A criminal referred to by the press as "The Wrecker" is orchestrating accidents on Britain's railways. One such accident occurs on the (fictional) United Coast Lines Railway, whose train is carrying Roger Doyle (Joseph Striker), who has retired from cricket to work on the railway. Roger survives, and reports the accident to his uncle, Sir Gerald Bartlett (Winter Hall), the managing director of the railway, and his assistant, the sly Ambrose Barney (Carlyle Blackwell). Unbeknownst to them, Ambrose is The Wrecker, and is also the head of the Kyle Motor-Coach Company, whose buses are introduced on services where The Wrecker has struck, hoping to frighten passengers off of the trains and onto buses. When Sir Gerald becomes suspicious of Ambrose following yet another accident, he is shot dead.
After receiving a tip-off from one of Ambrose's employees, Roger and bumbling detective Ramesses Ratchett (Leonard Thompson) foil another planned accident, much to the delight of the press. Ambrose, enraged at being foiled, plans another accident, but his conversation is recorded onto a wax cylinder by Roger and his girlfriend, Mary Shelton (Benita Hume), Sir Gerald's secretary who had been on the train that Roger had saved from disaster. On hearing the wax cylinder that exposes his crimes, Ambrose shoots the phonograph, destroying the cylinder, and flees from Roger and Mary, only to find himself on the very train that is to be wrecked. Ambrose holds Roger at gunpoint, but is attacked from behind by Mary and subdued (possibly dead since he jumps from the moving train) and the train is brought to a safe halt. With Ambrose defeated, Roger and Mary profess their love for each other, disappearing in a cloud of steam as the train reverses away.
The film was shot without sound but had a soundtrack that featured a synchronized musical score with sound effects. The crash scene was filmed at Herriard on the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway. A set of SECR coaches and a SECR F1 Class locomotive No. A148 were released on an incline to collide into a Fodensteam lorry.[1][2] The impact, which destroyed the locomotive and the lorry, was recorded by 22 cameras and has been described as "the most spectacular rail crash in cinema history."[3]
Restoration
The film portion of the film has been restored, however, the original sound has been replaced with a new musical score by the composer Neil Brand and bears no resemblance to the original score of 1929. The original musical score is said to have been removed because it had been prepared by Tiffany Pictures, the American film studio, and this sound version had become public domain.
On 26 November 2009 the film was launched at a special screening at the Watercress Line, a heritage railway close to where the filming took place.[3] The film was released on DVD in the UK on 16 November 2009 with a modern score so that the distributors could claim copyright for the modern score. The majority of audiences in 1929 saw the film with the synchronized score recorded in 1929 and the soundtrack has yet to be restored to the film.
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