The Hurricane Express (1932)

Directors:

J.P. McGowan
Armand Schaefer

Writers:

Colbert Clark (story) &
Barney A. Sarecky (story) ...
(more)

Release Date:

1 August 1932 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

A THRILLER of the ROARING RAILS In Twelve Crashing Episodes!

Plot:

The Wrecker wrecks trains on the L & R Railroad. One of his victims is Larry Baker's father. Baker wants to find the evildoer...

Plot Keywords:

Train | Tough Guy | Gun | Machine Gun | Fire

Cast

Tully Marshall	...	The Railroad Manager
Conway Tearle	...	The Railroad Attorney
John Wayne	...	The Air Pilot
Shirley Grey	...	The Secretary (as Shirley Gray)
Edmund Breese	...	The Secretary's Father
Lloyd Whitlock	...	The Air Line Manager
Al Bridge	...	The Station Agent
Matthew Betz	...	The Engineer Jordan (as Mathew Betz)
Joseph W. Girard	...	The Railroad Detective (as Joseph Girard)
James P. Burtis	...	The Railroad Detective's Assistant (as James Burtis)
Ernie Adams	...	Barney (as Ernie S. Adams)
Charles King	...	Mike
J. Farrell MacDonald	...	Jim Baker
Al Ferguson	...	Sandy
Glenn Strange	...	Jim
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Victor Adamson	...	Baggage Master / Farmer / Train Passenger / Bob (uncredited)
Yakima Canutt	...	Henchman (uncredited)
Henry Hall	...	Doctor (uncredited)
Rodney Hildebrand	...	Bill (uncredited)
Eddie Parker	...	Co-Pilot / Det. Nick / Doctor (uncredited)
Fred Parker	...	Plane Passenger (uncredited)
Fred 'Snowflake' Toones	...	Sam (uncredited)

Directed by
J.P. McGowan
Armand Schaefer

Writing credits
Colbert Clark		(story) &
Barney A. Sarecky		(story) (as Barney Sarecky) &
Wyndham Gittens		(story)
George Morgan		(screenplay) &
J.P. McGowan		(screenplay)
Harold Tarshis		screenplay (uncredited)

Produced by
Nat Levine	....	producer (uncredited)

Original Music by
Lee Zahler		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Ernest Miller
Carl Wester

Film Editing by
Ray Snyder

Sound Department
George Lowerre	....	sound recording engineer

Stunts
Yakima Canutt	....	stunts (uncredited)
Bert Goodrich	....	stunts (uncredited)
Eddie Parker	....	stunts (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Wyndham Gittens	....	supervising editor

Other crew
Nat Levine	....	presenter

Production Companies

• Mascot Pictures

Distributors

• Mascot Pictures (1932) (USA) (theatrical)
• Pathé Pictures International (1932) (UK) (theatrical)
• American Film Company (1940) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• American Film Company (1949) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• United American Video (1995) (USA) (VHS)
• GoodTimes Home Video (2001) (USA) (DVD)
• Grapevine Video (2001) (USA) (VHS)
• Reel Media International (2004) (worldwide) (VHS)
• Reel Media International (2005) (worldwide) (TV)
• Mill Creek Entertainment (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Passport International Entertainment (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• M.I.B. (2007) (Germany) (DVD)
• Reel Media International (2007) (worldwide) (all media)
• FilmAnnex (2006) (worldwide) (all media)
• Finders Keepers Video (????) (USA) (VHS)
• Western Trails Video (????) (USA) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Disney Film Recording Co.  sound

Also Known As:

Runtime:

USA:227 min (12 episodes) | USA:79 min (edited for TV)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:U | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Germany:12 (DVD) | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Santa Clarita, California, USA

Company:

Mascot Pictures

Trivia:

The feature version,running approximately 81 minutes, was edited from Chapters #1, 2, 3, 9, 10, 11 and 12.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Action Heroes of Movies & T.V.: A Campy Compilation (1989) (V)

Don't Bother: Haven't You Got Something Better To Do?

I own and have watched the Alpha Video feature version of the serial. The problem with feature versions of serials is that they leave out so much; a lot of them jump too fast leaving out details behind certain dialog or sequences, which makes them hard to follow; or else the back and forth nature of the action seems pointless and tedious. There are many, many examples of this such as "Planet Outlaws" the feature version of "Buck Rogers" (1939) "The Phantom Empire," (1935) "Dick Tracy Vs. Crime Inc." (1941) among many.

The exceptions are "Rocketship" (1936) the excellent shortened first "Flash Gordon" serial and "The Lost Jungle" (1934), which is actually a real improvement over and practically a different film from the serial it came from.

This one, however, is in the category of something you watch while you're doing something else. Although John Wayne has a few good lines, and seems to do a lot of the action stunts himself, the feature version really points up the weak nature of the story. The bad guys (including the underutilized Charles King) seem to want to spend all their time trying to recover some gold stolen from a train, the Hurricane Express.

Watching this you think, don't these evil villains have anything better (or since they are villains, worse) to do? Well, while watching it, you realize that you do, but you may not have anything else planned. So let me give you some tips for things you could be doing while playing this video: Organize all the clothes in your closet. Go thru the week's mail and throw away the junk. Delete unnecessary e-mails. Pay your bills. Organize your video collection-- I do mine chronologically, but maybe you do yours alphabetically. File important papers. Lie on your bed and read something while you listen to the movie.

Good luck! I'm sure you'll be able to think of something worthwhile to do while watching this version of "The Hurricane Express."