The Flying Scotsman (1929)

The fireman of the fabled British train The Flying Scotsman gets reported by the engineer for being drunk on the job and he's given the sack as they would say in the UK. In the USA he'd be picking out a weapon of choice and going back to his job to start a massacre. But over there, being the civilized folks they are all he's going to do is wreck the train in vengeance while it's on it's run from London to Edinburgh.

Two things The Flying Scotsman is known for. The first is some very daring stunt work done on the train itself. The second is for the presence of young Raymond Milland in the role of the young engineer in love with the old engineer's daughter. It was only Milland's second film and there are certainly traces of the amiable light leading man he was throughout the Thirties in Hollywood.

The film was started while films were silent and midpoint in the story the players start to speak. Though it doesn't add or detract from the story in a dramatic sense and it isn't done with any sense of style as Blackmail was by Alfred Hitchcock, it makes far better sense than say the first sound version of Showboat where in certain scenes the players just speak and go silent without rhyme or reason.

The Flying Scotsman is a curious antique good for those who love old trains and old films.