The Silver Streak (1934)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Excellent adaptation.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

I am going to give you more of the reality and let you watch the movie and enjoy or dislike it on your own.First lets start with what the train really is. Its real name was the Pioneer Zephyr. It was built by the Budd Company in Philadelphia for the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q) which is usually called just the Burlington Railroad.It was built during the Great Depression in the year 1934 which was also when this movie was made. If you ever want the genesis for the second movie Silver Streak made in 1976 with Gene Wilder, Richard Pryor, and Jill Clayburgh watch this movie first. I don't know which of the two movies is the most outrageous.Despite the obvious replay at double the speed of the recording, the train was fast for its time. It did a dawn to dusk Denver to Chicago run in 13 hours and 5 minutes for an average speed of 77 miles per hour. It was a speed record.The only thing that I didn't like about the movie was a fear of almost all the people on the train except for the chief engineer. It would have been much better with oh wow expressions instead. There are portions of many trips for most of us that getting there faster would be appreciated.

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!

This movie really echoes the spirit of it's time. Everything then was progress & technology. The plot is the worst part of the film. It is terribly predictable & hackneyed. The film is also way short; 72 minutes for the version I have (barely 5 reels). The scenes at Hoover Dam could easily have been expanded to develop atmosphere & the brother/friend's character. The dam scenes are very interesting & show a human side to the massive project. Rail fans such as myself seek out this film (getting it is not easy) for the footage of the famous Pioneer Zephyr. This train is the forerunner of the French GTV & the Japanese Super Trains among many others. It was a technological marvel of it's time. The train has survived & is on display (magnificently restored) at The Chicago Museum of Science & Industry in a specially built vault below street level. There is an excellent use of montage early in the film as the father sees the history of railroading in his mind's eye. It is very well integrated into the story & not as 'In Your Face' as most montages are. The acting style has that curiously stiff feel of many of the early sound films. I think it has more to do with the director's uncertainty in the new technology than with the cast's talent. None of the cast were ever big time but they are attractive & reasonably well suited for their parts. I was pleasantly surprised to find it watchable. I had thought I would have to fast forward to the train footage that I bought the film to get.

While this movie is no less corny than others of it's time, the fact that most of the story takes place on a new streamlined high speed train is of interest to us train buffs. Most of the action is obviously speeded up in the camera just like the westerns of the time, it is still 70 min. of innocent fun. I recommend it.