The Midnight Express (film)

As described in a review in a film magazine,{{cite journal |last=Sewell |first=Charles S. |author-link= |title=The Midnight Express; C. B. C. Railroad Melodrama Starring Elaine Hammerstein Furnishes Exciting Entertainment |journal=The Moving Picture World |volume=71 |issue=6 |pages=546 |publisher=Chalmers Publishing Co. |location=New York City |date=6 December 1924 |url=https://archive.org/details/movingpicturewor71novd/page/546/mode/1up |access-date=24 June 2021}} after a wild jazz party, railroad owner John Oakes (Nichols) disowns his son Jack (Haines) for being shiftless. Jack decides to rehabilitate himself and turns over a new leaf by quitting his palatial home and going to work in his father's railroad yard as a laborer in the roundhouse. Chasing an escaped convict, Silent Bill Brachely (Harmon), who had stolen his auto, leads Jack to the home of James Travers (Tilton), engineer of the big locomotive, the Midnight Express. There he meets and falls in love with the engineer’s daughter, Mary (Hammerstein). The convict, who swears to get back at Jack, is sent back to jail. He escapes again and corners Jack in a lonely dispatch station on a mountainside. A terrific fight ensues and Jack wins. However, several freight cars have broken from the train and are speeding down a mountainous grade, heading toward the Midnight Express which is ascending the incline. Jack is able to derail the runaway freight cars just in time to save the Midnight Express. As a result, Jack gets back in his father’s good graces and wins the affections of Mary.

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• Elaine Hammerstein as Mary Travers
• William Haines as Jack Oakes
• George Nichols as John Oakes
• Lloyd Whitlock as Joseph Davies
• Edwin B. Tilton as James Travers
• Pat Harmon as Silent Bill Brachely
• Bertram Grassby as Arthur Bleydon
• Phyllis Haver as Jessie Sybil
• Roscoe Karns as Switch Hogan
• Jack Richardson as Detective Collins
• Noble Johnson as Deputy Sheriff
• Dan Crimmins as Railroad Operator
• George Meadows as Railroad Operator

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Haines, then under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, was loaned to Columbia Pictures, then a small studio, for five films, of which The Midnight Express was the first. The film received good reviews, making it Haines' breakout role.{{cite book|last=Mann|first=William J.|author-link=William J. Mann |year=1998 |title=Wisecracker: The Life and Times of William Haines, Hollywood's First Openly Gay Star |location=New York City |publisher=Viking |pages=69–70 |isbn=978-0670871551 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/wisecrackerlifet00mann}} He received another boost when later in 1924, during a Screenland interview, flamboyant actress Peggy Hopkins Joyce claimed that the best screen kiss she ever saw was between Haines and Hammerstein in The Midnight Express.Mann pp. 70-71

A print of The Midnight Express is in the film collection of Cineteca Italiana (Milano).[http://lcweb2.loc.gov:8081/diglib/ihas/loc.mbrs.sfdb.7527/default.html Library of Congress American Silent Feature Film Survival Database: The Midnight Express]

• {{IMDb title|id=0015133|title=The Midnight Express}}
• [https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/the-midnight-express-us-lobbycard-bottom-left-elaine-news-photo/1137309055 Lobby card] at gettyimages.com
• [http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/images/item.htm?id=http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/lilly/VAE0323/VAE0323-000290&scope=lilly/VAE0323 Lantern slide] at Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington

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Category:1924 films

Category:Films directed by George Hill

Category:1924 romantic drama films

Category:American silent feature films

Category:American black-and-white films

Category:Columbia Pictures films

Category:1920s American films

Category:Silent American romantic drama films

Category:1920s English-language films

Category:English-language romantic drama films

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