The Hurricane Express
Directed by Armand Schaeffer and J.P. McGowan, The Hurricane Express was an American Pre-Code Mascot Pictures film serial than consisted of tweleve chapters. As the show begins we learn that the L & R Railroad is in competition with an airline for lucrative transport contracts. As a result of this competitoin the “Hurricane Express” is sabotaged by a mysterious figure known as The Wrecker. This sabotage results in a train wreck that has many fatalities including railroad engineer Jim Baker (J. Farrell MacDonald).
Jim’s death sparks his son Air Transport Company pilot Larry Baker (John Wayne), wanting to hunt down The Wrecker and getbrevenge for his father’s murder! The Wrecker though is a master-of-disguise and could be anyone!
Larry soon narrows the identity of The Wrecker down to a few suspects including Walter Gray (Lloyd Whitlock), the airline manager and Larry’s boss, who stands to gain if the L & R Railroad loose contracts; Tom Jordan (Matthew Betz), a recently discharged and disgruntled railroad engineer; Frank Stratton (Edmund Breese), an escaped convict who had wrongfully been convicted, and Gloria Stratton (Shirley Grey), Frank Stratton’s daughter with whom Larry is in love.
Gloria tries to help Larry find the villains behind the train crashes, and later in the story the “Hurricane Express” is ready to go back into service to transport a huge amount of gold (and draw out The Wrecker). Larry and Gloria follow the train from the air, hoping to catch the mysterous villain!