MartinHafer In the 1930s and 40s, there were at least 6,000,004 B-mystery movies made...or so it seems. It was one of the most popular genres and while there were some excellent ones, the rest mostly fall in the category of Time Passers....and "Midnight Limited" is one such time passer.The film is set mostly on trains, where a criminal genius keeps robbing folks of huge sums of money...and the police seem powerless to stop this. However, Val ('Dusty' King) promises to solve the case.Dusty King was an actor known for B-westerns and action movies. In other words, he was pretty good at punching folks and the like....but wasn't the most charismatic or sexy actors. In fact, in this one he seems incredibly ordinary. He couldn't help it...he just wasn't a strong leading man type for this sort of film. Add to that the rather cheap look of the film and you've got a film that isn't bad...but isn't all that good either.

classicsoncall Well if you watched the picture, you know who the train robbers are, just like I know who the train robbers are. However I'm going to have to admit something here - I don't know how the heck Valentine Lennon (John King) figured it out, even after he explained it to Miss Marshall (Marjorie Reynolds). How did he get from Point A to Point B to know it was Krantz (Monte Collins) in the baggage car that was in league with the Phantom Robber (I. Stanford Jolley)? Folks, this is bugging me.Up until the ending, I thought this little programmer had something fairly clever going for it. The desk clerk at the Ritz Plaza calling the plays was a pretty creative way to set up the train heists. But what about the guy they called The Professor (George Cleveland)? Except for the coincidence of being on the same runs on which the robberies occurred, that whole business with delivering the letters to Montreal was just a red herring. Am I missing something here? I have to say, I was a little surprised to see John 'Dusty' King in a leading role in this picture. I'm more used to catching him teamed up with Ray Corrigan and Max Terhune as one of The Range Busters, a popular cowboy trio of the era. And if I had to bet, the last time I saw Marjorie Reynolds she was portraying Peg Riley in the old 'Life of Riley' TV series opposite William Bendix. Now there's a memory. Tell you what, dispense with the story and just leave Miss Reynolds on screen for the hour and I'd be just as happy.At some point, I think I'll have to go back and see what I missed here. The resolution to the mystery is still nagging me, so there must be a missing piece of the puzzle. When I figure it out I'll get back to you. Or better yet, if you figure it out, drop me a line.

kidboots Marjorie Reynolds was a bright, vivacious leading lady, who could also sing. Her career high point was co-starring with Bing Crosby in "Holiday Inn" (1942) and "Dixie" (1943), but she dressed up any movie she was in no matter how cheap the production.Joan Marshall (Marjorie Reynolds) is traveling on the Midnight Limited, a night train from New York to Montreal. She hears a scuffle in the next compartment and when she goes to investigate is also robbed by "The Phantom Robber"!!! She was robbed of papers that prove that she and her mother are the rightful heirs of a large estate but this plot goes nowhere. When she admits she had a glimpse of the robber she is immediately made a member of the police force (of course!!!) who are investigating the case. There are no surprises - it is obvious that the booking agent is involved after a gambler books a ticket on the train. It is well known that he is carrying $60,000 with him and surprise, surprise - he is robbed. Everything seems to fall into place for the viewer, long before the police figure it out!!!John "Dusty" King is a very lack lustre leading man. I was so surprised to read that he was a band singer. At one point in the film he is sitting down at the piano and sings "Quiet Hands" - very badly I thought!!! I was wishing why couldn't Marjorie have sung - she would have really livened up the film.

dbborroughs While on a train trip to Montreal a woman is robbed of some valuable papers and man is robbed of some jewels by a man who comes in the night and shines a light in their faces. The robber then disappears off the train and into the night. The woman, needing the papers to collect an inheritance goes to the police. who then direct him to Val Lennon, who is investigating a rash of robberies on the train. The woman hooks up with Lennon and they begin to look into the robberies, which soon turn deadly.Almost coldly clinical, even if the film has some romance and a musical number, this film didn't really work for me. The film is much too talky for an hour long mystery (The interrogation scene early on seems to go one for an hour instead of 5 or 6 minutes) and there are times when very little actually happens despite "movement" (how many trips are actually made?). It also doesn't help that the script seems to clue us in as to whats going on much too early simply as a means of keeping us interested. The cast, of B movie and supporting stalwarts is quite good, though they seem to be simply running back and forth needlessly instead of actually solving a mystery.You can try it if you catch it on TV but otherwise I'd skip it.