Sin Of Nora Moran, The/ Prison Train (1933) Rating: Starring: Dorothy Comingore, Zita Johann, Fred Keating, John Miljan, Clarence Muse, Henry B. Walthall Director: Phil Goldstone, Gordon Wiles Category: Drama, Classics, Classics Studio: Image Ent. Subtitles: Length: 127 mins     The Sin Of Nora Moran and Prison Train are two of the best small independent feature films of the 1930s, and both were influences upon Orson Welles' Citizen Kane. Convicted of murder, Nora Moran is facing death by electrocution. As in Kane, Nora's life is shown out of chronology in a series of flashbacks seen from the points of view of some who figured in it and who themselves are revealed as complex and contradictory characters. The scenes are unified with off-screen narration; there is even conversation between Nora and the offscreen storytellers about events and fantasies still in the future. This complex structure gains real emotional impact with some first-rate dialogue, a beautiful score by uncredited Heinz Roemheld, a fine cast of reliable character actors of the time (including unbilled surprise appearances) and a luminous performance by Zita Johann as Nora. When The Sin Of Nora Moran was made, Miss Johan was married to John Houseman, soon to become Orson Welles' partner in the Mercury Theater and a likely conduit for Welles' awareness of this film's unusual design. Prison Train also embodies the best qualities of the independent picture. The plot is tight, characters are quickly but adequately developed, and the action vigorously propels the story to its climax. As the title suggests, the principal setting is a train carrying prisoners to Alcatraz. Director Gordon Wiles made fine use of the train motif and as Don Miller wrote in B Movies, "rendered a film highly original." The Monthly Film Bulletin described it as "beautifully shot from unusual angles." In the cast are Fred Keating, a popular stage magician and actor who decided to try his luck on the screen, the sensitive and intelligent Clarence Muse who starred in many films specifically for black audiences and played supporting roles in major Hollywood Movies, and most notably Linda Winters who three years later under her own name, Dorothy Comingore, played the role for which she will be forever remembered, Susan Alexander Kane. According to its writer/ co director Shepard Traube, Welles screened Prison Train prior to casting Kane.