played Mr. Haney on Green Acre sitcom. Thank you for showing it was entertaining.

Actually, a correction to my previous comment: the similar vicious fugitive role that Garfield played was actually a year later in 1951, in his last film He Ran All the Way. He was even dressed similarly to Knox in Western Pacific Agent in a black shirt and light sports jacket. I know that, like many actors of the era, Knox greatly admired Garfield too.

So here we get to see Kent Taylor just as his role of 'Boston Blackie' on TV was about to begin.

Thanks, CCC for this rare, exquisite thing!