The Silk Express (Warner Bros.) (1933)

_ ner ——— OEE | Autlior of (Advance pulled onto a siding while waiting for an express train to pass it, Houston Branch, twenty years later, found material from rite one of the most novel and thrilling motion picture he Silk Express,” a Warner Bros. picture featuring Neil Sa, =: Sheila Terry, which opens at the .... Theatre on.. Bote when he was a small boy he saw a fast mail train which to oor dramas, ‘” A mai7train, as every boy knows, is the fastest thing on wheels, at least so far as the railroad goes. why it should pull over onto a siding to let an ordinary express train go Great Northern Railway, the C. B. & through. “It’s the Silk Express,” they told him at the time. Twenty years later, while thinking up a novel subject for the movies, he recalled what he had heard about the Silk Express. He suggested a story based upon the Silk Express to Warproduction executives. They immediately sent him to Seattle, where he dug up the colorful facts anent the Silk Express. In the silk trade, time means money. Interest on the millions of dollars invested in silk shipments multiplies at the rate of thousands of dollars a day. Insurance Costly Insv’rance, costly too, is exceedingly Th great steamship companies and tran‘continental railways have cooperated with the silk dealers in a series of record-smashing trips betweep Yokohama, Japan, and New York, via Seattle, St. Paul and Chicago. When the silk expresses tear their way across desert and mountains, farmlands and industrial districts, even Presidential specials get out of the way. Only one other train takes precedence. The Species train, carrying shipments of gold bullion. Silk is the second most valuable material in the world carried on railroads as express. Only gold itself is more precious. The world’s record for a silk shipment stands at present at twelve days 14 hours and 36 minutes, Yokohama to New York, a total distance of 8,300 miles. It was made by the Admiral Line Steamer President McKinley, The ; “The Silk in the baggage car, two special and trusted guards secretly working to stop the train at any cost, still another murder, a dying man and his daughter counting the minutes from Seattle to New York, a hick detective trying to solve the mystery—that’s the list of characters and the sort of drama you're going to see when Warner Brothers’ “Silk Express’ opens at the. . It’s a very unusual sort of mystery this, photographed almost entirely on board the only train that takes precedence over a President’s private special—the silk express. Spectacular shots include rolling shots down inside the entire length of the speeding train—and many interesting and exciting shots of the loading silk train. But §t is the mystery aboard the ‘train, the death of two of the passengers, and the attempted killing of a third yby a member of the group riding ¢a the train which gives it the proper fillip of suspense. Everyone is suspected. Everyone, in fact, is justified in suspecting everyone else. For everyone else ,at some time or another during the running of the film, does something worthy of being suspected for. It is an excellent example of sustained suspense in a mystery film. The explanation of their presence on the train is bound up with the state of the silk market of the world with the coming of spring. It is to be a silk year—Paris has sounded the keynote. But in New York the market is cornered and the prices are run sky high. The silk manufacturers determine to run a silk train through from Seattle in record time, despite all efforts of those who have cornered the market to prevent the arrival of the train in New York. Develop Page Seven “Silk Express” Dug Up Facts in Seattle Colorful History of Silk Laden Trains Made Basis for Thrilling and Revealing Picture (Advance Feature) Express” Based Upon Closely Guarded Train A CLOSELY guarded silk train racing against time, a murder Feature) ADVANCE SHORTS CURRENT Guy Kibbee Gets Tips on Role from Brother Theatre on... ; “The Silk Express,” again plays a copper role. York’s finest. Neil Hamilton have the leads. And young Branch wondered Q. R. R. and the Pennsylvania Railway. Silk shipments land yearly at Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles, and the transcontinental railways are constantly trying to better the records on their shipments. No bullion trains have run in this country since 1914, but the Silk Express is a yearly occurrence. Closely Guarded 3 Closely guarded docks, trains loaded at night and strict secrecy mark the silk shipments. Millions of dollars are represented in a single shipment. in "The Silk Express" Powell Colman Menjou — types player, who will be seen on. . the . to become a first class actor. he says, never regretted the change. the leading role in “The Silk Express.” Branch’s curiosity led him, finally, to the uncovering of this dramatic aspect of present day railroading and he wrote around it his story, “The Silk Express.” Almost the entire action of the picture takes place on board the special train which is made up of silk cars, on which travel officials in charge of the shipment, with armed guards. In this particular instance, however, a pretty girl acting as a nurse to her father, who has been stricken suddenly ill, and a doctor are included as passengers. Sheila Terry's Best Role Came With 12th Picture It took Sheila Terry just eleven pictures to work herself up from bit parts to a leading role. She had her first bit part at Warner Bros. studios about a year