Sleepers West (1941)

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Excellent but underrated film

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Spoiler Alert. I must be the only person in the world who doesn't like Lloyd Nolan. I find him intensely annoying and totally unbelievable as private detective Michael Shayne (who originally was a hard-boiled type). And in "Sleepers West," he just seems inept. A guy is on trial for his life, but he's innocent, and the real murderer is the governor's son (I think -- this was a very confusing movie). But a single witness can blow everything open. Naturally all the forces of evil will do everything to keep this witness from testifying. So what does Shayne do to protect her on a train en route to the trial? He sticks her in a compartment, says "Keep your door locked," and leaves her totally unattended as he wanders around the train and swaps sarcasms with his old flame, an eager girl reporter who wants the story. The witness has no other protection. And evidently Shayne doesn't even carry a gun. If the witness was so vital and her life so endangered, why wouldn't she have been guarded by lots of people, including a couple of heavies armed to the teeth right there in the compartment with her? I also didn't buy the witness's abrupt change of heart, from a tough alcoholic who didn't care about saving a guy's life to a girl with a heart of gold. I would've given this mess one star, but I added a couple of stars because I love trains. If you want to see a vastly superior comedy train mystery, find "Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone."

****SPOILERS****Michael Shayne, Lloyd Nolan, got his hands full in delivering a very important witness to exonerate someone, Joe Callahan, that Shayne when he was a cop sent up the river for four years for robbery. The witness Helen Carlson, Mary Beth Hughes, is whisked literally under cover on the Denver to San Francisco train to get her to the court, not church, on time to testify in Callahan's defense. It's there where the trouble begins in that in exonerating Callahan would implicate the Governor of the state of California Clebe Wentworth in framing Calllahan for the murder that the Gov's son Larry committed! The trouble in all this is that the star witness Helen Carlson is not that dependable in testifying in that she's a cold stone drunk and on top of all that the Governor's goons are out to whack her before she makes it to SF to testify! And it's poor Michael Shayne's job to make sure that she get there alive!We also have Shayne's pesky ex-girlfriend reporter Kay Bently, Lynn Bari, who's not only engaged-do you notice that back in those days in the movies that more women are engaged then married- to the Gov's right hand man Tom Linscott, Donald Douglas, whom Shayne takes an immediate dislike of! What comes from right out of the blue is Everette Jason, Louis Jean Heydt,who's escaping from his boring and secure life as a dry goods salesman with his life savings, $10,000,00, for a much better life of thrills and excitement as a big game hunter in South America. It's later that Jason hooks up with Helen Carlson and plans to check out of the country and elope to South America! Thus leaving both Michael Shayne and the person she's to testify for both out in the cold and strapped into the San Quentin gas chamber.***SPOILERS***Llyod Nolan looking as if he suffering from a severe case of sleep deprivation sleepwalks through the entire movie in trying to get Helen to testify as well as keeping her from getting drunk as well as killed at the same time. Kay Bently does her best to screw things up for Shayne in being angry at him for keeping the big story of Helen testifying from her not realizing that a man's-Callahan- life is at stake and may well end up losing it because of her foolish actions. Much like the far better movie "The Narrow Margin" released ten years later the film is saved by the comedy relief of Pullman Porter Ben Carter who discovers Jason's $10,000.00 and thinks he embezzled it and keeps upping the amount in how much it is, from $10,000.00 to a half a million, that throws everything else in the movie completely out of whack!

Private eye Michael Shayne must escort a special witness by train. It turns out to be more trouble than he bargained for. Fun entry in the Michael Shayne series. Lloyd Nolan's great, as usual. Lynn Bari is Shayne's ex, a lady reporter trying to snoop out a story. Clichéd character, sure, but Bari makes it work. Nice support from Edward Brophy, Don Costello, and Mary Beth Hughes. Ben Carter and Mantan Moreland provide comic relief. Lots of snappy patter in this one and a nice pace. I'm a sucker for trains so having most of this movie take place on one was a plus for me. All in all, it's one of the better Michael Shayne movies I've seen. Nothing extraordinary but a good B detective flick.

I've seen several Michael Shayne films and overall I'd have to say that Lloyd Nolan did a good job of playing the detective but that the studio gave him rather feeble scripts. Fortunately, this one is a bit better and is like a lesser version of the great Noir film, THE NARROW MARGIN.The film begins with Shayne getting ready to go on a train. At about the same time, a lady is brought aboard on a stretcher and you find out later that she's actually in disguise--with a wig and posing as a sick woman. In reality, Shayne is bringing her to San Francisco to testify in a case where an innocent man is going to jail unless she appears in court. However, at the same time, there are political forces that will do just about anything to make sure she doesn't make it.At the same time, there are several plots and subplots. Some, such as the scum-bag who boards the train looking for the lady, work well. Others, such as the major portion of the film about a female reporter don't work as well, as they seem to deflect from the plot as well as make the film seem "cute". I think that maintaining the gritty realism (more like THE NARROW MARGIN) would have made the movie even better, but still it was exciting and well done--a better than average B-detective film.