RAILROADED

Hugh Beaumont

RAILROADED (1947). Director: Anthony Mann. 

Steve Ryan (Ed Kelly) is falsely accused of robbery and the murder of a police officer when the real culprit is nasty hood Duke Martin (John Ireland). Duke's hard-as-a-hooker girlfriend, Clara (Jane Randolph), fingers poor Steve, but even she begins to develop a conscience when other witnesses wind up murdered. Sgt. Mickey Ferguson (Hugh Beaumont), a cop from the old neighborhood, has to arrest Steve, incurring the wrath of Steve's feisty sister, Rosie (Sheila Ryan), who begins a relationship with Duke to ferret out information. Meanwhile Mickey hopes he can get a love-sick but frightened Clara to turn on her boyfriend and tell the truth. 

John Ireland and Jane Randolph

Railroaded is an absorbing if minor entry in the film noir genre, bolstered by some good performances. Although best known as a kind of bland father on Leave It to Beaver, Beaumont was generally good playing cops, private eyes, and especially bad guys in low-budget melodramas like this one. Randolph and Ryan, who have a fairly zesty cat-fight at one point, are both effective as the ladies in the story, and Ireland makes a convincing villain. Steve Ryan is fine as the decent guy accused of a terrible crime, but he only appeared in two other pictures. Keefe Braselle plays another guy who took part in the robbery, and Roy Gordon [Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman] is a mob boss who gives Duke his orders; both are good. From PRC (Producers Releasing Corporation). 

Verdict: Lower case film noir with some interesting performers. **1/2.