The Hurricane Express [Serial] on AllMovie

One of the posters for the 1932 Mascot serial Hurricane Express offered that time-honored cliche of the heroine (Shirley Grey) tied to the railroad tracks. Such a scene never really occurs in this 12-episode chapter play: Instead, we are offered another favorite cliche, that of the Mystery Criminal who happens to be a master of disguise. The villain is known as "The Wrecker" because of his habit of causing crashes on the L&R railroad line. It is extremely difficult for hero John Wayne (that's right--John Wayne) to ascertain the identity of The Wrecker, since he (or she) has the unique ability of assuming the facial characteristics of anyone whom he (or she) chooses. At one point, the insidious Wrecker even disguises himself as John Wayne (egad!) As enjoyably silly as Hurricane Express was in its original length, it's even more fun in its 90-minute feature version.