Description

Danger Lights is a 1930 American drama film, directed by George B. Seitz, from a screenplay by James Ashmore Creelman. It stars Louis Wolheim, Robert Armstrong (actor), and Jean Arthur.

Cast

• Louis Wolheim as Dan Thorn
• Robert Armstrong (actor) as Larry Doyle
• Jean Arthur as Mary Ryan
• Hugh Herbert as Professor
• Frank Sheridan as Ed Ryan
• Robert Edeson as Tom Johnson
• Alan Roscoe as Jim
• William P. Burt as Chief Dispatcher
• Jim Farley as Joe Geraghty

Historically significant footage

Danger Lights features rare footage of a tug of war between two steam locomotives, actual Documentary film footage of the activities in the Miles City yard, and what is believed to be the only motion picture footage of a dynamometer car from the steam railroad era in the USA. Similar footage may have existed in MGM’s Thunder (film) (1929), with Lon Chaney, Sr. but that film is now a lost film.
The portion of the film that was filmed in Montana was part of the electrified Rocky Mountain Division of the railroad, with the 3000-volt direct current trolley and the 100,000-volt alternating current “Highline” plainly visible in several shots. Despite the fact that the railroad often touted the power and reliability of its straight electric locomotives, none are seen in the film.
In 1958, the film entered the List of films in the public domain in the United States due to the copyright claimants’ failure to renew the copyright registration in the 28th year after publication.