Flying Scotsman, The

2770.THE FLYING SCOTSMAN (1929-England). With RAY MILLAND. For the past three decades, Old Bob has been the engineer of “The Flying Scotsman,” a passenger train which travels daily between King’s Cross station in London and Waverley station in Edinburgh. Old Bob is justifiably proud of his spotless record with his railway. He has never missed a day of work and never brought the Scotsman in a minute past its scheduled arrival. Now he is about to retire, and is preparing to guide the Scotsman one last time. However, he recently caught one of his subordinates drinking on the job and dutifully reported the matter to his superiors. The lush is named Crow, and he is less than pleased when he is summarily fired. “You’ll have a lot to be sorry for-when I’m through with you,” the furious Crow promises Old Bob. He goes on to swear that the engineer will not live to complete his final run. As Crow plots his retaliation, two other characters enter the story. The first is Jim, a brash young dandy, who is in line to replace Old Bob as the Scotsman’s engineer. The second is Jane, Old Bob’s plucky daughter. Jim and Jane become involved in a boy-meets-girl situation, but then there are various complications (not to mention the presence of the vengeance-seeking Crow). As the story barrels to its conclusion, there is some truly thrilling speeding-train footage and eye-popping and death-defying stuntwork, Finally, the young actor billed as “Raymond” Milland exudes charm in his role as Jim. Milland soon was to shorten his first name to Ray and head off to Hollywood, where he commenced an illustrious and Oscar-winning career. The film was shot as a “Silent with a synchronized music sound track added a year after its release. 59 minutes. “Silent” Sound Railroad Drama