The Lost Express

I see that a film also titled THE LOST EXPRESS that also starred Helen Holmes and was directed by J.P.McGowan was released in 1917; however, based on the plot summary of that film, the 1926 feature that I'm reviewing is NOT a remake in any way. During the teens, Helen Holmes was a star of serials in the Pearl White/Perils of Pauline vein, having a series called THE HAZARDS OF HELEN. She made a number of "railroad action" films during her starring period, which ended in the late 1920's. When this film was made in 1926, we should remember that she would have been well-known to movie audiences and they would expect a railroad element and some exciting chases utilizing cars and trains as much as modern audiences would expect Fred Astaire to dance or Chuck Norris to engage in martial arts. This is a mature Ms. Holmes in THE LOST EXPRESS of 1926, so her physical stunts are kept to a minimum, although to satisfy the fans she does jump from a moving car onto a moving train. The exciting plot involves the theft of a rail car that is carrying the head of the railroad company, his wimpy assistant, and a Black porter. The railroad czar was planning on taking his grand daughter from his daughter, who had separated from her husband. These three are held hostage by some gun-toting crooks. At the same time, the daughter goes missing, the separated spouses argue and both try to take the girl, and the train is actually "lost" for a period. Miss Holmes plays a railroad company employee, working at a local station, who comes to the aid of the family and helps to find them, locate and take care of the grand child, and eventually capture the crooks. It's easy to see why these films were popular--this one provides action, an element of mystery to the plot, thrilling stunts (though the ones in this film don't compare with those in, say, a Richard Talmadge film), some light humor, and a dependable star who has a certain "average person" quality about her. Director J. P. McGowan, who directed Miss Holmes for many years and was her husband until around the time of this film, is well-known to me for his many low-budget westerns, as both actor and director. He was also executive secretary of the Screen Director's Guild for a period. There are sixteen films playing at my local multiplex that each cost tens of millions to make, if not more, and feature CGI effects and sound design as complex as a symphony, yet I'm sure that fifteen of the sixteen do not pack as much entertainment into them as this low-budget silent action-adventure does.

Please note this review is based on the 4-reel cutdown that was made available in the 1960s; the original version was five reels. Neither should it be confused with the 1917 THE LOST EXPRESS, which was also directed by J.P. McGowan and starred Helen Holmes.

Railroad magnate Henry Barrows is traveling in his private train to his country place. There he will deal with the break-up of his elder son's marriage and receive his grand daughter, Lassie Lou Ahern. Then his train goes missing! It's up to the day manager of the station, Helen Holmes, to figure out how that happened, recover the baby, and win the boy.

Miss Holmes had risen to prominence as one of the "action girl" serial stars of Kalem in the mid-1910s, and she continued to star in serials and features like this, directed by her husband J.P. McGowan. Unfortunately, about this time, their marriage was coming apart. they would make four more features after this, and then Miss Holmes would retire.

Part of the reason is that she may have gotten tired of leaping on and off trains after she reached her 30th birthday. While she does some scrambling on top of a moving car, the way her leaps are shot -- from afar, with her back to the camera, while she wears a hat -- makes me think a stunt double may have performed the jumps.

Although there are one or two events in this film that made my eyebrows go up -- having recovered Lassie Lou Ahern, a clue to the vanished railroad results in her handing the youngster over to a random swamp rat -- this short feature has the required thrills, mysteries and railroads that Miss Holmes' fans had come to expect.

Aboard his "Union Pacific" train, millionaire railroad manager Henry Barrows (as John Morgan) flares up when he sees a newspaper article revealing he's about to take little "Lassie" Lou Ahern (as "Baby" Alice) abroad. The cute tyke is the offspring of Mr. Barrows' daughter Olita Otis (as Ruth Standish) and her estranged husband Fred Church (as Arthur Standish). Barrows plans to use the girl to get her parents back together. The newspaper article also alerts Mr. Church, who sets out to kidnap his child...

Meanwhile, Barrows' train goes off the beaten tracks, and disappears; this hijacking "mystery" is solved by the film's closing. Joining the fun is top-billed Helen Holmes (as Helen Martin), who catches the eye of Barrows' son Jack Mower (as Alvin Morgan). Needless to say, a romance develops between the two. Ms. Thomas, who was director J.P. McGowan former wife, was a railroad movie serial star in the 'teens. Here, she hasn't much to do. The surviving print of "The Lost Express" is not in good shape.

**** The Lost Express (8/15/26) J.P. McGowan ~ Helen Holmes, Jack Mower, Fred Church, Henry Barrows