Just perfect...

The first must-see film of the year.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Blistering performances.

Danger Lights is a 1930 drama film centered around a love triangle and a train yard. The plot follows Dan Thorn, a rough and tough foreman at the train yard, who has a soft spot for those that are down on their luck. When Thorn meets Larry Doyle, a drifter catching a ride on the train, Dan sees some good in Doyle and puts him to work. Larry then meets and falls in love with Jean Arthur, who is Dan Thorn's fiancé.Danger Lights is a decent film and used the access to locomotives to great effect. There is real footage of a tug-of-war between two powerful trains. The story is entertaining enough to keep you drawn in throughout the film.A few disappointments in the film are some bad acting, with plenty of obnoxious, over-the-top, and occasionally, monotone delivery. There is also some poor dialogue in the movie, such as one exchange between Larry Doyle and another character; "It can't be done!" says the man. "Yes it can," Larry replies. "You're right!" the man responds. The climax removes elaborating on any technical aspects of the train, which diminishes the excitement of the ending. Lastly, there are bad comedy elements in the film, such as using the homeless for slapstick comedic relief.In summary, Danger Lights is a mediocre film. Unless you're a fan of locomotives, I would recommend skipping this one. There is nothing unpredictable or particularly exciting about this movie.

I have stood near the spot that the film crew was filming the scene where the speeding train carrying the injured Dan Thorn is crossing the Missouri river. It was Lombard Mt..There is absolutely nothing left of the town. The funny thing is that the train is speeding WEST to get to Chicago. Rare scenes of "Big Hook" steam crane in action, and Eagle Nest tunnel, where as soon as you come out of the tunnel you are on top of a high bridge.This movie was not filmed in Hollywood but on location in western Montana where not much has changed since the movie was made except the removal of the rails on the Milwaukie Road.All in all excellent vintage railroad movie.

"Danger Lights" is one of the best railroad movies ever made, and this was made in 1930! If you are a railfan (railroad enthusiast), you can appreciate the detail and authenticity that went into the making of this movie, as most of the operations depicted were authentic. Perhaps the high-speed run was a little over the top (a little artistic license, perhaps?) but it was not unusual for an engineer in the days before two-way radio to run his train over 100 miles per hour to make up a few minutes in his schedule. There's hardly a dull scene in the movie, and in general it is a quality project.Whether you are a railfan or not, you'll certainly enjoy this movie. "Danger Lights" set a precedent for all the railroad-themed action movies that would follow. Those who are fans of movies such as "The General," "The Taking of Pelham One Two Three, "Von Ryan's Express," "The Great Train Robbery" and "Runaway Train" will appreciate this movie as well as those who admire action flicks in general.

The opening half-hour of "Danger Lights" contains a revealing sequence set in the operational offices of a major railroad as employees deal with an emergency. Here we can see that, to America and Hollywood in 1930, passenger railroading was a mature industry, a national transportation matrix staffed by well-compensated, highly-qualified specialists and depicted on film with all the high-tech allure the airline industry would have forty years later."Danger Lights" fits into a long-ago sub-genre of adventure movie, the Locomotive Engineer Adventure. Lon Chaney had made one, "Thunderbolt", as his last silent the previous year.Another writer on these pages has noted that the human story in "Danger Lights" was a reworking of the Arthurian romantic triangle. Yeah, Right. Triangle, yes, but more like what I call Plot Number 4-A, pulled from the drawer for many a service picture, in which two men (soldiers/flyers/firemen, etc.) find their bond (friendship/father-son/sibling) severed when they are both attracted to the same woman. Usually, the one who feels most spurned or jilted performs some self-sacrificial act of honor near the end to save the other one in a crisis.On top of all the above is layered an important technological innovation. "Danger Lights" is one of only seven pictures released in 1930-31 in a 70-mm wide screen format. Actually, they were filmed in both the wide screen (alternately called Vitascope, Magnifilm, Natural Vision, Grandeur or Realife), and standard 35 mm formats. I have seen two of the others, "Billy the Kid" and "The Big Trail", and they both have their strengths and weaknesses, but "Danger Lights" is the punchiest, with few draggy moments. It's evident that the compositions even in the 35 version were organized with wide-screen in mind, yet there's good camera movement on hand, and this is especially true whenever a locomotive is prominent.SPOILERS AHEAD. If you haven't seen "Danger Lights", and intend to, consider going no further. Important plot info appears below.The characters are surprisingly cavalier about their own personal safety around trains until one of the leads, Robert Armstrong, gets his foot caught when a signal tower changes track configuration for an oncoming "Special". This development, shot atmospherically at night in the rain, carries a real sense of visceral dread. What follows is a bit contrived (though excusable in a tense melodrama), as Louis Wilhelm comes along, has a change of heart (suspensefully shown) and saves Armstrong: we see the train cutting in half the mannequin/dummy substituted at the last minute for the actor, but later find Wilhelm's character's only been banged on the head! True, it's complicated by a blood clot only a big-city doctor can relieve; anyway, now the race is on to get him to Chicago in time.The camera lingers lovingly on this special train as it hurtles through the mountains, around bends and over trestles at the then-thrilling speed of 100 mph, and the ending's a happy one. At this time actors were still getting used to sound pictures, however, so don't expect to see subtle performances. Even Jean Arthur, so accomplished and smooth in later roles, fails to stay on point here. It's all good, though. This is still probably the best 1930 RKO picture.