The Arizona Express

Bank clerk David Keith falls under the sway of femme fatale Lola Nichols, who works as a dancer at a nearby nightclub. She's really only interested in helping her gangster boyfriend Victor get into the bank after hours. When David is foolish enough to let him into the main vault, they are surprised by the bank president, who was unusually working late. Victor shoots the bank president, leaving David to take the blame for the crime. David's sister Katherine knows the truth, however, and procures evidence proving her brother is innocent. She hops on the Arizona Express train in hopes of getting it to the judge before David is sent to the electric chair in the morning. But with Victor and his goons in hot pursuit, she may not be able to reach her brother in time…

The Arizona Express is adapted from the work of Lincoln J. Carter, a prolific writer of "blood-and-thunder" melodramas for the stage. Incredibly popular with the lower classes but not necessarily with the intelligentsia (his plays were never performed in New York) they usually involved the railroads or train travel in some capacity. He signed a contract with Fox in 1923 with the intent of directing films, but his ill health meant that Carter only contributed the stories for The Eleventh Hour (1923) and The Arizona Express (1924) before his untimely death in 1926. Gorgeous, tough-as-nails Evelyn Brent had a long career in Hollywood, with standout roles including a gangster's moll in Underworld (1927) and a Russian spy in The Last Command (1928). Harold Goodwin later portrayed the tragic soldier Detering in All Quiet on the Western Front (1930). Co-star David Butler went on to become a prolific director for Fox, making over thirty movies for them, including four Shirley Temple pictures. The real star of Arizona Express, though, is the titular locomotive itself, sumptuously photographed by cinematographer Blake Wagner, whose father had been a train conductor.

BONUS: Blood and Steel (1925): A young engineer is tasked with the completion of a new railway line, but faces danger when a rival company tries to cripple his efforts with sabotage. This rare Helen Holmes railroad film has never before been issued on DVD. Due to its age and rarity, picture anomalies are present, but Alpha Video is happy to present it as a bonus on The Arizona Express, courtesy of railroad historian Frank Kyper.