The Tall Target

The tall target of Anthony Mann's 19th century thriller is Abraham Lincoln, and a lone police detective (Dick Powell) is out to stop a plot to assassinate the president-elect on his journey to the inauguration. Period aside, this is a terrific little film noir set largely on a midnight train to Baltimore, filled with soldiers, Southerners, secessionists and cutthroats, and shot with an eye for defining detail and ominous atmosphere. It's one of the best looking classics from the Warner Archive Collection and just one of the cool minor noirs recently released. Jacques Tourneur's "Berlin Express" (1948) is a more romantic noir on a train, and "The Fallen Sparrow" (1943) is a handsome wartime thriller starring John Garfield, while "Highway 301" (1950) is a much grittier specimen with Steve Cochran as a brutal thug and brazen bank robber. Also released: "Suspense" (1946) and "Lightning Strikes Twice" (1951).