Exile Express
Cast & Crew
Otis Garrett
Anna Sten
Alan Marshal
Jerome Cowan
Walter Catlett
Jed Prouty
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
On the eve that lab assistant Nadine Nikolas is to be awarded her American citizenship papers, her old friend, Paul Brandt, meets her at her office to take her to dinner. There, Nadine's employer, Dr. Hite, a chemist, describes his secret formula for destroying crops to Brandt. Brandt then takes Nadine to a restaurant, and when he leaves the table to talk to the chef, a spy approaches her and asks her to steal Hite's formula for "her country." Nadine refuses, and calls Hite to warn him, but before he can lock the formula in the safe, a spy enters his laboratory, shoots him and steals the formula. The next day, Nadine is arrested for Hite's murder. Although she is not found guilty, she is ordered to leave America on a deportee train known as the "exile express" which goes to Ellis Island. Also holding tickets on the train is ex-convict Tony Kassan, and reporter Steve Reynolds, covering the story of Kassan's deportation. Brandt, who is really the head of the spy ring that killed Hite and stole the formula, needs Nadine to decipher Hite's notes because the doctor doused them with acid before dying. Under the guise of friendship, Brandt tells Nadine to sneak off the train at Kentville, where she will be met by one of his men, who will arrange for her to marry an American. Brandt tells her that she will then be able to leave the country and re-enter as the wife of an American citizen. At Kentville, Nadine is met by Brandt's man, David, who drives her to a justice of the peace. Sensing a story, Steve follows Nadine, and before she can marry Marvin McGee, the man who has been paid to become her husband, Steve scares Marvin away by telling him that he is there to report the wedding. Steve then takes Marvin's place and marries Nadine. After the ceremony, David speeds off with Nadine, but when their car crashes in the woods, David tells her to run toward the highway and find a telephone to call Brandt. Steve finds Nadine lost in the woods, and they hike to a lodge to wait for a ride to the nearest phone. At the lodge, Nadine and Steve begin to fall in love. Meanwhile, back at the newspaper office, Steve's editor, impatient for a story, writes an exposé of Nadine's escape using Steve's byline. When Nadine sees the story, she feels betrayed and goes to Brandt. Brandt then reveals that he is a spy and orders Nadine to decipher Hite's notes. Steve follows Nadine and arrives just in time to disarm David. The police then arrive to arrest Brandt, and Nadine, now exonerated, is sworn in as Mrs. Steve Reynolds, U.S. citizen.
Director
Otis Garrett
Cast
Anna Sten
Alan Marshal
Jerome Cowan
Walter Catlett
Jed Prouty
Stanley Fields
Leonid Kinsky
Etienne Girardot
Irving Pichel
Harry Davenport
Addison Richards
Feodor Chaliapin
Spencer Charters
Byron Foulger
Don Brodie
Henry Roquemore
Vince Barnett
Maude Eburne
Charles Richman
George Chandler
Crew
Ralph Berger
Robert Bischoff
Edward Curtis
Eugene Frenke
Gordon Griffith
Buddy Harak
Ethel La Blanche
Edwin Justus Mayer
John Mescall
I. Miller
Ray Nazarro
George Parrish
James Wade
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Although onscreen credits list Edward Curtis as film editor, Film Daily and Daily Variety credits Robert Bischoff with the task. Onscreen credits also spell the music director's name as George Parrish, whereas Variety and Hollywood Reporter reviews spell his name Perisch. According to the Motion Picture Herald review, the title of this film was derived from a West Coast train whose passengers were all deportees bound for Ellis Island. Anna Sten and Eugene Frenke were married when they made this picture.
