Caught most of a 1930 movie on TCM Monday night, Danger Lights starring Robert Armstrong who many years later brought King Kong to the US.

The story is of a station manager who works for the CMStP&PRR Co. (I did read The Milwaukee road logo on the side of the tender) loses his girl friend to an engineer. The manager gets a severe head injury when the engineer gets his foot stuck in a switch and a loco is bearing down on him. The manager frees him but is grazed by the loco. The doctor in the yard emergency room, (did they have emergency rooms in yards back then?) says he will die if he doesn't get to Chicago to see a brain surgeon in five hours. The owner says they would have to run at 100 Mph and the best time ever was seven hours. The engineer, Robert Armstrong, says he can do it so he loads up the lines owners private car to his 2-6-4 loco and with the help of clear rail all the way through, makes it to Chicago in time. A lot of rail shots of the high speed run including the fireman sitting on the ledge on the side of the cab repairing a hot box on the rear truck.

A really good rail movie!

Later!
Mr. Ed

Danger Lights and Emperor of the North - two must haves for any railfan's home movie collection. I had a copy (VHS) of Danger Lights but was lost once when loaned out. I would like to get a fully restored copy on DVD if anyone has a reference I'd appreciate it.

Greg,

Sellers on eBay usually have "Danger Lights" avaliable for reasonable prices, even if you don't have to bid on the auctions.

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?sofocus=bs&sbrftog=1&from=R10&satitle=Danger+Lights+DVD&sacat=-1%26catref%3DC6&bs=Search&sargn=-1%26saslc%3D2&sadis=200&fpos=60605&ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&fsop=1%26fsoo%3D1&coaction=compare&copagenum=1&coentrypage=search

Kelly Lynch

I wandered in to our "TV room" where my wife was "channel surfing" and she came across an old black and white movie with Glenn Ford as the engineer on a diesel. Going by the cab window outside were freight cars. including a C&EI boxcar. Back in a passenger car was a girl (can't remember the actresses name) with a rural auto junk yard going past the window and then Charles Bickford walked into her Pullman compartment. I went and finished what I was doing, came back to watch for a while but my wife said that that was the end of the movie. Anyone got any idea as to what this movie might have been?

Les

I caught it too! It was "Human Desire" With Ford and Gloria Graham. Broderick Crawford played Grahams husband. Usual "Eternal Triangle" theme. Neat RR shots. At the end the train is travelling and the famous(?) Trenton NJ bridge is in the background. They did some kind of masking of Alco FA diesels (NYC???)

As for "Danger Lights", it can also be purchased thru the Milwaukee Road Historical Society, P.O. Box 307, Antioch, Il, 60002 for $20.00 which includes postage and handling. Available in DVD only.

Regards:

Rich O

Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?

LEGITMATELY...

The movie is old enough that it has entered the public domain...

See link for FREE download.

http://www.archive.org/details/danger_lights

Edit, not intended to under cut the historical societies sales, buying a DVD copy would be an excellent way to help out.

I purchased my DVD copy of "Danger Lights" at the Strasburg RR a couple of years ago. The tug-of-war scene between the Mikado and the Pacific is unbelievable!

Dan Thorn has to be the epitome of a railroad supervisor.

I was finally able to find the DVD of "Emperor of the North" at the Sierra Railroad's Jamestown Station Gift Shop while at the convention this Fall.

Everyone should also have a copy of "The Train" in their DVD library.

You said it!!


That segment {the tug of war} is like "crack", for railfans!

Public domain? You got me. Mickey Mouse is still copyrighted. But, the link is true, and it is there for download. Go figure.

That is because, Disney, spends BIG BUCKS to keep Mickey Mouse copyrighted...And no one thought to spend big bucks on "Danger Lights"

And as such, it faded to the Public Domain!

In DANGER LIGHTS there is a link to preservation as the MILW X5000 dynamometer also makes an appearance, now preserved at IRM in Union IL.

As for HUMAN DESIRE, I saw part of that and noted exterior shots of very SP painted PA Alcos lettered for Northern Central. And I was sure some scenes were recognizable in the Midwest, later palm trees in the background.

Bob Kutella

I believe the cut-off for public domain is 1923?

Interesting tidbit from IMDB.com: This film was released in two formats: a standard 1.33:1 version in 35 mm., and a 2:1 Spoor-Berggren Natural Vision Process (wide-screen version) in 65 mm, shown only at the State Lake Theatre in Chicago, Illinois, in November 1930.

Love the photo of the State Lake Theater. Note the street car tracks in State Street out front (Lake Street was just to the right in the photo.) I saw movies at the State Lake on occassion, but the cost certainly wasn't 40 cents as shown on the marquee! Thanks for the pix!

Les

For a lot of fun get a copy of the original 1934 movie "Silver Streak"

B movie does not do it justice. Z would be more appropriate for the plot, acting, and drama. Especially note the engineer at the in-studio controls of the Zephyr. Also ignore all the night scene filter shots that are supposed to make film shot in daylight look like nightime.

The film is VERY losely based on the record breaking speed run by the Pioneer Zephr. It has lots of shots of the Zephyr in action and planty of steam. In one head-on view the Zephyr is racing agains several steam locomotives that are accelerating at full throttle. The steam locomotive frames can be seen to flex with every power stroke. Also the movie has some good shots of a railroad shop in action.

Laugh at the drama and enjoy the railroad shots.

This John Wayne 1930 era Grade Z was about a hero (Wayne) who flew an airplane and his father (who ran a steam locomotive) and them trying to catch a train wrecker who worked for the airline.
The RR shots were very good railfan shots. I loved the one shot taken along side the loco facing forward while it was being turned on a turntable. Very interesting and unique.
Doug