The Dawn Express
| The Dawn Express | |
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| Directed by | Albert Herman |
| Produced by |
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| Written by | Arthur St. Claire (writer) |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Lee Zahler (musical director) |
| Cinematography | Edward Linden |
| Edited by | Leete Renick Brown |
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Production
company |
Merrick-Alexander Productions
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| Distributed by | Producers Releasing Corporation |
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Release date
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Running time
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54 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Dawn Express (aka Dawn Express and 'Nazi Spy Ring (working title)) is a 1942 American film directed by Albert Herman. The film stars Michael Whalen, Anne Nagel, William Bakewell and Constance Worth.
In the middle of World War II, Nazi Capt. Gemmler (Hans Heinrich von Twardowski) is in need of a powerful chemical formula to improve the energy output of ordinary gasoline. In his quest for this formula he finds two individuals that are of use: the chemist and playboy Tom Fielding (William Bakewell) and his co-worker, Robert Norton (Michael Whalen), who is engaged to Tom's sister Nancy (Anne Nagel). They are already involved in such a project for another employer. Using his secret agents, Gemmler kidnaps them.
The unsuspecting Tom goes to the nearby Alpine-style tavern one night and meets a Polish refugee named Linda Pavlo (Constance Worth). They strike up a conversation, and the following morning Tom is late for work. Robert tells him to stay away from unknown women he meets at the bar by chance like that – nothing good will come out of it. The president of the chemical company where they work, Franklyn Prescott (C. Montague Shaw), gets a visit from a government agent, James Curtis (Jack Mulhall), and is told that there has been a double murder in another chemical plant. Prescott is not worried, but refers to his security plan: the plant is only working on one half of the precious formula, while another plant on the East Coast is working on the other half. Curtis breaks the news to Prescott that the East Coast plant has been compromised and sabotaged by one of its own chemists (George Pembroke) who stole half of the formula, now identified as working for the Nazis under the name of Karl Schmidt.
In the night, when Tom and Robert return to the same tavern as the night before, Curtis' agents follow them there. Tom meets Linda again, and since she is actually a Nazi agent he is lured into a room where Gemmler is waiting. Gemmler threatens to hurt both Tom's mother and his sister Nancy if they do not play along and give him the formula. When Tom leaves the tavern that night, he is again followed by one of Curtis' agents, but one of Gemmler's spies murders the agent.
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Wikipedia