Il lampo

Trains are crashing thanks to the sudden appearance of a phantom train on the tracks ahead of them. As the stock of the railroad plummets thanks to the crashes, the son of the railroad's owner begins to investigate.

Very good little movie that tells a rather exciting story of sabotage. The train scenes are all exciting, even if they were done with models, and the fact that we get a good number of them helps to keep the tension up. If there is a problem with the movie is that some of the middle section is a bit too talky since its a bit too clear why things are happening, even if we don't know how.

Definitely worth a look, especially on a rainy night

Trains are being derailed along a particular line by a "phantom express" (or so the old drivers think). They see engine lights and hear train noises before their engines are derailed. Nobody else can see anything.

William Collier Jnr.(from "Little Ceasar" (1930)) plays Bruce Harrington, the bosses son who wants a chance to prove his worth. He begs to be allowed to investigate the mystery of the train wrecks.

J. Farrell MacDonald is outstanding as the old engine driver who is convinced something is up. The scene when he is sacked and comes home to his birthday party is very powerful. The emotion he gives to the scene where he is looking at his medals for bravery is very sad.

The exquisitely beautiful Sally Blane plays his daughter Carolyn. One look at her across a desk and Bruce is willing to forgo his playboy lifestyle and work under cover at the railroad - it is not that hard to believe!!!!

Claire McDowall, an original member of D.W. Griffith's stock company plays the mother. David Rollins was a handsome leading man in a few of the early sound musicals (he partnered Sue Carol in "The Breakaway") has the small part of the son Jackie. Lina Basquette was a Follies beauty and a star for Cecil B. DeMille (she starred in his "The Godless Girl") - she has a couple of fiery scenes as Betty, a girl friend of Bruce's. There is a ton of talent in this film - names that conjure up memories.

This is an outstanding drama that was not at all predictable. How they solve the mystery of "The Phantom Express" is surprising and not what you would expect.

This film begins with what appears to be a model train going down the model tracks. However, at least it is a pretty good model train! Anyway, it's supposed to be a real one and an accident is caused when the headlamp of another train appears to be heading right for them—and the train derails trying to avoid it. However, it turns out there was no other train—it's some sort of trick. So, the playboy son of the railroad owner decides to go undercover to investigate.

While this all might sound interesting, despite an interesting premise, the film really bogs down and shows that it's only a cheaply made film by a cheap-o studio. After all, the ending is just god-awful—with ridiculous stunts and an explanation of the mystery that made my brain hurt. I can clearly understand why this film was allowed to slip into the public domain—it's bad and there's little to recommend it.

"A senior engineer is fired from his job after derailing his train, which causes many injuries and deaths. The engineer claims he derailed the train to avoid running into another train coming towards him in a tunnel, although there are no signs another train existed. The engineer's daughter and the railroad owner's son sent out to investigate the truth behind the accident and clear the engineer's name," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

This mystery doesn't know where to point its story. After beginning as the story of elderly train conductor J. Farrell MacDonald (as "Smokey" Nolan) experiencing trouble on the job, it switches to focus on playboy William Collier Jr. (as Bruce Harrington) finding true love with beautiful Sally Blane (as Carolyn Nolan). Add a confusing suggestion of some supernatural force at work (note the title). But, the cast is great. You also get to see handsome David Rollins (as Jack Nolan) and hear silent screen veterans like Claire McDowell and Hobart Bosworth.

***** The Phantom Express (8/15/32) Emory Johnson ~ J. Farrell MacDonald, William Collier Jr., Sally Blane, David Rollins

THE PHANTOM EXPRESS (Majestic, 1932), written and directed by Emory Johnson, has the makings of a weekly chaptered serial told in only 65 minutes, short enough for any viewer not to lose his train of thought. The title that indicates a supernatural theme, it comes close to that as terror rides the rails, terror being some sort of mysterious ghost train. With William Collier Jr. heading the cast, this feature presentation relatively belongs to the third billed J. Farrell MacDonald in one of his few on-screen opportunities to play the central character. Interestingly, MacDonald assumed the role as a railroad engineer the very same year as the release of THE PHANTOM EXPRESS, a chaptered serial titled THE HURRICANE EXPRESS (Mascot Studios) starring John Wayne and Shirley Grey. With similar titles, it's understandable to get these two movies confused.

The story begins with D.J. "Smokey" Nolan (J. Farrell MacDonald), a veteran engineer of the Southern Pacific Railroad, running his locomotive "101" through the darkness of the night accompanied by his friend and partner, Axel (Axel Axelson). The signal lights tell him that the track is clear, but suddenly Smokey notices a headlight of another train directly ahead, forcing him to put the train into an immediate halt, pulling much of the attached railroad cars off its tracks. Following this incident, the headlight suddenly dims out. Accused of negligence, Smokey appears before John Harrington (Hobart Bosworth), the railroad president. Later, four more similar wrecks occur, Harrington finds himself pressured in selling out his railroad line, which causes Smokey dismissal from duty. In the meantime, Harrington's son, Bruce (William Collier Jr.), a pampered youth whose idea of responsibility is sleeping all day and dining with young ladies at night, surprises his serious-minded father by volunteering to investigate the mystery of the "Phantom Express" mainly for the purpose of becoming more acquainted with Smokey's attractive daughter, Carolyn (Sally Blane). Assuming the name of Bruce Smith and having his friend Dick Walsh (Eddie Phillips) pretending to be him by acting as railroad assistant, Bruce acquires the position as railroad mechanic, gets to room and board in the Nolan household and becomes better acquainted with Carolyn (sometimes addressed by Smokey as Caroline). During his investigation, Bruce realizes he's on the right track as he stumbles upon an amazing discovery.

The supporting players includes David Rollins as Jack Nolan, Smokey's younger son; Claire McDowell as Mrs. Nolan; Lina Basquette (star of Cecil B. DeMille's THE GODLESS GIRL in 1929) briefly appearing as Collier's temperamental girlfriend, Betty; Tom Wilson as James Callahan, and Jack Pennick, C. Huntley Gordon, among others. Axel Axelson, who performs his task in typical Swedish fashion, accent and all, gives a performance that echoes the likes of the more familiar John Qualen, who might have assumed the part in that fashion had he been cast. The second billed Sally Blane (Loretta Young's sister), has little to do in this mystery, but performs well in what she is given as Collier's love interest and kidnap victim.

A poverty-row mystery with a neat ending twist, THE PHANTOM EXPRESS is surprisingly good in theme and action, however, occasionally comes off a little weak with some of its typical 1930s dialog and somewhat laughable staged fist fights between hero and villain. Aside from these minor faults, it's most notable scene occurs midway as Smokey (MacDonald) returns home to be surprised by a birthday party from his family (hundreds of candles on the cake and miniature train on track circling around the table), and unable to tell the bad news of his dismissal. Shortly after leaving the event, Smokey finds himself alone in his bedroom to grief and glaring at an old picture frame as he cries and laughs at the same time, causing him to throw and break the frame as it crashes onto the floor. All this is underscored with the use of violins. Quite original and effective.

After many years of obscurity with limited reissues, THE PHANTOM EXPRESS, became one of many public domain titles distributed onto video cassette in the 1980s, as well as getting some exposure during the after midnight hours on various TV channels during its early years of cable television, appearing on such networks as Christian Broadcast Network, Tempo and Channel America, before disappearing from the airwaves. A movie like THE PHANTOM EXPRESS might not be worthy of 15 academy award nominations, but is an interesting look back at the sort of programmers produced by independent film studios during the bygone 1930s, and something of interest mainly for its concept, if nothing else. All Aboard!!!!! (**)