The Roaring Road

Name: The Roaring Road
Director: James Cruze
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Released: 1919
Cast: Wallace Reid, Ann Little, Theodore Roberts, Guy Oliver, Clarence Geldart

1919 Drama Comedy 5 reels (4,309 feet) Directed by James Cruze

About The Roaring Road

Toodles Waldron sells cars for J. D. Ward and wants to marry Ward's daughter Dorothy. Ward tells him to wait five years, picks a quarrel, and they split. Three racing cars are wrecked in a train crash. Toodles buys the junk, rebuilds one with his mechanic, and wins a big race, then asks Ward for a raise. With days left to break the Los Angeles–San Francisco record he is arrested for speeding. Ward gets him out as part of a scheme and has Dorothy taken off. Toodles gets her back, breaks the record, and wins her.

Cast & crew

More about The Roaring Road

James Cruze directed. Frank Urson handled the racing sequence. Marion Fairfax wrote the screenplay from three Byron Morgan stories: Junkpile Sweepstakes, Undertaker's Handicap, and Roaring Road. Adolph Zukor and Jesse L. Lasky produced. Paramount released it on April 27, 1919. The length is 4,309 feet, five reels. Frank Urson is also listed as a photographer. A sequel, Excuse My Dust, used more Morgan stories.

Themes

A salesman barred from the race and the daughter
A car rebuilt from a wreck
A record run that doubles as a rescue
Toodles Waldron
Wallace Reid
Santa Monica
Los Angeles to San Francisco
auto race
J. D. Ward

Background

Road races and coast-to-coast records were newspaper sports in 1919. Famous Players–Lasky built this feature out of three of Byron Morgan's magazine racing stories.

Making

Urson covered the race footage while Cruze directed the story scenes. Reid, who had already made a racing picture, drives Toodles.

Look

Frank Urson photographed the picture and directed the racing sequence. Several setups cover the rebuilt car and the record run.

Preservation

A copy is on the Internet Archive. Wikipedia notes video and DVD copies from online sellers without naming an edition.

Notes

Wallace Reid plays Walter Thomas 'Toodles' Waldron. Ann Little is Dorothy Ward. Theodore Roberts is J. D. Ward. Guy Oliver is the mechanic Tom Darby.
Clarence Geldart plays Fred Wheeler.
The rebuilt car comes from three machines smashed in a train wreck.
The record he breaks is Los Angeles to San Francisco.
Paramount followed it with Excuse My Dust, again from Morgan's racing stories.