DANGER LIGHTS! A Railroad Film from 1930

This is a outstanding flick.  I have had this in my collection for years.

I expected to see old King Kong to show up.

I juxtaposed Louis and Armstrong, and thought “this oughta be interesting!”

I love it when Mr Thorn puts the hobos to work.

Larry

@LLKJR posted:

I love it when Mr Thorn puts the hobos to work...

That section of the film has a very badly acted fight scene. Fun to watch, though! Ol' Dan gets his way.

I guess it was an acceptable performance in 1930.

I believe that this film was very early in Jean Arthur's career.

Liked the tug-o-war!

Filmed on the Milwaukee Road in Montana. Included reference to the "Trans-Missouri Division", which was the Milwaukee Roads designation. Loved the scene where the wreck train is called out with a continuously hooting whistle, and the roundhouse scene.  Watch it and marinate in steam-era atmosphere.

Too bad Dan Thorn is a fictional character and Dan Thorn if alive would be at least 120 years old. He would be a good fit for the REAL TRAINS FORUM.

great shots of  a time gone by

I always thought it sad when the young guy arrives from out of town and steals the girl.

Being married to a job is rather sad too.  I have seen it happen too often. Who says on their death bed: "I wish that I spent more time at the office?"?  Life should be a balance.  NH Joe

This film was produced in 1930 and filmed on the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad, which was also known as the Milwaukee Road. The movie was mostly filmed along the Milwaukee's lines in Montana. The railway yard in Miles City, Montana, was the setting for many of the yard scenes, while rural scenes were shot along the line through Sixteen Mile Canyon, also in Montana. Additional footage was shot in Chicago, where the Milwaukee Road was headquartered until 1986, when it went out of business. This was the first film shot in the then-new Spoor-Berggren Natural Vision Process.

This film is in the public domain. The original 1930 copyright was not renewed. It became public domain content twenty-eight years later in 1958.

@Rich Melvin posted:

I've had this film in my library for many years. I just got around to publishing it on my YouTube channel.

It is a classic! You will love the gruff, old Superintendent, Dan Thorn.

Love this movie. You could not grow up with my Dad and not learn to like the classics.

Fabulous! I just finished watching this on my large screen TV.  Outstanding video of steam engines and general railroad operations in the early 20th century. Great to know that the way my kids used to run their steam engines at full speed was prototypical after all, LOL!  

Rich Thank You for posting just finished watching great old movie.

Thanks for the reminder about Danger Lights.  A friend gave me that movie a few years ago.  The train scenes are great, and the rest needs to be taken in the context of the times and the technology that was available.

It made me wonder how much of the interaction in that movie was considered to be acceptable behavior at the time (with extra drama, of course).  I hope that the "management techniques" employed by Dan Thorn weren't common at the time, but who knows.  Also makes me consider how people in other countries might react to current American movies - do they think that they represent normal life in this country?

The management techniques employed by Dan Thorn were the way things were back in that era...with a little extra "oomph" for the movies. It was authoritarian rule by men who usually knew what they were doing. When I worked for the P&LE Railroad back in the 60s, things were still like that.

Loved it!

Best use of a Tuesday morning in a long time!

Any more?

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

@dkdkrd posted:

Loved it!

Best use of a Tuesday morning in a long time!

Any more?

Yes, there are more. Subscribe to my YouTube channel.

I think Kalmbach's "Classic Trains" (or one of their special issues?) had an article on "Danger Lights". It was apparently the first sound movie shot virtually all 'on location', using cutting-edge technology in film and sound.

Was the tug of war a thing in the world of real trains?

@Mark V. Spadaro posted:

Was the tug of war a thing in the world of real trains?

Yes, at least with the Milwaukee Road.  Trains Magazine once ran photo's in the July 1970 issue of a Milwaukee 2-6-6-2 doing battle with a Bi-Polar taken in February 1920.

The Bi-Polar won.

Rusty

Rich,

    Great film have not seen it in years, still a good one. Here’s a 1931 film “Other Men’s Women” that has a lot of train action and co stars a very young James Cagney who plays Ed.

JohnB

Rich, did you notice that the Extra was running WEST at Lombard, MT, instead of East?  Chicago is the other way!

It's a crime that the railroad's gone, from Terry west.  However, the shops at Miles City are still there in the hands of Transco, a car repair outfit.

And, yes, that's the way it was - without the melodramatics.

JohnB - Thank you for the referral.  Very entertaining. A "pre-code" film, loaded with inuendo, and a quite beautiful Joan Blondel.  Plus an SP 2-8-0, with cab scenes.

Loved it! 

@Rapid Transit Holmes posted:

Rich, did you notice that the Extra was running WEST at Lombard, MT, instead of East?  Chicago is the other way!

I’ve never been to Lombard, Montana, so I would have no idea which way the train was headed, unless I paid close attention to the sun angle. And neither would 99.99% of the people who watch this film.

Only someone who is very familiar with the railroad in that part of the country would notice this. It sounds like this is “home territory “ for you.

I knew that voice was familiar. Armstrong starred in the original King Kong.

Yes, Armstrong gets to say that great closing line "no, 'twas beauty killed the beast'. Louis Wolheim was probably the best known actor in the film, having just been in the classic "All Quiet on the Western Front".

"Other Men's Women" was originally put out as "The Steel Highway". Great supporting role by James Cagney!

There is a guy in that movie that I had to do a double take on. He played one of the hobo's in parts of the movie, then he shows up again at the end of the movie being dragged away from the train. I believe he said that he would never ride a train again since it was traveling so fast. His name is Hugh Herbert and is a comedian. Some of the movies that he played in later in life were mostly bumbling idiot roles and can be quite funny at times. His trademark was usually a character who muttered, fluttered his fingers with a high pitched hoo hoo hoo! I've seen his cartoon character in the cartoons that I think were Looney Tunes Cartoons.

Steam Forever

    John