Nazi spies in the USA try to steal the formula for synthetic oil and ship it to Germany by means of a night plane called the Dawn Express.Nazi spies in the USA try to steal the formula for synthetic oil and ship it to Germany by means of a night plane called the Dawn Express.Nazi spies in the USA try to steal the formula for synthetic oil and ship it to Germany by means of a night plane called the Dawn Express.
Photos
Hans Heinrich von Twardowski
- Capt. Gemmler
- (as Hans von Twardowski)
John Barton
- Tavern Patron
- (uncredited)
Charles Calvert
- Headwaiter
- (uncredited)
Jack Cheatham
- Max
- (uncredited)
Jack Deery
- Tavern Patron
- (uncredited)
Jack Gardner
- Nazi Spy
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe earliest documented telecast of this film in the New York City area occurred Monday 21 January 1946 on pioneer television station WNBT (Channel 1); in Philadelphia and Washington DC it was first telecast Saturday 13 November 1948 on WFIL (Channel 6) and on WMAL (Channel 7), in Detroit Wednesday 30 March 1949 on WXYZ (Channel 7), in Albuquerque Saturday 16 April 1949 on KOB (Channel 4), in Baltimore Wednesday 4 May 1949 on WAAM (Channel 13), in Cincinnati Friday 27 May 1949 on WKRC (Channel 11), in Atlanta Sunday 25 September 1949 on WAGA (Channel 5), and in Los Angeles Thursday 2 February 1950 on KTLA (Channel 5).
Featured review
Cheap and filled with plot holes.
When "The Dawn Express" began, I assumed that It would be a pretty bad film. After all, it was made by PRC and it had a cast filled with complete unknowns. And, it turned out I was pretty much right about this one. The film is a wartime propaganda movie—meant to capitalize on the war as well as engender support at home for the war effort. Because of this, it is unabashedly patriotic and obvious. Subtle it isn't. Quickly written and often illogical it is.
The film begins with a couple workers from a chemical plant being kidnapped by Nazi spies. Then, after pumping them for information about a top secret formula, the two are murdered and their bodies dumped. Not surprisingly, US agents took notice of this—and it's odd the Nazis didn't think of this. The next guy they pump for information is different. Instead of kidnapping him, they know he's a bit of a playboy—so they send a pretty Nazi agent his way. Soon, her superiors demand he give them the formula but he refuses. They threaten to kill his family and he asks for time. Now you'd think they'd kill him or torture him .but they let him go! And, oddly, this dodo doesn't tell anyone!! What's going to happen next and how will Professor Schmidt figure into all this nonsense, find out for yourself.
Despite having many more plot holes than I mentioned above, the film has a certain silly likability. I often find these super-low budget films great fun if you don't take them seriously and they are exciting if also quite dumb. Exciting and dumb yep, that pretty much sums "The Dawn Express"!
The film begins with a couple workers from a chemical plant being kidnapped by Nazi spies. Then, after pumping them for information about a top secret formula, the two are murdered and their bodies dumped. Not surprisingly, US agents took notice of this—and it's odd the Nazis didn't think of this. The next guy they pump for information is different. Instead of kidnapping him, they know he's a bit of a playboy—so they send a pretty Nazi agent his way. Soon, her superiors demand he give them the formula but he refuses. They threaten to kill his family and he asks for time. Now you'd think they'd kill him or torture him .but they let him go! And, oddly, this dodo doesn't tell anyone!! What's going to happen next and how will Professor Schmidt figure into all this nonsense, find out for yourself.
Despite having many more plot holes than I mentioned above, the film has a certain silly likability. I often find these super-low budget films great fun if you don't take them seriously and they are exciting if also quite dumb. Exciting and dumb yep, that pretty much sums "The Dawn Express"!
helpful•91
- planktonrules
- Mar 6, 2014
Details
- Runtime1 hour 2 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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