The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: The Phantom Train of Doom (1999) (V)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Peter MacDonald

Writer:

Frank Darabont (writer)

Genre:

Adventure | War

Plot:

November, 1916. Indiana Jones and Remy Baudouin have managed to get a transfer from the European trenches to the plains of Africa...

Plot Keywords:

Indiana Jones | Young Versions Of Characters | Fedora | Wilhelm Scream | Character Name In Title

Cast

Sean Patrick Flanery	...	Indiana Jones (archive footage)
Ronny Coutteure	...	Remy Baudouin (archive footage)
Lynsey Baxter	...	Margaret Trappe (archive footage)
Tom Bell	...	Col. Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck (archive footage)
Ronald Fraser	...	Donald Parks (archive footage)
Paul Freeman	...	Frederick Selous (archive footage)
Freddie Jones	...	Birdy (archive footage)
Norman Rodway	...	Gen. Jan Christiaan Smuts (archive footage)
Julian Firth	...	Richard Meinertzhagen (archive footage)
Mac McDonald	...	Big Mac (archive footage)
Abdullah Sohado	...	Mr. Colo (archive footage)
Perry Davey	...	Zoltan (archive footage)
Graeme Crowther	...	Harper (archive footage)
Roger Haller	...	Belgian Troop Major (archive footage)
Frederique Lemaire	...	Belgian Captain (archive footage)

Runtime:

USA:93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color

Certification:

UK:PG (uncut version) | UK:PG (cut)

Filming Locations:

Kenya

Company:

Amblin Entertainment

Trivia:

Selections of Joel McNeely's score, some of which is inspired by John Williams's scores for Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989) and Hook (1991), can be heard on the Varese Sarabande CD "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles Volume Four" (1994), produced by Robert Townson. This was the first full length score performed and recorded by The Western Australian Symphony Orchestra.

Quotes:

[Indy un-hitches the train to get away before the rear cars explode]
Selous: Next time, wait for my orders!
Indiana Jones: Sorry.
[the explosives go off, destroying the shells, but the cannon is left intact]
Selous: Blast!
Indiana Jones: We have to go back!
Selous: What?
Indiana Jones: Go back and get it! We can't let the Germans keep that gun!
[he reverses the locomotive]
Selous: Are you just making this up as you go along?
[...]

Movie Connections:

References Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

Before there was a Temple there was a Phantom Train

Indy and Remy accidentally board the wrong train on their way to their next assignment. Once they realize their mistake they board another wrong train when trying to make their way back. Now hopelessly lost and facing the firing squad as deserters they encounter a group of old soldiers out in the African desert. For the time being their new mission is to take out a mysterious vanishing train with a massive cannon attached to it.

Phantom Train is certainly the fastest moving Young Indy adventure so far and there's never a dull moment in it. The second half is especially good as Indy and Remy kidnap Colonel Lettow-Vorbeck and hoist him away in a hot air balloon. The action scenes in this adventure are, for a change, up to the standard of the movies.

Though I am not sure of Paul Freeman as Frederick Selous (the real life inspiration for H. Rider Haggard's Allan Quatermain character). Why they cast the man who so famously played Indy's sleazy rival in Raiders to play a different person is beyond me. How great would it have been for Beloq to challenge Young Indy? His role as Selous here is bigger than the brief appearance he made in Passion for Life.

I can only hope that the rest will be this entertaining.