The Phantom Express
About The Phantom Express
Engineer Smokey Nolan throws his train into an emergency stop when he sees another locomotive coming head-on. The train derails, passengers die, and no second train can be found, so the Southwest Pacific fires him. The line's owner, Mr. Harrington, is about to sell the railroad at midnight. His son Bruce and Smokey's daughter Carolyn trace the crashes to a rival president who has been dropping the stock, using a dummy engine and headlights on a side track. Bruce gets Smokey back into the cab of train 101 and reaches the office before the papers are signed.
Cast & crew
More about The Phantom Express
Emory Johnson directed from his own story, with a screenplay by Laird Doyle. Ross Fisher photographed and S. Roy Luby edited. Majestic Pictures released the six-reel film on August 15, 1932.
Themes
Making
Johnson, who also wrote the story, built the mystery around a single railroad trick: a false headlight planted where a real train was not.
Look
Ross Fisher photographed the derailment, the storm run of train 101, and the night shots of the false locomotive.
Notes
- William Collier Jr. plays Bruce Harrington, Sally Blane plays Carolyn Nolan, J. Farrell MacDonald plays Smokey, and Hobart Bosworth plays Mr. Harrington.
- Huntley Gordon plays the president of the rival railroad.
- The phantom is a rig of headlights on a piece of equipment, not a ghost.
- A storm knocks out the telegraph, which is why Bruce has to bring the warning by train.
- The picture is a pre-Code release.
Scenes
- Smokey brakes for a train that the investigators cannot find.
- Bruce and Carolyn discover the dummy engine and its headlights.
- Smokey takes train 101 out through floods and landslides to stop the sale.
