SPECIAL AGENT
US, 1949, 71 minutes, Black and white.
William Eythe, Kasey Rogers, Paul Valentine, George Reeves, Carole Matthews, Tom Powers.
Directed by William C.Thomas.
Special Agent is a small supporting feature of the late 1940s, the period when American patriotism was strong and there was a great respect for social institutions.
The institution in this particular case are the special agents designated for crimes and accidents on the railways. The voiceover, which continues throughout the film, giving it a semi-documentary tone, indicates that the special agents proceeded the FBI, the CIA as well as the Pinkertons.
The film opens in a quiet town in California where the hero seems to have nothing to do, is attracted to the daughter of one of the train engine drivers. The film shows the train going into a tunnel, an explosion in the tunnel, the train reversing backwards down the line and the efforts to divert the train onto alternate tracks to save lives.
The agent, William Eythe, is put in charge of the investigation, has to console his girlfriend at the death of her father as well as another family on the death of the husband and father.
The film tracks in detail the steps taken by the agents, examining the site, checking footprints, speculating on the explosion and the information available to plan the robbery, the finding of a copy of War and Peace, interviewing a range of witnesses, the bookseller, a librarian, a gas station attendant, as well is giving the clues to a laboratory for forensic examination. And there is advice from an expert in chemistry from a California University.
The cumulative effect is the identifying of the suspects as lumberjacks, brothers, something of their height and appearance, sketches which witnesses do identify.
In the meantime, we see the scenes of the two brothers, one rather ruthless, the other upset at the killings. The motivation for the crime was to support their grandfather who had not managed his property well and which is being taken over, their pretending that this was a loan, and offering him to buy the land. However, he is dismayed by the news. The girlfriend of one of them gets the information and warns them so that they escape.
Traces seem to be lost, the agent thinking he had failed, a lot of discussion with the various authorities.
However, luck is on their side when two boys find the canvas bag with the stolen money in the branches of a tree. This enables the agent to take the money and fill the bag with paper, in expectation of the brothers coming to retrieve the bag. They do, one becomes suspicious of the other, especially finding the paper, and there is a violent falling out.
The voice-over then explains that the case was brought to a satisfactory conclusion and with the special railroad agents have continued their good record.
