Something must have happened in 1949 that reminded two movie studios of a 1923 train robbery. I copied the article below from my White Heat review.D'Autremonts' bungled train robbery in 1923 left 4 deadBy Paul Fattig Copyright © interRogue & The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA oct11,1998ASHLAND -- An old wreath over the north portal of Tunnel No. 13 at the Siskiyou Summit is the only visible reminder of the deadly crime. Three railroad employees and a mail clerk were killed when the Southern Pacific's "Gold Special" was held up by the D'Autremont brothers 75 years ago today.One of those who died shortly after noon on Oct. 11, 1923, was Ashland resident Elvyn Dougherty, the mail clerk. "It was a terrible thing," said Eagle Point resident Nancy Rinabarger, 70, whose mother, Blanche Dougherty, was left a widow with a young son. "He wasn't supposed to work that day. He was subbing for someone else. "I wasn't born then, but I know she had a lot of hardships," she said of her mother, who later remarried. "Since the case wasn't solved right away, they (detectives) even followed her for some time. That was hard on her."Her half-brother, Raymond Dougherty of Redding, the boy left fatherless by the dynamite blast, will be 80 next month. But he declined to comment about the trauma caused by the 1923 incident, saying it was "personal."After all these years, what has become popularly known as the West's "Last Great Train Robbery" is still remembered with pain by those whose families lost loved ones. "Four lives were lost and three lives were changed so they that were never the same," said Salem resident Mike Yoakum, a former Rogue Valley resident. "It was a compound tragedy."The D'Autremonts included twins Ray and Roy, both 23 at the time of the crime, and their teenage brother, Hugh. Before the crime, Ray served time in a Washington state prison for labor union activity. During that time, he came up with a plan to make his family rich."Hatred ate away at my compassion as I saw how the people in power cheated and stole from the masses," he told author Larry Sturholm for the book, "All for Nothing." "Thousands of women and children were starving and dying, thousands more, honest working men, were receiving less than half of what they should," he added.But Ray's action indicated he wasn't interested in honest work. After his release from prison, he and his twin brother traveled to Chicago where they hoped to join big-time gangsters during the Roaring '20s. Unsuccessful, they returned to Southern Oregon where they began studying shipments on Southern Pacific trains. After all, the train through the Rogue Valley still carried the nickname of the "Gold Special" because it once hauled large quantities of gold from the mines.They had heard rumors that it would be hauling up to a half million dollars in gold as well as a shipment of cash on Oct. 11.The twins, who recruited their younger brother, picked the 3,107-foot-long Tunnel No. 13 because it would be easy to hop aboard the train as it labored slowly to reach the crest of the summit. Railway regulations required the engineer to test the brakes at the top of the pass by bringing the southbound train to a near stop just north of the tunnel.The brothers studied the site, and established a hideout a couple of miles from the tunnel. They also stole explosives from a construction site in northern Oregon.On the day of the crime, Roy and Hugh jumped on the train. Ray waited at the other end of the tunnel with the dynamite. After scrambling up on the baggage car, the two brothers climbed over the tender and jumped down into the engine cab. Hugh ordered engineer Sidney Bates to stop the train near the south end of the tunnel.The twins packed the dynamite against one end of the mail car containing the mail clerk. The blast ripped open the entire end of the car, killing the clerk and setting fire to the railroad car. The brothers couldn't see into the car because of the smoke and dust. And they couldn't get the train moved out of the tunnel because of the mangled car.The second man to die was brakeman Coyle Johnson, who had walked through the thick smoke in the tunnel, startling the brothers. Ray, carrying a shotgun, and Hugh, armed with a .45 semiautomatic, shot Johnson. Perhaps angry over not finding any money or gold, perhaps afraid of leaving witnesses, the brothers then shot to death railroad fireman Marvin Seng and engineer Bates.They fled into the woods, prompting a massive manhunt that included the federal government, Oregon National Guard troops, local posses and angry railroad workers. But the brothers laid low, then slipped through the dragnet.It wouldn't be until 1927 that Hugh was caught while serving in the Far East in the military. An Army buddy recognized his face on a wanted poster and turned him in for the reward. The twins were arrested a short time later in Ohio.

