It's a dark and stormy night as five men pull off a daring train robbery of 10 million in gold. Led by the stoic Eddie Harris (Gene Raymond) they split the steal in three and head for LA to melt it down. Two of the transports are intercepted but the third reaches it's destination and is in the process of blowing town through an ingenious method (I believe later employed on the first show of Mission Impossible) when the LA Freeway interrupts.Plunder Road may well have been an ideal B in its day with its stripped down (72 minutes) pace and crosscutting between the divided mob. After taking in the better budgeted denser A pic this heist film immediately cut to the chase allowing the movie goer to exhale. Director Hubert Cornfield (Night of the Following Day) does not dally long with personality and character development as he expeditiously leaves them to their thoughts and the fact that they are all in for a huge payday.30s matinée idol Gene Raymond registers as the taciturn ringleader who lightens up once he feels he's in the clear. Chester Morris, Elisha Cook, Steven Ritch and Stafford Repp as societal marginals born to lose adequately deliver with few words. Cinematographer Ernie Haller gives the picture a good look while Irving Gert's music is a heavy handed brass attack that overwhelms in tense moments. Plunder Road does have some pot holes but it remains well paced with relatively benign criminals that has us feeling like the waitress in the diner who hopes in some way that they get away with it.

$10 million in gold is being shipped by rail to San Francisco from Salt Lake City. Five men are determined to see that the gold doesn't make it. The men successfully pull-off a daring nighttime robbery and snatch the $10 million. Their plan includes loading the gold into three different trucks. At regular intervals, they set off for the coast where they intend to rendezvous and split their loot. Will they make it? (This is a film noir – you know things are bound to go horribly wrong.)Plunder Road is a nice little low-budget noir/crime/drama film. While I enjoyed every second of the movie, the highlight for me has to be the robbery that takes up at least the first 15 minutes of the film's 72 minute runtime. Similar to Rififi, the robbery is carried out almost entirely in silence. The plan is well thought out and executed. The coordination between the five guys makes for a great watch. Director Hubert Cornfield expertly filmed this section of the movie. He wisely included almost every detail – from the masks to the gassing of the guards to the handling of the explosives. Some of the camera angles Cornfield chose helped to increase the excitement of the whole thing. I also think that filming the heist in pouring rain was a wise decision. The rain added even more suspense and atmosphere. While I'm not overly familiar with most of the cast (Elisha Cook, Jr, being the exception), they all give nice performances. I think I was most impressed with Stafford Repp as Roly Adams, but that may only be because he's familiar to me having played Chief O'Hara on Batman in the 60s. Plunder Road's ending is appropriately bleak. As with most good film noir, none of the characters comes out unscathed.

Copyright 1957 by Regal Films, Inc. Released through 20th Century- Fox. No New York opening. U.S. release: December 1957. U.K. release: 13 January 1958. Australian release: 24 April 1958. 6,476 feet. 72 minutes.SYNOPSIS: A gang of five robs a gold train bound for the San Francisco mint.COMMENT: The two films Hubert Cornfield directed for Regal are the best of the series, and "Plunder Road" is the better of the two. (The other Cornfield entry is "Lure of the Swamp"). With only a handful of exceptions, almost invariably the other films in the series are over-talkative, desultory affairs with little action and virtually no suspense or tension. "Plunder Road" is a complete negation of the usual Regal modus operandi, the exception that proves the rule.From its gripping opening sequence, tension never falters. Of course, Cornfield's incisive, driving direction cannot rate as the only factor. The ingenuity of the Ritch-Charney script must also share the credit. Sure, it's an old plot, told many times before, but the variations here are most intriguing.The casting is A-1 too. Gene Raymond, Wayne Morris and Elisha Cook hand in their usual reliable portrayals, Jeanne Cooper makes an attractive heroine, whilst scriptwriter Steven Ritch contributes a stand-out performance as a nervous wheelman. Cornfield's direction is not flashy, but as said above, it neatly combines an unrelenting pace with tingling suspense, and keeps audience interest at an uncommonly high pitch. Locations are used to advantage, enabling the story to peak at a satisfying climax.Veteran cinematographer Ernest Haller (Gone With The Wind, Mildred Pierce, Rebel Without a Cause) has a chance to show us what superior work he can really do (unlike his lackluster camera-work on Christian Nyby's "Hell on Devil's Island"). In fact, "Plunder Road" is easily the best photographed Regal Film of all.

Plunder Road is an object lesson in what can be done with a low-budget and a stripped-down script. The opening moments, at night under a hard rain, are disorienting, swift, and all but silent. A gang of highwaymen has plotted to rob a train of its gold-bullion cargo. Successful, its members split off onto three separate routes to what they hope will be prosperous freedom. The movie follows them dispassionately as they individually reckon with their fates. This is a marvel of action and economy -- one of the most enjoyable offerings from late in the cycle of film noir.