- Danger Lights
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Danger Lights 
Video coverDirected by George B. Seitz Written by James Ashmore Creelman Starring Louis Wolheim
Robert Armstrong
Jean ArthurDistributed by RKO Pictures Release date(s) August 31, 1930 (USA) Running time 71 min. (original)
55 min. (television)Country United States Language English Danger Lights is a 1930 film starring Louis Wolheim, Robert Armstrong, and Jean Arthur.
The plot concerns railroading on the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, and the movie was largely filmed along that railroad's lines in Montana. The railway yard in Miles City, Montana was a primary setting, while rural scenes were shot along the railway line through Sixteen Mile Canyon, Montana. Additional footage was shot in Chicago, Illinois.
Contents
Synopsis
Louis Wolheim plays the boss of the railroad yard in Miles City, Montana. The film opens with a landslide across the tracks in Montana, and a repair crew is dispatched to clear the tracks. Several hobos are lounging nearby and are put to work helping the repair crew. One of the hobos, played by Robert Armstrong, is discovered to have been a former railroad engineer who lost his job due to insubordination. He is given a new job for the railroad by the yard boss, but quickly falls in love with the boss's fiancée, played by Jean Arthur.
Jealousy grows between the two over the affections of Arthur with both of them attempting to win her in marriage. Things come to a head during a fight in the railroad yard between the two, during which Wolheim is hit by a train and injured. To save his life, Armstrong must transport him in record time to Chicago for surgery.
Screenshot from the film.
Cast
- Louis Wolheim as Dan Thorn
- Robert Armstrong as Larry Doyle
- Jean Arthur as Mary Ryan
- Hugh Herbert as Professor
- Frank Sheridan as Ed Ryan
- Robert Edeson as Tom Johnson
- Alan Roscoe as Jim
- William P. Burt as Chief Dispatcher
- Jim Farley as Joe Geraghty
Film versions
Danger Lights was filmed during a period when some movie studios were experimenting with various widescreen film formats. As part of this trend, two versions of the film were created. One used standard 35mm film and Academy ratio, the other used an experimental 65mm widescreen format at a 2:1 aspect ratio. This latter process was called "Natural Vision" and was invented by film pioneers George Kirke Spoor and P. John Berggren. The Natural Vision print of the film was reportedly screened at only two theaters, and no copies of it are known to exist today.
The film's original release on 21 August 1930 by RKO Radio Pictures ran 74 minutes in length. A shortened release for television runs 55 minutes.
Historically significant footage
Danger Lights features rare footage of a tug of war between two steam locomotives, actual documentary footage of the activities in the Miles City yard, and what is believed to be the only motion picture footage of a dynamometer car from the steam railroad era. Similar footage 'may' have existed in MGM's Thunder(1929), with Lon Chaney but that film is now lost.
The portion of the film that was filmed in Montana was part of the electrified Rocky Mountain Division of the railroad, with the 3000 volt direct current trolley and the 100,000 volt alternating current "highline" plainly visible in several shots. Despite the fact that the railroad often touted the power and reliability of its straight electric locomotives, none are seen in the film.
The movie is in the public domain and is available for MPEG streaming or download (in the shortened version) at the Internet Archive.
External links
- Danger Lights at the Internet Movie Database
- Danger Lights is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
- Magnified Grandeur - The Big Screen, 1926-31, David Coles, 2001
- Danger Lights at AllRovi
Films directed by George B. Seitz 1910s The Exploits of Elaine • The Romance of Elaine • The Iron Claw • The Fatal Ring • The House of Hate • The Honest Thief • Getaway Kate • The Lightning Raider • Bound and Gagged • The Black Secret1920s Pirate Gold • Velvet Fingers • Rogues and Romance • The Sky Ranger • Hurricane Hutch • Go Get 'Em Hutch • Speed • Plunder • The Way of a Man • Leatherstocking • The Fortieth Door • Into the Net • Galloping Hoofs • Sunken Silver • Wild Horse Mesa • The Vanishing American • Desert Gold • The Last Frontier • The Ice Flood • Pals in Paradise • Jim, the Conqueror • The Blood Ship • Great Mail Robbery • The Isle of Forgotten Women • The Tigress • The Warning • After the Storm • Ransom • Beware of Blondes • Court-Martial • The Circus Kid • Blockade • Hey Rube! • Black Magic1930s Murder on the Roof • Guilty? • Midnight Mystery • Danger Lights • The Lion and the Lamb • The Drums of Jeopardy • Arizona • Shanghaied Love • Night Beat • Sally of the Subway • Temptation's Workshop • Docks of San Francisco • Sin's Pay Day • Passport to Paradise • The Widow in Scarlet • Treason • The Thrill Hunter • The Women in His Life • Lazy River • The Fighting Ranger • Buried Loot • Society Doctor • Shadow of Doubt • Times Square Lady • Calm Yourself • Woman Wanted • Alibi Racket • Desert Death • Kind Lady • Exclusive Story • Absolute Quiet • The Three Wise Guys • The Last of the Mohicans • Tarzan Escapes • Mad Holiday • Under Cover of Night • Mama Steps Out • A Family Affair • The Thirteenth Chair • Between Two Women • My Dear Miss Aldrich • You're Only Young Once • Andy Hardy's Dilemma: A Lesson in Mathematics... and Other Things • Judge Hardy's Children • Yellow Jack • Love Finds Andy Hardy • Out West with the Hardys • The Hardys Ride Again • The Hardys Ride High • 6,000 Enemies • Thunder Afloat • Judge Hardy and Son1940s Andy Hardy Meets Debutante • Kit Carson • Sky Murder • Gallant Sons • Andy Hardy's Private Secretary • Life Begins for Andy Hardy • A Yank on the Burma Road • The Courtship of Andy Hardy • Mister Gardenia Jones • Pierre of the Plains • Andy Hardy's Double Life • Andy Hardy's Blonde TroubleCategories:- American films
- English-language films
- 1930 films
- Films set in Montana
- Films shot in Montana
- Black-and-white films
- Films directed by George B. Seitz
- RKO Pictures films
- Rail transport films
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