Anthony Mann (1906-67) is best known for 11 major Hollywood westerns made in the 1950s and two European epics (El Cid, The Fall of the Roman Empire) in the 60s. But in the 40s he directed a succession of noir movies, the second being Railroaded, made by B-feature specialists PRC (Producers Releasing Corporation), whose shooting schedules were rarely more than a week. Shot in high-contrast black and white, the film begins with an economically staged heist at an illegal gambling joint that goes wrong when a cop is killed and an innocent man is framed for the murder. The handsome hero's a dull guy. More interestingly, the killer (John Ireland) is a brutal fetishist who rubs perfume on his bullets, strokes his gun and abuses his drunken moll. Hardboiled screenwriter John C Higgins wrote five noir movies for Mann.

This is the first film in a new series, Blue Dolphin Film Noir: America's Dark Side, that appears to be avoiding the usual suspects. Future movies include the virtually unknown Repeat Performance (1947) and the classic DOA (1950).