I got into "The Silver Streak" only because my ex-boyfriend was a die-hard train fan and had too many train oriented movies to count. I rather enjoyed this little mix of action, comedy, drama and romance, all involving a train that very few people wanted.
Tom Caldwell (Charles Starrett)pitches a modern train to Barney J. Dexter (William Farnum), whose mind is so stuck in the past that he doesn't want any part of it. With a little help from Ruth Dexter (Sally Blane), Tom gets another chance another company, but the train trial ends miserably (It isn't fast enough to race an old-time steam engine). Consigned to a fair, Tom finds out with the help of know-it-all Crawford (Arthur Lake)what the problem is and fixes it. And the timing couldn't be better, because Ruth's brother becomes ill on Hoover Dam, along with other workers. The only way to save them is to race to Hoover Dam all the way from Chicago with an iron lung. To make it even more exciting, Tom's engineering buddy Bronte (Irving Pichel)is apparently a spy whose wanted for murder.
The film is gratefully short (70 minutes), and campy by today's standards, but my favorite part is the freak-out by one of the passengers. As she is riding The Silver Streak, which is going too fast for her liking, she starts screaming about it. You can't help but laugh at that!
Tom Caldwell (Charles Starrett)pitches a modern train to Barney J. Dexter (William Farnum), whose mind is so stuck in the past that he doesn't want any part of it. With a little help from Ruth Dexter (Sally Blane), Tom gets another chance another company, but the train trial ends miserably (It isn't fast enough to race an old-time steam engine). Consigned to a fair, Tom finds out with the help of know-it-all Crawford (Arthur Lake)what the problem is and fixes it. And the timing couldn't be better, because Ruth's brother becomes ill on Hoover Dam, along with other workers. The only way to save them is to race to Hoover Dam all the way from Chicago with an iron lung. To make it even more exciting, Tom's engineering buddy Bronte (Irving Pichel)is apparently a spy whose wanted for murder.
The film is gratefully short (70 minutes), and campy by today's standards, but my favorite part is the freak-out by one of the passengers. As she is riding The Silver Streak, which is going too fast for her liking, she starts screaming about it. You can't help but laugh at that!