A Journey by Train (lost Arthur Lubin educational film; 1935)

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A description of the film from the LA Times.

Status: Lost

A Journey by Train was a 45 minute long[1] American film from 1935 directed by Arthur Lubin, best known for directing the 1943 film Phantom of the Opera and several Abbot and Costello films, as well as the television series Mister Ed. The film is educational in nature, and is described by the Los Angeles Times as 'an interesting experimental film'. The film is produced by Text Film Corp., who copyrighted it as "Journey (A) on the train" on April 15th, 1935,[2] and distributed by Bell & Howell.

Premise

The actual film depicts two young children taking a conventional railway journey with their parents. A specific scene cited by the Educational Screen is a baggage-man dealing with pets that cannot be taken into the passenger cars.[3] The May 28th, 1935 edition of the Los Angeles Times mentioned the movie while discussing Arthur Lubin's contract under Republic Pictures and described it as 'experimental'.[4] There also exists a repackaging of the film as a photographic album, called A Journey by Train: Subject 101.[5]

The film was "Composed of eight units: Preparation for journey; Railway station activity; Engine; Pullman car; Baggage car and U.S. mail car; Dining car and kitchen; Pullman berths and dressing room; Observation Car." It was designed so that an educator could show only the relevant sequence if they should so desire.[6]

Availability

The only known available visuals from the film are seven promotional photographs taken during production in the National Museum of African American History & Culture,[7] and a single frame used in the Educational Screen magazine. The aforementioned photographic album also contained 60 professional photographs from the film, though it was sold for 625 dollars and is not known to be publicly available.

Gallery

A Journey By Train: Subject 101

References