The Wrecker wrecks trains on the L & R Railroad. One of his victims is Larry Baker's father. Baker wants to find the evildoer, among a host of suspects, but it will be difficult since the Wrecker can disguise himself to look like almost anyone
John Wayne
The Air Pilot
Tully Marshall
The Railroad Manager
Conway Tearle
The Railroad Attorney
Shirley Grey
The Secretary
Edmund Breese
The Secretary's Father
Lloyd Whitlock
The Air Line Manager
Al Bridge
The Station Agent
Matthew Betz
The Engineer Jordan
Joseph W. Girard
The Railroad Detective
James P. Burtis
The Railroad Detective's Assistant
Ernie Adams
Barney
Charles King
Mike
J. Farrell MacDonald
Jim Baker
Al Ferguson
Sandy
Glenn Strange
Jim
Fred 'Snowflake' Toones
Sam (uncredited)
Yakima Canutt
Henchman
Director
Armand Schaefer
Director, Screenplay
J.P. McGowan
Screenplay
Harold Tarshis
Screenplay
George Morgan
Story
Barney A. Sarecky
Story
Wyndham Gittens
Story
Colbert Clark
November 8, 2023
5
John Wayne is "Larry", an airline pilot who only just manages to land his plane in a field and rush to the scene of a railway accident in which his father, the driver, has perished. He is livid and when he discovers that this was sabotage, he determines to track down the culprit. Meantime we discover just who is behind these attacks - but that he has quite a legitimate axe to grind against an all-conquering railroad that rode rough shod over people and townships alike during it's construction. There's no doubt as to the conclusion of this feature film - a condensed version that is based around the first few and the last few parts of a twelve part serialisation, and it is largely filmed as if it were a silent movie with a sound effects disc running efficiently now and again in the background to liven it up. What dialogue there is, is delivered in a seriously stilted fashion suggesting the actors were reading cue cards just out of shot and so isn't the most natural. The photography is basic, but it's also quite exciting at times when it's on the trains and we are whizzing around at speed. I don't think this abridged version is particularly good nor memorable but I do reckon it could have made for quite an entertaining week-to-week serial with cliffhanger endings each time. It's watchable as a piece of low-budget cinema nostalgia - it illustrates gently that just as the plane is overtaking the train, sound movies are overtaking the silent ones.
Status:
Released
Original Language:
English
Budget:
$0.00
Revenue:
$0.00