ago in “Week End Marriage.” Her twelfth assignment was the leading feminine role in “The Silk Express,” which will be shown at. the .....::°Theatre on .. She plays opposite Neil Hamilton in this picture, which is a thrilling mystery The plot involves a battle between | murder drama. the silk manufacturers and crooked financiers who do everything in their power to prevent the landing of the silk in New York, where they have cornered the market. Success and Baby Came A series of mysterious incidents, Late in Kibbee's Life including two murders, make the trip a most exciting melodrama. A _notable cast, playing in support of Hamilton and Miss Terry, includes Arthur Byron, Guy Kibbee, Allen Jenkins, Harold Huber and Dudley Digges. The screen play is by Mr. Branch in collaboration with Ben Markson. Ray Enright directed. Success and a new baby both came late in life to Guy Kibbee, now appearing at the .... Theatre in “The Silk Express,” a Warner Bros. picture, in which Neil Hamilton and Sheila Terry have the leading roles. Guy is in his fifties, and success and the baby are both about three years old. But Guy says it isn’t when you get ’em—it’s merely getting them that counts. He played most of the stock theatrical routes in the United States, and had given up hope of ever reaching Broadway, when he was suddenly called there to play a big role in “The Torch Song.” The same play brought him to the coast, and an immediate success in pictures. Playing Corpse Role No Cinch for Ivan Simpson Ivan Simpson, who plays the part of a corpse in the Warner Bros. picture, “The Silk Express,” now playing at the... . Theatre, with Neil Hamilton and Sheila Terry in the leading roles, declares it is not so easy as might be imagined. For picture purposes Simpson is smothered to death in a car carrying silk. “Just to lie still without twitching an eyelid is not an easy thing in itself,” he said, “but when they fill the car with smoke so that you are choking and want to cough—well, just try to keep still under those circumstances.” o< See a ments during this run end in the mystery already described. A large cast includes such outstanding players as Neil Hamilton, Sheila Terry, Guy Kibbee, Dudley Digges, Arthur Byron, Allen Jenkins, Harold Huber, Robert Barrat, Ivan Simpson, Arthur Hohl, George Pat Collins, Tom Wilson and others. The story is by Houston Branch, whose own observations, as a boy in the middle west, of the fast passenger trains drawing to one side to allow a three or four car silk express train to pass them, led him to work out this saga of the silk trade. The work of Neil Hamilton as the head of the silk manufacturers who run the train, and of Sheila Terry and Dudley Digges, as a paralytic and his daughter, trying to reach the New York specialists in time to save his life, and taken on board the fast express for that purpose, is said to be outstanding. Miss Terry has her first leading role for Warner Brothers in this picture, and plays it opposite thirteen men! “The Silk Express was directed by Ray Enright and photographed by Tony Gaudio, a pair who have to their credit some of the fastest action pictures of the screen. Neil Hamilton Has All Standby Superstitions Neil Hamilton, who is appearing currently at the... . Theatre in Warner Bros. murder mystery on wheels, “The Silk Express,” is known as one of the most superstitious men in Hollywood. He has all the old standby superstitions, three on a match, don’t walk under a ladder, don’t step on a crack, don’t put on your right shoe first and so on. But he has a lot of new ones, too. He will not start a picture on Tuesday. He will not eat with either seven or thirteen — at the table, and he will not have a goldfish in the house. Guy Kibbee, who comes to the.... . in Warner Bros. Guy rather likes the role and gets many tips on the part from his brother, who is one of New In “The Silk Express” he is cast as a county detective who unwinds a murder mystery on the fast east-west silk train. Sheila Terry and Doctor Now Movie Actor Vernon Steele, one of those suave of . at . . . Theatre in Warner Bros.’ “The Silk Express” in the role of a doctor, practiced the role in real life for several years before he gave it up He has, Neil Hamilton and Sheila Terry have (Current Feature) Sheila Terry Really Enjoys Two Separate Life Stories T HERE are two stories of the life, as far as it has gone to date, of Sheila Terry, who has her first leading role in pictures in “The Silk Express,’ a Warner Bros. production now showing at the... . Theatre, with Neil Hamilton playing the male lead. will left by an uncle. providing she became a teacher. two years. spent two school. years ‘Terry stepped into the picture. Sheila Terry. Hutchins. So from 1927 old trunk in the attic. Legacy Went Boom The rich uncle died, and when his} _ : 2 will was filed it was discovered that} ing which she played in New York fav would © into a tidy little sum| She rose to the point where she played wae Brea ong E school | the feminine lead in “The Outsider,” The minimum amount on| Which, and for an obvious reason, educational service stipulated was | happens to be her favorite stage role. So Kay Clark, with a burning desire to become an actress, teaching country Somewhere, just before this, Sheila Kay Clark would have a “strange interlude” and go in for a spell of dramatie training under the name of The scene of her dramatic train-| S™P ing shifted from Minnesota to New| York”—or words to that effect, and York, where she studied with John to 