Twisted Rails

Jack Donovan shows up at the superintendent of the railyard yard's office and asks for a job. The line has been plagued by a band of thieves who have been sabotaging engines, then grabbing the freight from the halted trains. A railroad detective has been shot just before he can say who they are. So Donovan gets the job.

It's a William Pizor production directed by Albert Herman, which means it may have a half-decent script, but it's slovenly directed. Ingenue Terry Walker, daughter of one of the engineers, keeps getting kidnapped for no clear reason. Donovan keeps getting in fights with three or more villains, and only goes down when one of them waves a stick about a foot above his head. The scenes atop hurtling trains are shot in such a way that it's clear the cars are standing still, while the whistles and track sounds are added in the editing.

Pizor was one of those Poverty Row producers who started in the silent era and continued to produce cheap westerns, movies about heroic dogs, and so forth for a few years. His last credit was in 1938. He died in 1959, aged 69.