Standouts in the cast include lovely young Olive Borden, who Tom Mix cast in his next film after he discovered her in this action packed thriller. Young Roscoe Karns looking a little to old to play a college chum but still delivers his unique charisma. John Miljan, the audience needs no prompting to boo when this mustachioed bad guys pulls his evil strings. Our handsome hero is played by Malcolm McGregor as the visionary engineer who dreams of building a bridge across Granite Gulch no matter the obstacles and winning Borden away from the clutches of Miljan.
Spoilers: The first two reels introduce the cast and set up the plot. David Barton (Malcolm McGregor) a just graduated engineer proposes helping a struggling train line get around a profit losing line by bridging a chasm. His opposition is Brice Miller (John Miljan) who is backed by landowner Schuyler Dent (Charles Hill Mailes) who could profit if the bridge is not built and the line has to cut across his land. This landowner is the father of Ruth Dent (Olive Borden) who is the naive girlfriend of Miller's and whom Barton is in love with and then it get complicated with five or six subplots!
I decided to switch to the shorter AFI description, "David Barton, consulting engineer for a railroad, designs and oversees the construction of a bridge over a mountain gorge, despite the opposition of Brice Miller, David's rival for the hand of Ruth Dent. Big Ed, David's father, is the railroad engineer selected to take the first train over the new bridge. Miller sabotages the bridge, and the train derails, killing Miller's mother. David is blamed for the collapse until a contrite Miller comes forward and confesses. David's father, who has survived the derailment, later takes the Overland Limited over the rebuilt span."
Until I noticed the AFI author got three things wrong: 1) Miller's mother does not die because the train derails it is stopped, never derails and she has a heart attack for some unexplained reason (probably the excitement from too much quick editing). 2) David is never blamed for the bridge collapse because Brice confesses almost immediately. 3) David's train engineer father released the engine separating and saving the train and it's passengers. Nothing again derails, only the engine crashes to the bottom of the gorge after the bridge supports that have been cut give way. The film ends with our lead couple looking at the wreckage relieved only the lunatic boxer who had taken the wheel of the train's engine had died, they have survived, they have each other and the bridge will be rebuilt someday. THE END.
Spoilers: The first two reels introduce the cast and set up the plot. David Barton (Malcolm McGregor) a just graduated engineer proposes helping a struggling train line get around a profit losing line by bridging a chasm. His opposition is Brice Miller (John Miljan) who is backed by landowner Schuyler Dent (Charles Hill Mailes) who could profit if the bridge is not built and the line has to cut across his land. This landowner is the father of Ruth Dent (Olive Borden) who is the naive girlfriend of Miller's and whom Barton is in love with and then it get complicated with five or six subplots!
I decided to switch to the shorter AFI description, "David Barton, consulting engineer for a railroad, designs and oversees the construction of a bridge over a mountain gorge, despite the opposition of Brice Miller, David's rival for the hand of Ruth Dent. Big Ed, David's father, is the railroad engineer selected to take the first train over the new bridge. Miller sabotages the bridge, and the train derails, killing Miller's mother. David is blamed for the collapse until a contrite Miller comes forward and confesses. David's father, who has survived the derailment, later takes the Overland Limited over the rebuilt span."
Until I noticed the AFI author got three things wrong: 1) Miller's mother does not die because the train derails it is stopped, never derails and she has a heart attack for some unexplained reason (probably the excitement from too much quick editing). 2) David is never blamed for the bridge collapse because Brice confesses almost immediately. 3) David's train engineer father released the engine separating and saving the train and it's passengers. Nothing again derails, only the engine crashes to the bottom of the gorge after the bridge supports that have been cut give way. The film ends with our lead couple looking at the wreckage relieved only the lunatic boxer who had taken the wheel of the train's engine had died, they have survived, they have each other and the bridge will be rebuilt someday. THE END.
