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Former police officer John Kennedy doesn't have a ticket, but he's determined to stay aboard the overnight train rolling from New York to Washington DC. He's convinced that someone -- or some ones -- among the passengers intends to kill newly elected President Abraham Lincoln when the train stops in Baltimore. The true-life Baltimore Plot provides the inspiration for this Hollywood thriller directed with film noir overtones by Anthony Mann and possessing a real feel for the powder-keg political atmosphere of 1861. Dick Powell (Murder, My Sweet) portrays Kennedy with appropriate grit, sifting through layers of duplicity and confronting escalating dangers as the Night Express rumbles toward destination or assassination.