D.J. 'Smokey' Nolan (J. Farrell MacDonald) is the engineer on locomotive 101. Running down the tracks at 60 miles an hour he sees the light from a train coming in the opposite direction. Smokey hits the emergency brakes and the train derails. Several passengers are killed and many are hurt. An investigation is launched to find out what happened. People begin calling it the Phantom Train. This is not the first sighting of the phantom train, or the last.
Mr. Harrington (Hobart Bosworth) owns the Southwest Pacific Railroad. His son Bruce (William Collier Jr.) is a playboy. He is at his father’s office looking to get the keys to the beach house when he sees Carolyn Nolan (Sally Blane), Smokey’s daughter. He is attracted to her. He decides that, to get to know her, he needs to investigate the derailments. He talks his father into letting him investigate.
Bruce decides he needs to go under cover so he gets a job with the railroad and has his friend pretend to be him. He finagles a way to stay with the Nolan’s while he is checking out the phantom train and getting to know Carolyn at the same time.
In the meantime the derailments have affected Harrington’s stock so he is on the brink of selling the railroad for a fraction of what it is worth. If Bruce doesn’t crack the case before that happens his father will lose the railroad and some very bad people will make a bundle.
“The Phantom Express” was released in 1932 and was directed by Emory Johnson. It is a low budget poverty row mystery done in the pre-code era. It is also only about 65-70 minutes long. The explanation of what the phantom train is, is unusual. There was also a little leap of logic when Bruce figures out all the intricacies of the phantom train and how it worked. Still it was pretty good for an old time mystery. The film was sad in places and uplifting in others, and totally charming.
There are also some exciting scenes with speeding trains and decent special effects using models. There are also some good shots of full size trains and roundhouse scenes.
Sally Blane was a veteran film actor of the thirties in both silent and sound films as was J. Farrell MacDonald, Hobart Bosworth and William Collier Jr. Lots of talent in both silents and talkies are represented.
The movie is a little on the obscure side.
There is also a 1925 silent film called “The Phantom Express”, however, it is a different movie entirely.