The Hurricane Express


The Hurricane Express is a 1932 American Pre-Code 12-chapter Mascot Pictures film serial. Written by Colbert Clark, Barney Sarecky, Wyndham Gittens, George Morgan, and J.P. McGowan, the serial was directed by Armand Schaeffer and J.P. McGowan and produced by Nat Levine. The Hurricane Express stars John Wayne as aircraft pilot Larry Baker. Wayne goes after a mystery villain named "The Wrecker", who was responsible for a train crash that killed Baker's father.

Plot

The L & R Railroad is in competition with an airline for lucrative transport contracts. When the "Hurricane Express" is sabotaged and involved in a train wreck, one of his victims is Larry Baker's father, Jim. A mysterious figure known as "the Wrecker" is responsible for the train crashes. Air Transport Company pilot Baker wants to find the Wrecker, but with a host of suspects, it will be difficult, since the murderer can disguise himself to look like almost anyone.
One of the main suspects in the train crashes is Walter Gray, the airline manager and Larry's boss, who stands to gain if the L & R Railroad loose contracts. Suspicion is also cast on Tom Jordan, a recently discharged and disgruntled railroad engineer. Another suspect is Frank Stratton, an escaped convict who had wrongfully been convicted. Complicating matters is that Gloria Stratton is Frank Stratton's daughter, and Larry is in love with her.
Gloria tries to help Larry find the villains behind the train crashes, and when the "Hurricane Express" is again ready to go back into service, the pair are in air, flying as an escort to the speeding train. With a full load of gold, the train is a tempting target for the Wrecker.
The continuing attacks on the L & R Railroad put Gloria and Larry in danger, but they are determined to bring the Wrecker and his gang to justice. Finally, the young pilot is able to capture the murderers and can to look forward to a happy future with Gloria.

Chapter titles

  1. The Wrecker
  2. Flying Pirates
  3. The Masked Menace
  4. Buried Alive
  5. Danger Lights
  6. Airport Mystery
  7. Sealed Lips
  8. Outside the Law
  9. The Invisible Enemy
  10. The Wrecker's Secret
  11. Wings of Death
  12. Unmasked Source:

    Cast

During the 1930s, after starring in The Big Trail, its subsequent commercial failure meant that Wayne was relegated to minor roles in A-pictures, or starring, with his name over the title, in many low-budget Poverty Row Westerns, mostly at Monogram Pictures and serials for Mascot Pictures Corporation, such as The Hurricane Express.
The Hurricane Express was cheaply staged and relied heavily on studio sets for interior sequences. Two elements, however, were critical, the use of a train and an aircraft. Airline pilot Larry Baker flies as the co-pilot on a Trans World Airlines Ford Trimotor. The aircraft flew from the Grand Central Airport in Glendale, California, a favourite locale for Cinema of [the United States|Hollywood] films featuring aviation.
While the Ford Trimotor appears in the first two chapters, the Curtiss "Jenny" is used in an aircraft-to-train transfer. A Fokker Trimotor also appears.

Reception

Although concentrating on the aviation aspects of the production, aviation film historian James M. Farmer in Celluloid Wings: The Impact of Movies on Aviation, characterized The Hurricane Express as a lightweight formula melodrama.
Like many other serials, after the conclusion of the serial, The Hurricane Express was re-edited into a feature film version which eliminated approximately two-thirds of the original serial footage. Almost no footage from the middle chapters of the serial were used. Although one of the "poverty row" studios, Mascot was important to Wayne's career and he went on to make two more serials for the studio. In The Hurricane Express, Wayne does most of his own stunt work, which solidified him as a bona fide action star.

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Category:1932 films
Category:American black-and-white films
Category:American aviation films
Category:1930s English-language films
Category:Mascot Pictures film serials
Category:Films directed by Armand Schaefer
Category:Films directed by J. P. McGowan
Category:Fictional trains
Category:Rail transport films
Category:Articles containing video clips
Category:1932 American films