SLEEPERS WEST
US, 1941, 74 minutes, Black and White.
Lloyd Nolan, Lynn Bari, Mary Beth Hughes.
Directed by Eugene Forde.
Sleepers West is a short mystery, one of the Michael Shayne detective stories. Lloyd Nolan is once again Michael Shayne. Lynne Bari is Kay, an ambitious journalist. Mary Beth Hughes is Helen, a young woman wanted as a witness in a San Francisco case. Shayne is bringing her secretly from Denver to San Francisco by train. There are various complicated subplots with Kay's fiance, a man who wants to leave his humdrum life and teams up with Helen, an embezzler.
1. Enjoyable thriller? Short feature of the '40s? The Michael Shayne series? The popularity of film series (parallel with television series today)?
2. 20th Century Fox production values, black and white photography, the train, the cast?
3. The title, the focus on the train - and the popularity of the train thriller?
4. Lloyd Nolan as Michael Shayne, the private eye, tough and soft? Getting Helen on board on the stretcher, the broken relationship with Kay, her trying to get information out of him, coming into the compartment, caught in the locker? His trying to keep Helen quiet, stop her drinking? Interactions on the train with Kay's fiance, his trying to find out the information? With Jason? The crash, booking the car, Kay's taking it, catching up, the confrontation in the farmhouse? The satisfactory ending - and Shayne's motivation, memories of Callahan, the plea of his wife and children? Pleasing hero?
5. Kay, ambitious, newspaper, meeting Shayne, past memories, her fiance, work on the train, the dropping of the note, snooping in the compartment, caught? Finding out the truth, the break-off with her fiance, taking charge of Helen, ringing the paper, exposed by Shayne? The meeting in the diner at the end?
6. Helen, her background, explanation to Jason? Wanting to drink, wanting to get away? The possibility of another life? Kay helping her, the farmhouse? Her decision to go on, send Jason back, her job?
7. Jason his story, henpecked, wanting to do something for himself, attracted to Helen, the drinking, trying to get the doctor, trying to persuade her to leave, her persuading him to go home?
8. Kay's fiance, lawyer, caught up in the political difficulties, the detective trying to get the information from him, suggesting a murder, the break-up of the engagement? The background of crooked politics?
9. The crooked detective, trying to get the information, using the lawyer, wanting him to use Kay? The confrontation with Shayne, the train crash? The background of crooked politics and cover-ups?
10. The train detective, getting the blacks to help him, the telegram - the comic touch?
11. The engine driver, his complaints, the last trip, arguments with the fireman, the breaking of the train and the crash?
12. The blacks, stereotypes, work on the train, with the detective, finding the money?
13. The old lady and her kindness to the travellers?
14. The popularity of this kind of thriller at the time - and its modern counterpart in television series?
