The Lost Special is a Universal

Universal Pictures

-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...

 movie serial

Serial (film)

Serials, more specifically known as Movie serials, Film serials or Chapter plays, were short subjects originally shown in theaters in conjunction with a feature film. They were related to pulp magazine serialized fiction...

 based on the story The Lost Special

The Lost Special

"The Lost Special" is a short story by Arthur Conan Doyle first published in 1898. It is implied to be a Sherlock Holmes story, though his name is not used.-Synopsis:This story concerns the baffling disappearance of a special train on its journey to London...

by Arthur Conan Doyle

Arthur Conan Doyle

Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...

. This adaptation does not include Conan Doyle's character Sherlock Holmes, and moves events to the American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 West

Western (genre)

The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...

.

This was the 84th serial (and the 16th serial with sound) to be released by Universal.

Plot overview

A special train carrying gold bullion from the Golconda Mine, that is stopped by henchmen, working secretly for Sam Slater (J. Frank Glendon), partner of Potter Hood (Francis Ford), in the mine ownership. Laying down portable tracks, the bandits take the train off the main line, hide it in an abandoned mine shaft, steal the gold, and pick up their make-shift tracks, leaving a mystery in their wake. Potter's son Tom Hood (Frank Albertson), just home from college, determines to solve the mystery with the aid of his pal Bob Collins (Ernie Nevers.) They board the gold-shipment special train on its next run. Newspaper reporter Betty Moore (Cecilia Parker) and her friend Kate Bland (Caryl Lincoln) are in a car driving along a road that parallels the train tracks, when Bob is attacked by henchman Dirk (Tom London) and, while fighting, Dirk's revolver goes off, shatters the windshield of Betty's car, blinding her and sending her car toward the on-rushing train.

Cast

• Frank Albertson
  Frank Albertson
  Frank Albertson was an American character actor who made his debut in a minor part in Hollywood at age 13....
  
   as Tom Hood, son of Potter Hood
• Ernie Nevers as Bob Collins, Tom's friend.
• Cecilia Parker
  Cecilia Parker
  Cecilia Parker was a Canadian-born American film actress.-Early life and career:Born in Fort William, Ontario, she was brought to southern California as a child by her mother, Mrs. Naudy Anna Parker. Her father was an English soldier. Parker graduated from the Convent of the Immaculate Heart in...
  
   as Betty Moore, Reporter and niece of Horace Moore
• Francis Ford
  Francis Ford (actor)
  Francis Ford was a prolific film actor, writer, and director. He was the older brother of film director John Ford. He also appeared in many of John Ford's movies, including Young Mr. Lincoln and The Quiet Man.He starred in the 1912 two-reeler The Deserter by Thomas H. Ince and acted in over 400...
  
   as Potter Hood, part owner of the Golconda gold mine
• J. Frank Glendon
  J. Frank Glendon
  J. Frank Glendon was an American film actor. He appeared in 79 films between 1915 and 1936.He was born in Choteau, Montana, and died in Hollywood, California...
  
   as Sam Slater, part owner of the Golconda gold mine
• Frank Beal
  Frank Beal
  Frank Beal was an American actor and film director of the silent era. He appeared in 42 films between 1910 and 1933...
  
   as Horace Moore, owner of the railroad
• Caryl Lincoln
  Caryl Lincoln
  Caryl Lincoln was an American film actress of the late 1920s into the very early 1950s.The Oakland, California-born Lincoln, a "WAMPUS Baby Star" in 1929, started her acting career in silent films, her first film being Slippery Silks in 1927. Pretty, petite, and talented, she would star in ten...
  
   as Kate Bland, friend of Betty Moore
• Tom London
  Tom London
  Tom London was an American actor who, according to "The Guinness Book of Movie Records," is credited with appearing in the most movies in the history of Hollywood...
  
   as Dirk/Detective Dane
• Al Ferguson
  Al Ferguson
  Al Ferguson was an Irish-born American film actor. He appeared in nearly 300 films between 1912 and 1956.He was born in County Wexford, Ireland and died in Long Island, New York.-Selected filmography:...
  
   as Gavin
• Jack Clifford as Doran
• Edmund Cobb
  Edmund Cobb
  Edmund Fessenden Cobb was an American actor. He appeared in 623 films between 1912 and 1966.He was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico and died in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles from a heart attack...
  
   as Spike
• Joe Bonomo
  Joe Bonomo
  Joe Bonomo is an American essayist, poet, and rock and roll writer.-Life:He grew up in suburban Washington, D. C. He graduated from Ohio University.He teaches at Northern Illinois University, since 1995....
  
   as Joe
• George Magrill
  George Magrill
  George Magrill , was an American film actor. He appeared in 326 films between 1923 and 1952.He was born in Brooklyn, New York, was married to Ramona Oliver, and had a daughter named Marilynn...
  
   as Lefty
• Harold Nelson as Professor Wilson

Production

The advertising for the serial stated:

American Football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 star Ernie Nevers was cast as the lead. Another sports star, Reb Russell

Reb Russell

Ewell Albert "Reb" Russell was a Major League Baseball player for the Chicago White Sox and the Pittsburgh Pirates....

, was cast in the role of "One of Bob's College Pals."

Chapter titles

1. The Lost Special
2. Racing Death
3. The Red Lantern
4. Devouring Flames
5. The Lighting Strikes
6. The House of Mystery
7. The Tank Room Terror
8. The Fatal Race
9. Into the Depths
10. The Jaws of Death
11. The Flaming Forest
12. Retribution

_Source:

External links