Streamline Express

Little seen but fast moving comedy with Evelyn Venable (the original Columbia ‘lady with the torch') and Victor Jory. The express of the title is a train, somewhat similar to the ‘Twentieth Century' a year earlier.

The plot is somewhat forgettable but seems to hinge on Venable being tamed by her man after leading him a merry dance. Ralph Forbes is in there again but doesn't have much more to do than he did in 'Twentieth Century'. Venable and Jory are good value though and keep the interest of the viewer. The other back stories of the train passengers are amusing but they really are very stagey caricatures.

Coming in at little over an hour, this movie certainly lives up to the implied speed of its title. Sadly it isn't likely to inspire many return journeys and seems to have fallen out of even the list of vaguely remembered 30s movies.

Expecting to enjoy a very cool train film, I wound up being greatly disappointed with this movie. For starters, the train in the title turns out to be a most unconvincing model which, after its christening, is little seen the rest of the film, save for brief shots of it speeding along. According to the script, it travels on a special monorail across the country, the construction of which presumably rivaled the laying of the transcontinental railroad tracks back in the day. At any rate, the film is shot in interior sets that could have been in any hotel, and a drab one at that.

On to the plot, of which there is little. In fact, I am convinced it is a leftover hash-up from some other project coupled with a super-train angle to give it some box office appeal. Previous reviewers have detailed the story, what there is of it, but there is not one interesting scene in the picture. The characters are cardboard, the dialog stilted and the pace tedious.

I give this film my lowest rating. Another record-setting-train film, "The Silver Streak" (1934) is "Citizen Kane" by comparison. I advise anyone who loves trains or good films to avoid this disappointing mess.

An odd little curiousity of a film. An assortment of unlikely characters take an express train from New York to California, the main plot revolves around a stage director in pursuit of his leading lady (the same plot that was used much more successfully in Twentieth Century the year before) and a crook on the run from the police who engages in a little robbery and blackmail en route (he fails and is exposed by the stage director).

As a film its very stagey, the acting is too - they all make their entrances and exits as if they're treading the boards. Mainly of interest for the train itself, as a 1930s idea of what rail travel should be like. This is a double deck, 160mph monorail, luxuriously fitted out like an art deco ocean liner!

This film from tiny Mascot Pictures is very much like a super-low budget variation on "Grand Hotel". It's made up of several stories and many characters who are traveling cross-country on a brand-new super speedy train. The main tale stars Victor Jory and Evelyn Venable and it's a pleasant little story about a Broadway producer following his diva aboard, as she's giving up her career to get married--and he wants to somehow woo her back to the show. In addition, there are various crooks, a nervous man and a story about an affair that round all this out. While none of it is brilliant and it is a bit derivative, it is pleasant and generally well-acted as well as entertaining---provided you like old films. If you don't, then try something a bit better--as old movies are often wonderfully entertaining (such as "Grand Hotel" or "Dinner at Eight"--two of the best of this genre) . Worth seeing but far from a must-see.

A forgettable low-budget riff on Twentieth Century. It's made well enough, but is entirely disposable.