The Wrecker is a British play, written in 1924 by Arnold Ridley and Bernard Merivale, and filmed in 1928-29. The play is about an old engine driver who thinks his engine is malevolent and self-aware. The finale is a huge train wreck using elaborate stage special-effects as per The Ghost Train, an earlier play by Ridley. The Wrecker ran for 165 performances at St Martin's Theatre in London's West End. It later played at the Cort Theatre on Broadway in 1928, where it ran for 40 performances. The play was adapted as a film under the same title released in 1929. It featured a spectacular crash between a passenger train and a Foden steam lorry stuck on a level crossing.
Adaptations (1)
The Wrecker was adapted into a 1929 film.
The Wrecker1929 · film · 74 min · dir. Géza von Bolváry · IMDb ↗IMDb6.9A criminal organizes train crashes to discredit the railway in favor of a rival bus company. The stunts in this film were groundbreaking for 1920s British cinema. A scene which has been described as "the most spectacular rail crash in cinema history" was recorded by 22 cameras.
