The Silver Streak
The Silver Streak | |
---|---|
RKO Radio Pictures | |
Release dates | |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The Silver Streak is a 1934 American
The original Zephyr train was used for the film's exterior shots, while interior scenes were filmed on a Hollywood sound stage. For the film, the "Burlington Route" nameplate on the train's nose was replaced with one that read "Silver Streak". One of the film's promotional items was a small book called The Story of the Silver Streak, illustrated with black-and-white film stills.[3]
In 2006 Con-Cor International, Ltd. produced scale
) of these bore the film's Silver Streak nameplate instead of the standard Burlington Route nameplate.Plot
In the face of seriously declining
The new train fails to attain even half of its projected speed of 100 miles per hour (160 km/h), however, and is easily overtaken by a
Tom and Bronte, the diesel engine's builder, discover that the
With less than twenty hours to travel 2,000 miles (3,200 km), the Silver Streak is given emergency track clearance all the way after picking up a shipment of seven Drinker Respirators in Chicago. Tom includes Bronte on his crew, unaware that he is now wanted for attempted murder. As radio broadcasts track the progress of the "epic errand of mercy", the Silver Streak breaks records as it races south, against time, through the night. Nearing Boulder City, however, Bronte is revealed to be a wanted fugitive and throws the engine breakers to stop the train so he can escape. Instead, this causes the Silver Streak to run out-of-control at very high speeds. After a struggle, Tom knocks Bronte unconscious and finally regains control of the runaway train just before it arrives (early) at the Boulder City station. After the iron lungs are unloaded on the train platform, Ruth and Tom see each other and reconcile, sealing their relationship with a kiss.
Cast
- Sally Blane as Ruth Dexter
- Charles Starrett as Tom Caldwell
- William Farnum as B.J. Dexter
- Hardie Albright as Allen Dexter
- Irving Pichel as Bronte
- Arthur Lake as Crawford
- Theodore von Eltz as Ed Tyler
- Guinn "Big Boy" Williams as Higgins
- Edgar Kennedy as O'Brien
- Doris Dawson as Molly
Production
The Pioneer Zephyr was chosen for the film after the California-based Union Pacific Railroad declined to provide its high-speed passenger train, the M-10000. The plot element of the infantile paralysis epidemic took advantage of public fears of the disease rampant in 1934 when more than 1,000 cases were diagnosed in Los Angeles alone. Location filming of the Zephyr was done over a two-day period in September 1934 at the CB&Q yards in Galesburg, Illinois. The train was renamed The Silver Streak for the film, which had been a discarded choice of CB&Q president Ralph Budd, and the local high school adopted it as the nickname for its athletic teams.[5]
Reception
The film made a profit of $107,000,[6] approximately $2,196,000 in February 2022 dollars.
References
- ^ a b "The Silver Streak: Detail View". American Film Institute. Retrieved January 30, 2016.
- ^ F.S.N. (January 16, 1935). "The Silver Streak (1934) Burlington Zephyr Featured in 'Silver Streak' at the Mayfair -- 'White Cuckatoo' at the Astor". The New York Times.
- ^ Packer, Eleanor. "The Story of the Silver Streak." (1935, Whitman Publishing).
- ^ The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad became the Chicago, Burlington and Denver in the film.
- ^ Monson, Bill (2001). "The Silver Streak", The Zephyr Online.
- ^ Richard Jewell & Vernon Harbin, The RKO Story. New Rochelle, New York: Arlington House, 1982. p78