The Ghost Train

Gabriel Garcia Moreno’s 1927 action thriller, shot in Veracruz, is the first silent Mexican feature I’ve seen—a fascinating period look at such things as trains and bullfights. Its dreamlike action, characters, and props show a clear debt to the great Louis Feuillade serials of the previous decadea cigarette-smoking street urchin is modeled on Feuillade’s Bout de Zan, a robber uses a black-mask disguise, the actors do all their own stunts. Unfortunately it lacks the kinetic energy and invention of Feuillade as well as his subversive handling of class and gender. About 100 min. (JR) Read more