yousonuva

Oh my my was this ahead of it's time or what! The funniest thing out of the 30's that you've never heard of. Super quick, non-chalant humor that's indifferent to weather or not you laugh and that makes it so funny (does not force one joke on it's audience and the effect is so humbling that it solidifies the humor.) Plus a lot of improving from a greatly skilled cast. I do mean great, they were all completely on top of their roles.

I was surprised to see such a sharp funny movie from this era, I mean in the type of funny it is. Chock full o gags and easy to watch the whole way through, I don't think there was one thing wrong with this one.

Two of the funniest scenes in a movie. One where Laurel keeps drinking all the wine he's supposed to be putting in a vat. Soon he's sloshed and starts making a smack noise with his mouth, that gets funnier every time he does it. Soon after, they're both sitting at a table in a restaurant and Laurel can't stop laughing. Ollie tries to make him stop but he is quickly consumed by laughter as well and they are ramping up the laughter with every past moment they reminisce. You can't help yourself from laughing and I was laughing hard.

Everything else about this movie is damn good too. The support acting is ahead of it's time and the music is well placed, novel and catchy. And the main female lead is very easy to look at. Check it out, won't we?

That about sums up this vile train wreck. Absurdly maniacal characters only made worse by cheesy dialog. The whole thing feels like a parody of itself and expects you to hate every player by the way they scream and yell at each other over every little dumb plot-hole in every numb minded scene.

Only good points are the music, which so outweighs the script it makes you a bit sad to see it so wasted, and the action cinematography shows the racing train pretty well. Not to be confused with the camera work (especially in the control headquarters) where the camera goes wild on unnecessary close-ups without any good aim.

Some of the plot-holes: No radio communication; Use of a ladder from a moving helicopter instead of a harness (which of course kills a guy); A train traveling at 80mph on an icy track with no brakes would not stop in under 2 minutes (though it seems to stop in 10 seconds here). And many more subtle goofs that all around p***ed me off.

Good idea (Voight and Roberts aren't too bad it's just the script/direction) that is ruined by elementary to insane dialog and direction. Hated that balding, screaming control gut btw. I wanted to scream back!