An intriguing detective story, thanks largely to two actors, Mickey Knox and Morris Carnovsky, whose careers were threatened by their politics during the witch hunts of the late 1940s. Knox steals the film as a sociopath who heists a payroll, then discovers there's no way to pass the marked money. Carnovsky isn't far behind as his father, a small town grocer who can't bring himself to turn in his psycho son. Kent Taylor as a railroad detective and Sheila Ryan as the sister of a murder victim are nominally the stars. But it's the first-rate character acting, coupled with effective location camera-work (like a shoot-out on a rising drawbridge,)that make this a grade B thriller worth watching.

WESTERN PACIFIC AGENT – 1950A low budget quickie from B-film stalwart, Lippert Pictures. Kent Taylor is the headliner.Mickey Knox hits the small town of Chester, California. He wants to put the bite on his father, general store owner, Morris Carnovsky, for a loan. Carnovsky has gone through this before with his no good excuse of a son. He tells Knox to get himself a job and earn his own cash. Knox is not so inclined and prepares to go back on the road. He overhears several men talking to his father about paying off their accounts. The big monthly cash payroll is arriving that afternoon. They are just waiting for the railway agent, Robert Lowery, to show. Light-bulbs go off as Knox sees a solution to his cash flow problems. Knox hotfoots it to the only bridge into town. It is one that is raised for river barge traffic to pass underneath. Knox bursts in on the bridge operator and gives the man the sharp end of his knife. He then raises the bridge and waits. Sure enough the railroad payroll agent, Lowery shows. He sees no river traffic so he enters the bridge office. Knox steps up behind Lowery and gives him several solid cracks with a steel pipe. The blows are hard enough to kill Lowery. Knox grabs the cash bag and transfers same to his sleeping bag. Then out the door and into the woods Knox speeds. Knox intends to grab a freight train for the big city. Needless to say this idea hits a few snags. Railway detective, Kent Taylor just happens to be in the area on other railroad business. He quickly has all the serial numbers of the stolen bills. These he forwards to all the local banks etc. The first bill that Knox passes is soon brought to Taylor and the local Sheriff, Dick Elliot's attention. A description of the killer is soon posted. Knox is hiding out at the local hobo camp as he waits for a freight train. A cash reward being offered by Taylor for info soon has results. Knox has to beat the feet in order to stay ahead of Taylor and the boys. He does another killing just for a change of clothes. He also picks up a .38 pistol along the way. Knox's father, Carnovsky, knows from the description that the man Taylor is looking for his son. He tells Taylor about his belief that Knox might be the killer. Knox is soon run to ground at a small shack just outside town. Taylor has Carnovsky try and talk Knox into surrendering. Knox is not having any of this idea and blasts Carnovsky, wounding him.Knox manages to escape the Police cordon and flees back to the bridge out of town. The same bridge that is, where Knox committed the first murders and robbery. Taylor and Sheriff, Dick Elliot, soon catch up and guns are drawn. Knox still refuses to come quietly and lead flies. A thoroughly ventilated Knox falls from the bridge into the river below. The cash is recovered. This 65 minute quickie was directed by veteran b-film helmsman, Sam Newfield. Newfield pumped out over 270 titles during his career. Most were simple shot in two weeks type fare, but he did manage to turn out a few little gems. These include, MONEY MADNESS, THE COUNTERFIETERS, APOLOGY FOR MURDER, THE LADY CONFESSES, MURDER IS MY BUSINESS and HI-JACKED.Minor leading man Taylor scored in a couple of nicely done minor noir, TANGIER and FEDERAL AGENT AT LARGE.Also in the cast is Sid Melton for a touch of comic relief. Shelia Ryan plays the sister of the slain Robert Lowery. She also serves as the love interest for Taylor. A very watchable example of a 1950's B-film programmer.

Lippert Productions made some very low-budget film noir style films. They are generally enjoyable (there are exceptions) but one inexplicable thing detracts from many of them. Burlesque (and grade-z) comic Sid Melton is in most of the films--for absolutely no apparent reason. His had comedy works horribly with this sort of gritty film and you wonder if he was Lippert's son or something! Now I liked Melton on "Green Acres"--here his hokey humor was fine, as the show was a comedy! Here, he only serves to frustrate viewers like me who love noir. Why would they want a kooky eye witness?!?! Apart from Sid, the rest of the movie ain't bad for a B. It tells the story of a nice sociopath who returns to his home town--only to go on a killing and maiming spree. It's a nice portrait of a man without a conscience and they did a pretty good job of telling the story, but it also seems more like a TV episode in quality--especially since every time a stunt was needed, they cut away from the picture!!! Cheap! But otherwise, not bad--and I agree with the reviewer who called this 'film noir lite'--kind of like noir, but a cheap stripped down version.

There are many excellent crime programmers buried within the output of Lippert Pictures, and here is another one. Yes, it's full of clichés (perhaps I should call them "archetypes"), but it is delivered with such sincerity and style that I was caught up in the story and cared about the interesting collection of characters. Like many Lipperts of this era, the cast is superb. Mickey Knox (who has had a long and interesting career both in Europe and in the USA) is a fantastic cold-blooded killer; Kent Taylor brings his usual touch of class to the title role; Sid Melton, a Lippert regular, is added for comic relief as a near-sighted mail-order detective school graduate (!!!), Robert Lowery (in his supporting actor period, after many excellent starring roles in the 40s) as a local railroad employee who is an early victim, and a very moving performance by Morris Carnovsky (acclaimed actor and also blacklist victim) as Knox's father, who knows what his son has become yet still loves him and believes he can change. There is a genuinely shocking moment near the end of the film between Knox and Carnovsky. The "wraparound" story seen briefly at the beginning and end of the film is outrageous and would be laughed out of any Screen writing 101 class, but these filmmakers were not interested in winning Oscars; they were delivering an entertaining and exciting piece of product for the tired working people who put down their money at the third-string neighborhood and small-town theaters that booked Lippert Pictures. If you like unpretentious action films (there are no noir elements here, although Knox's portrayal of the psycho killer will appeal to many noir fans), this one really delivers the goods. I watched it twice upon getting a copy recently and marveled at how efficiently it was constructed and how professional the end product was. There's also an interesting subplot involving the hobos who ride the trains and have camps near the train tracks--their society is depicted in a sympathetic and interesting manner. It's just one way that this film, which on one level is simply a genre crime-film product, is actually a very special piece of work that is far better made than it needed to be in order to fill its niche.