The Wrecker (1929 film)

The Wrecker German Der Wrger is a 1929 BritishGerman silent crime film directed by Gza von Bolvry and starring Carlyle Blackwell, Joseph Striker and Benita Hume. The film was based on the play of the same title by Arnold Ridley. It was produced by Michael Balcon for Gainsborough Pictures in a coproduction with the German firm Felsom Film.

After receiving a tipoff from one of Ambroses employees, Roger and bumbling detective Ramesses Ratchett Leonard Thompson foil another planned accident, much to the delight of the press. Ambrose, enraged at being foiled, plans another accident, but his conversation is recorded onto a wax cylinder by Roger and his girlfriend, Mary Shelton Benita Hume, Sir Geralds secretary who had been on the train that Roger had saved from disaster. On hearing the wax cylinder that exposes his crimes, Ambrose shoots the phonograph, destroying the cylinder, and flees from Roger and Mary, only to find himself on the very train that is to be wrecked. Ambrose holds Roger at gunpoint, but is attacked from behind by Mary and subdued, and the train is brought to a safe halt. With Ambrose defeated, Roger and Mary profess their love for each other, disappearing in a cloud of steam as the train reverses away.The film was shot as a silent, with a soundtrack was later added. The crash scene was filmed at Herriard on the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway. A set of SECR coaches and a SECR F1 Class locomotive No. A148 were released on an incline to collide into a Foden steam lorry. The impact, which destroyed the locomotive and the lorry, was recorded bycameras and has been described as the most spectacular rail crash in cinema history. ........

Source: Wikipedia