Midnight Limited

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

Howard Bretherton

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Midnight Limited Audience Reviews

Infamousta brilliant actors, brilliant editing
PiraBit if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.
Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.
Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.
classicsoncall Well if you watched the picture, you know who the train robbers are, just like I know who the train robbers are. However I'm going to have to admit something here - I don't know how the heck Valentine Lennon (John King) figured it out, even after he explained it to Miss Marshall (Marjorie Reynolds). How did he get from Point A to Point B to know it was Krantz (Monte Collins) in the baggage car that was in league with the Phantom Robber (I. Stanford Jolley)? Folks, this is bugging me.Up until the ending, I thought this little programmer had something fairly clever going for it. The desk clerk at the Ritz Plaza calling the plays was a pretty creative way to set up the train heists. But what about the guy they called The Professor (George Cleveland)? Except for the coincidence of being on the same runs on which the robberies occurred, that whole business with delivering the letters to Montreal was just a red herring. Am I missing something here? I have to say, I was a little surprised to see John 'Dusty' King in a leading role in this picture. I'm more used to catching him teamed up with Ray Corrigan and Max Terhune as one of The Range Busters, a popular cowboy trio of the era. And if I had to bet, the last time I saw Marjorie Reynolds she was portraying Peg Riley in the old 'Life of Riley' TV series opposite William Bendix. Now there's a memory. Tell you what, dispense with the story and just leave Miss Reynolds on screen for the hour and I'd be just as happy.At some point, I think I'll have to go back and see what I missed here. The resolution to the mystery is still nagging me, so there must be a missing piece of the puzzle. When I figure it out I'll get back to you. Or better yet, if you figure it out, drop me a line.
dbborroughs While on a train trip to Montreal a woman is robbed of some valuable papers and man is robbed of some jewels by a man who comes in the night and shines a light in their faces. The robber then disappears off the train and into the night. The woman, needing the papers to collect an inheritance goes to the police. who then direct him to Val Lennon, who is investigating a rash of robberies on the train. The woman hooks up with Lennon and they begin to look into the robberies, which soon turn deadly.Almost coldly clinical, even if the film has some romance and a musical number, this film didn't really work for me. The film is much too talky for an hour long mystery (The interrogation scene early on seems to go one for an hour instead of 5 or 6 minutes) and there are times when very little actually happens despite "movement" (how many trips are actually made?). It also doesn't help that the script seems to clue us in as to whats going on much too early simply as a means of keeping us interested. The cast, of B movie and supporting stalwarts is quite good, though they seem to be simply running back and forth needlessly instead of actually solving a mystery.You can try it if you catch it on TV but otherwise I'd skip it.
David (Handlinghandel) This is a far cry from "The 39 Steps," which preceded it, or "Twentieth Century." That one also came first but of course is a hilarious comedy with a great, brilliant performance by John Barrymore; it's not a mystery.Marjorie Reynolds is appealing as the heroine. John King makes a good investigator. Then he opens his mouth and sings. "The Singing Detective" this also is not.The dialog is strangely wordy and improbable in many cases. People have been given real mouthfuls to speak. But the plot is a decent one. It moves along nicely. And I had no idea who the villains were going to turn out to be. Usually I can either tell or I've got lost in too many characters.Here, though, the characters are nicely delineated. And the ending comes as a surprise. At least it did for me.
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.....