1929 | career. Sheila Terry was packed away in the Only one of these stories has received circulation thus far because interviewers have always questioned her about the life of Sheila Terry neglected to inquire about Kay Clark. Sheila ‘Terry was born Kay Clark | to starve until she got a break. She on a farm near War Road, Minnesota, on the day of March 5, 1910. When the two characters in the one| soaking through her torn shoes. person parted company is a matter on which she herself is a little hazy, but it all came about because of the conflict of her own will and the legal didn’t walk the streets from one theatrical agency to another, the. rain The fact of the matter is, she asked for a job and got it. She ate regularly, lived conffortably and her shoes were always in good repair. What’s more, in the six months dur Sheila was doing quite well on the New York stage when a Warner Bros. executive approached with a “How about a screen test?” proposition. She made the screen test and then waited breathlessly while it was shipped to Hollywood, where a decision would be made. Sure enough, back came the order: “Ship one Sheila Terry, f.o.b. New Sheila Terry was launched on a movie She had a nice little part in her first picture, “Week End Marriage,” and in “Big City Blues,” but from then on came a series of secretary Now enters the menace—although | Toles where she would have one scene Sheila isn’t so sure that it wasn’t the | and perhaps only one line to say, such hero. The “tidy little sum” which | 4S: “This way, madam,” or “Will her uncle had left her was invested | that be all today, sir?” in some safe stocks—and it is wellknown history what the year 1929 did to that commodity. She decided to take what she had Several times during her past year in Hollywood she contemplated resurrecting Kay Clark and going back to Minnesota. She didn’t know that the saved and make another stab at being | Warner Bros. executives were placing Sheila Terry. period at teaching was just about up and she had fulfilled the obligations of the will. The moment she stepped on the train headed for Toronto, Canada, Kay Clark died a painless death. Having been a school teacher, however, Sheila had acquired the habit of training for a thing properly. In Toronto, she enrolled in an_ institution affiliated with the Royal Academy of London, where she received her finishing touches. Then came her first real job, an engagement with a stock company in Toronto in which she played for about seven months. Armed with this experience, she went to New York City all set to crash Broadway. ; Didn’t Starve This story isnt very dramatic for the simple reason that she didn’t have Current Besides, her two year| her in small and varied parts in many pictures and carefully watching her work in each. She wondered several times why, if they had relegated her to minor parts, they still continued to take up her option each time it came due. The answer to this last came when the executives assigned her to play the lead in “The Silk Express.” The story is a melodramatic mystery thriller in which a band of silk hoarders attempt to wreck a silk train in order to corner the New York market on the commodity. Neil Hamilton has the leading masculine role, while others in the cast include Arthur Byron, Guy Kibbee, Allen Jen kins, Harold Huber and Dudley Digges. The screen play by Houston Branch and Ben Markson is based on an original story by Branch. Ray Enright directed. Feature) ( Allen Jenkins Plays Hobo in “Silk Express” Mystery A LLEN JENKINS doesn’t know what the “psychology of the hobo”’ is. the gunman”’ is. If you asked him about this, he might reply, “What's that?” No more does he know what the “psychology of as likely as not, Because that’s the sort of person Allen Jenkins is. You saw him as a gunman in “Blessed Event.” You'll see him as a hobo in Warner Bros.’ acterization he is an operative working for an insurance agency as a special guard over a trainload of insured silk There’s nothing particularly studied or deep or psychological about Allen Jenkins’ portrayals of toughs, yet he manages to get close to the thinking and mannerisms of the average tough or hobo and adds a touch of comedy that saves it. Your true hobo is more comic than tough. Life is a bubble to be picked for him. So why should he work There's } blue in the sky, sun playing along the ties as the box-car rolls its happy miles. And at the end of the es, run, whether chased from the car by the ever-watchful “dicks,” or merely strolling from it in search of a nearlying “jungle” where are to be found brother tramps and a questionable but tasty “mulligan,” there’s rest and untroubled sleep. No work to go to new mystery on wheels, in the morning. No family to supply. No one to answer to. The next day is another world, full of new faces and different places. Life is a laugh. Your true hobo is seldom vicious, or even depressed. And that’s the way Allen Jenkins plays him. Jenkins appears as a hobo throughout the picture. Only at the very end do you learn that he is an operative for an insurance company, secretly guarding a train load of silk against a plot to destroy it. “The Silk Express” is dynamically melodramatic and filled with startling and thrilling incidents. Neil Hamilton and Sheila Terry have the leading roles while others in the cast include Arthur Byron, Guy Kibbee, Harold Huber and Dudley Digges. Houston Branch wrote the story and collaborated with Ben Markson on the screen play, which was directed by Ray Enright.