Movie Review: The Hurricane Express (1932)
Synopsis: When his train conductor father is killed in an intentionally caused wreck, pilot Larry Baker vows to find the man responsible for both that crash and a series of other wrecks plaguing the L & R Railroad. This proves to be more difficult than expected when he learns "the Wrecker" is able to disguise himself as anyone.
Who's in it? The movie stars John Wayne, Shirley Grey, Conway Tearle, Tully Marshall and Edmund Breese.
Review: This may make me sound a bit un-American, but I've never been a huge fan of John Wayne movies. Look, the man was a legend and I'm not denying that. It's just his most famous films essentially have him playing the same character in a different setting, to the point I can't identify the movie on sight, just that it is a John Wayne film.
That said, when I came across The Hurricane Express, I was intrigued. It was a film that starred Wayne before he was a household name and that, along with what sounded like an interesting plot was enough for me to give it a try. As it turns out, I like his later films better.
I will start out by saying I did like Wayne in this movie. His Larry Baker character wasn't at all what I was expecting when compared to the expectations set by later films. He was tough and intelligent but not invulnerable and that was somewhat refreshing.
The problem is this movie, which originally was shown as a 12-part serial, did him no favors.
I've lost count of the number of times I've complained about an action movie not having enough action. This film, believe it or not, had the opposite problem. It seemed like there was a fist fight, shootout, chase or crash every couple minutes.
While this may not sound like a bad thing, it left zero time for character development. I knew nothing about Baker other than he was a pilot and his dad died. I knew even less about the other characters, which made the Wrecker's big reveal a bit anti-climactic because it took me a few seconds to figure out who he even was. This part especially disappointing because, for the most part, the film did a decent job keeping the mystery and setting up some solid red herrings.
On top of it, it really did start feeling like the movie was just recycling the fight scenes. Baker was always throwing one of the henchmen (I think even the same henchman) into the rest of them and was knocked unconscious at least three or four times because, unlike future John Wayne characters, all it took was one stiff blow to incapacitate him. This might have gone over better when it was a 12-part series and there was time to forget what happened previously. When shown together, it was pretty obvious there wasn't a lot of variety.
Final Opinion: I saw enough of Wayne in this movie to understand why he would eventually become a Hollywood icon. However, his name in the credits is the only thing that makes this movie even remotely special.
My Grade: C-
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Here are some reviews of other movies featuring trains:
Movie Review: Unstoppable (2010)
Movie Review: Terror Train (1980)
Movie Review: Horror Express (1972)
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