SPECIAL AGENT – 1949This low budget programmer was made by the Pine-Thomas outfit for release through Paramount Pictures. William Pine and William Thomas were specialists at producing low rent fare. They were known to be tight with a buck and some of their work is really not very good. Having said that, they were successful as their films always made a profit. This particular film was directed by William Thomas.The sleepy little burg of Santa Clara is more or less, a dull place, a minor stop on the railway to L.A. Stationed in Santa Clara is Railway cop, William Eythe. Eythe spends his time wishing something would happen, and hitting on Kasey Rogers. Rogers is the daughter of train engineer Walter Baldwin. Baldwin runs the local train to the big city and back.Eythe's wish for some action happens in a big way. The train is held up and Baldwin and three train employees are murdered. The train was carrying $100,000 in payroll cash. The two men who held up the train, George Reeves and his hothead brother, Paul Valentine, take the cash and hotfoot it into the hills. They have a car stashed in order to complete their getaway.Unfortunately for them, their car breaks down and they go to plan B. They have put in supplies at an old abandoned mine for such an emergency. They stash the bag with the money nearby, then, hide out while waiting for the heat to chill.By the time the Police and Railway cop are notified of the robbery and murder, the trail has gone cold. The Police call out the dogs and every available man but can't catch a real break. They find the crook's car, but it turns out to be stolen. They do find a copy of WAR AND PEACE in the back of the car along with a pair of pants.The Police and Railway dicks drop off the book and such clues as they have at the crime lab. They visit all the book stores of all the nearby towns to see if they can turn up a lead. Luck is on their side as one store did sell a copy of WAR AND PEACE. They get a description on the men and start checking all the local stores etc. They quickly turn up more leads on Reeves and Valentine.The crime lab soon comes up with possible locations of the men off timber slivers etc in the pants. The Police and Eythe are soon checking all the local ranches and lumber camps. They strike gold as the sketches of Reeves and his brother are recognized. An all points is quickly put out on the two murderers.By this time, several weeks have passed since the killings and robbery. The brothers come down out of the hills leaving the cash hidden. The last thing they expected was to be front page news, and to see their faces plastered everywhere.Reeves, has the hots for local gal, Carole Matthews, who he pays a visit to. The man picks the same time as Eythe and the local Sheriff are arriving. There is a brisk gun battle and Reeves just barely escapes. The two brothers split up and agree to meet in a few days to collect the cash before trying for somewhere out of state.Again, the Police catch a break when several young boys find the cash bag while out hiking. Eythe and the Police take the cash, but leave the money bag stuffed with newspaper. They then hide out and keep an eye on the cash hiding place.Sure enough, Reeves shows and grabs up the cash bag and hides in the mine. Shortly afterwards Valentine also shows. The two open the bag and find the newspapers. Valentine, who is quick to anger, and is the one who shot the railway workers, accuses Reeves of stealing all the cash. There are punches thrown and the two roll around the mine floor. This tussle ends when Reeves goes down dead with a knife in his chest. The Police now enter, Valentine pulls his gun but is the loser in the exchange of lead. The case is closed.George Reeves would become famous as television's SUPERMAN. Eythe never became the star many had thought he would. He started out in A productions at 20th Century Fox . Films like, "The Oxbow Incident" "Wing and a Prayer', "The House on 92nd Street led nowhere. He was soon working his way down the ladder to B films and television. He was out of the business by 1954, 11 years after his first film.While by no means a top film, it does get the job done if you are looking for a quick, 71 minute crime film.

"Special Agent" is a film on DVD from Alpha Video. While I love that Alpha provides many B-movies on DVD that otherwise would never be seen, it's also the norm for the company to do no sort of restoration on the films and frequently the copies are incredibly ugly. As for "Special Agent", the film is blurry and the sound poor--as if it was copied to DVD from an old videotape. The worst sequences are at night--when it's practically impossible to see what is happening.This film purports to be based on an actual case involving the robbery of a train. Whether or not this is really true, I have no idea. However, it appears that way since the film is made in almost a documentary style--with lots of interesting* narration along with the action.The film begins in a sleepy locale--the sort of place you would not expect a robbery. However, the Devereaux brothers (one of which is played by George Reeves) have other plans--and they rob the a train. The oldest brother is a hot-head and in this robbery and after, he's quick to shoot anyone who might be in their way. The younger brother (Reeves) objects to this--but still goes along with his crazed brother. Apparently, the robbery is committed to help keep their grandfather from losing his ranch--an odd motivation to say the least. William Eythe plays Mr. Douglas--the guy in charge of the investigation.So is this B-movie worth watching? Well, despite the lousy print and that the movie was made by a very low-budget studio (Pine-Thomas), the film is surprisingly good. Much of it is because the forensics are key to the film--and they are also quite realistic. My wife (a suspense writer) particularly appreciated seeing how the authorities were able to piece together the clues to find the brothers. The acting was also pretty good--though a few of the bit players were pretty shabby*. The only negative is that the narration is occasionally heavy-handed and used overly textbooky** and colorful words. I actually thought it pretty funny when words like 'slatternly' were used by this narrator (an old fashioned way of saying skanky)! *If you look close, Frank Cady (of "Green Acres" and "Petticoat Junction") plays a bit part of a guy whose car was hijacked by the brothers.**I couldn't find TEXTBOOKY in the dictionary and must assume they forgot to include this swell word. Try using it yourself--it's even better than slatternly.

This later entry from the Pine-Thomas unit, that made a lot of competent B pictures in the 1940's, adopts the pseudo-documentary style that came into fashion in the late 40's and 50's. Here William Eythe (The Oxbow Incident, Colonel Effingham's Raid etc.) plays a young railroad detective with a rural California assignment, who leads an investigation into a daring daylight train robbery. Mysterious thieves bomb a train and steal several sacks of mail, one containing a large payroll shipment. The thieves get away almost undetected except that one man's mask drops causing his partner to shoot four potential witnesses. The Alpha Video print is very washy and somewhat grainy, just barely watchable. George Reeves (TV's Superman of the 1950's) gets top billing on the box, but actually his performance does not stand out. Eythe, who never really made it, gives a solid performance, and is supported by a number of very good character actors who make the best of some occasionally clunky dialog. Paul Valentine who played one of Kirk Douglas's henchmen in the classic noir Out of the Past gives the most interesting performance as a charming and self-righteous bad guy with a habit of eliminating witnesses. The film becomes a blend of police procedural and Western, but it is competently done and the robbery sequences morethan that. The story holds your attention, even if it is nothing special. The score by the French composer Lucien Caillet is good but intrusive. The direction is efficient. The narrator intones with the right authority. This tribute to railroad detectives is worth the look.