The Flying Scotsman

Decent British part-silent about the life and love of cockney Ray Milland -- yes, that Ray Milland at the beginning of his career -- as the new fireman aboard the 'Flying Scotsman.' Of course he falls in love with the daughter of the Flying Scotsman's engineer, unbeknownst to any of the parties, and of course the old fireman, fired for drinking on the job, has vowed vengeance on everyone. The whole movie is photographed by Theodore Sparkuhl is Germanic, moody, shadowy lighting that produces an air of foreboding in every scene.

The fireman of the fabled British train The Flying Scotsman gets reported by the engineer for being drunk on the job and he's given the sack as they would say in the UK. In the USA he'd be picking out a weapon of choice and going back to his job to start a massacre. But over there, being the civilized folks they are all he's going to do is wreck the train in vengeance while it's on it's run from London to Edinburgh.

Two things The Flying Scotsman is known for. The first is some very daring stunt work done on the train itself. The second is for the presence of young Raymond Milland in the role of the young engineer in love with the old engineer's daughter. It was only Milland's second film and there are certainly traces of the amiable light leading man he was throughout the Thirties in Hollywood.

The film was started while films were silent and midpoint in the story the players start to speak. Though it doesn't add or detract from the story in a dramatic sense and it isn't done with any sense of style as Blackmail was by Alfred Hitchcock, it makes far better sense than say the first sound version of Showboat where in certain scenes the players just speak and go silent without rhyme or reason.

The Flying Scotsman is a curious antique good for those who love old trains and old films.

This film was made by British International Pictures who with the Indian of the talkies decided to turn their unreleased ailments into part sound.Instead. of inserting sound sequences they turned the second half into a complete talkie.They also did this on The Informer and Kitty.By 1931 ailments were dead,and any cinema that could not afford the equipment closed.The sequence where the actors are walking along the outside of the train was truly hair raising.The actors had no doubles and there were no process shots.You could see the looks of sheer terror on the face of the actors.The cast is interesting.Ray Mill and is a rather cocky engineer in one of his early films.Moore Marriott is the train driver before he found fame with Will Hay a few years later.No doubt this film is popular with train enthusiasts for its many views of the steam era over eighty six years ago.

Like Hitchcock's "Blackmail" that came out the same year, this film has a silent opening sequence and seems to have begun as a silent picture before adapting the new technology after production began. This film doesn't merge the two quite as well, however. Blackmail's opening sequence filmed without dialogue comes across as an opening vignette intended to be silent, then the speaking comes when the story moves elsewhere (though it was in fact only after filming began that they switched, and then overdubbed the speaking parts). In this film the speaking was not overdubbed but seems to begin at an arbitrary point in the story.

While the plot is a bit thin and predictable, it is very well made, particularly the sequences on and of the train, the famous Flying Scotsman that runs from Edinburgh to London.

The tacked on love story angle is the weakest aspect, but the vengeful former engineer bent on getting even for being "wronged" is the strength of the movie and its momentum. Like Buster Keaton's "The General," they film and perform the stunts on the actual moving train and not with a filmed background, and some of the stunts are daring and impressive.

While the love story won't keep you interested, if you like well filmed thrillers and trains, this movie is good, though far from great.

This early train drama is impressive for its level of realism and excitement in the second half of the production. Until then it's a fairly typical potboiler of its kind, with a slow-moving narrative gradually unveiling the main players in the drama: Ray Milland's naive young newcomer, wooing a pretty blonde; her elderly and dependable soon-to-retire father; and a beefy scoundrel of a villain. The big twist is that halfway through it swaps from silent to sound, which must have been amazing for audiences of the era. There are some excellent train stunts later on, particularly from the main actress, in high heels and all.