The Tall Target ***½ (1951, Dick Powell, Adolphe Menjou, Paula Raymond, Marshall Thompson, Ruby Dee, Richard Rober, Will Geer) – Classic Movie Review 5696

Director Anthony Mann’s pacy, sharp, suspenseful, tension-packed 1951 train thriller is set in 1861 on a New York to Washington DC train via Baltimore. The movie stands out from the crowd in that the Tall Target is none other than Abraham Lincoln and the story is allegedly a true one.

Dick Powell is on stalwart form as John Kennedy, a fictional New York City police detective sergeant travelling on the train and desperately searching for the man who intends to assassinate President-elect Abraham Lincoln (Leslie Kimmell) before he gets to Baltimore for a crucial pre-Inauguration speech.

This 78-minute MGM little movie is short, tense, fast-moving, and exciting, and ace director Mann keeps it notably taut and the pot boiling commendably.

George Worthing Yates and Art Cohn write the screenplay from a story by Yates and Daniel Mainwaring. Paul C Vogel shoots in noir-style black and white.

It co-stars Adolphe Menjou, Paula Raymond, Marshall Thompson, Ruby Dee, Richard Rober, Will Geer, Leif Erickson, Florence Bates, Erville Alderson, Barbara Billingsley and Peter Brocco.

Also in the cast are John Butler, Clancy Cooper, Dan Foster, Jonathan Hale, Sherry Hall, James Harrison, Paul Harvey, Percy Helton, Victor Kilian, Mitchell Lewis, Tom Powers, Jeff Richards, Regis Toomey, Charles Wagenheim, Katherine Warren, Dan White and Will Wright.

The DVD is only available on a Region 1 import.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5696

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