There are two decent films based on the Majczek and Marcinkiewicz case, Railroaded! and the better known Call Northside 777. The real-life case revolved around a miscarriage of justice resulting in two young men being sentenced to 99 years in jail for the murder of a cop.
The Majczek and Marcinkiewicz case scandalised the mid-1940s and shook the public’s faith in the justice system. But the fact that the two men got 99 years rather than the electric chair – the normal tariff for cop killers – suggests the trial judge knew something wasn’t right about the men’s conviction. It took 11 years, a lot of digging by a Chicago Times reporter and a $5,000 reward – raised by Majczek’s mother, who did it by working as a cleaner – to exonerate the men.
The faintest outline of those facts still remain in this very noirish treatment of the story – a beautician whose shop is used as a front for gambling arranges for her boyfriend to heist the place and frames an innocent man when the job goes wrong and a cop winds up dead.
In this telling of events, it’s the cops who are the valiant crusaders for justice, rather than, let’s face it, the villains. Mickey Ferguson (Hugh Beaumont) realises that there’s something not quite stacking up when beautician Clara Calhoun (Jane Randolph) is taken in for questioning and immediately identifies a man with “sandy hair” as the guilty party. Her co-worker, Marie (Peggy Converse), isn’t so sure. Didn’t both guys have dark hair?
It’s not much to go on but Ferguson hasn’t been convinced by Clara’s all-innocence act in the first place, being the sort of shoe-leather cop who works on gut. But his gut isn’t yet fully up to speed when sandy-haired Steve Ryan (Ed Kelly) is brought in and charged with the murder. Ferguson may have his doubts but the case, surely, is closed.
John Ireland plays Duke Martin, the guy who actually pulled the trigger, and the story is enriched by some romantic attachments. Clara is Duke’s gal, or so she thinks. In fact he’s not so much interested in her as what she can do for him. On the cop’s side there’s the accused innocent man’s sister, Rosie Ryan (Sheila Ryan), a neighbourhood poppet Ferguson knew back in the day when he lived in this part of town. My, how she’s grown!
So on one side Clara and Duke, on the other Mickey and Rosie. Lurking in the background, the Mister Big behind the gambling racket, Jackland Ainsworth (Roy Gordon), a familiarly florid master villain who likes to quote Oscar Wilde aphorisms to his henchmen.
It’s as much Rosie’s investigative skills as the cop’s that solve this case. Propelling herself fearlessly into dangerous territory and stirring things up by asking questions, she drives things forward and helps convince Mickey Ferguson that the cops are barking up the wrong tree.
Doubt is the currency. Steve Ryan doubts even himself when he’s convicted of something he knows nothing about. Mickey Ferguson doubts the water-tightness of the case. Rosie has doubts about her brother’s guilt. Eventually, when someone close to the beautiican winds up dead in the river, Clara starts to doubt herself.
The acting is good and the cast play it fast, knowing this is a B movie with no time to spare. A touch of gabbling here and there, and a touch of the actors acting like the actors they’ve seen in other cheap noirs. But for the most part they do a good job.
Long before he became a master of the western, this is Anthony Mann easing himself into another genre he’d also become very good at. With movies like The Tall Target, Raw Deal and T-Men, Mann made some proper copper-bottomed noirs. This is not one of those but it’s an enjoyable product from the conveyor belt with some nicely shadowy exteriors and a good brisk pace. A bit corny, maybe. Corny is not bad.
Railroaded – Watch it/buy it at Amazon
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© Steve Morrissey 2026
