The Vintagent Classics: The films that inspired us. 

BURNING UP (1930)

Run Time: 56:35
Producer: Paramount Pictures
Director: A. Edward Sutherland
Writer: Grover Jones, William Slavens McNutt
Key Cast: Richard Arlen, Mary Brian, Francis McDonald

FILM MAKERS

Burning Up is a 1930 American Pre-Code action film starring Richard Arlen as a racing driver and Mary Brian as his love interest, the daughter of a fellow driver. An early talkie, the film also features motorcycle stunts, and also stars Francis McDonald, Sam Hardy, Charles Sellon, and Tully Marshall. The film was released on February 1, 1930, by Paramount Pictures.

The film was made in an effort by Paramount’s Jesse L. Lasky to emulate the success of earlier racing films made by the late Wallace Reid, “emulating Wally’s films almost exactly”, and with director Allen Sigler having “filmed the racing scenes exactly as Wally’s had been done”. One review described it as “the old racing-car scenario brought up to date with sound and talk”.

SUMMARY

“Sweethearts again. The man you can’t help loving. The girl you can’t forget..in a hurry-up, merry-up, thrill romance that’s a wow”

Racecar-driver Lou Larrigan gets mixed up with a crooked gang of racetrack promoters, and is in love with Ruth Morgan, whose father is marked as a victim by the gang.

Well worth the watch, especially for the opening Wall of Death Motordrome sequence where two riders compete for a date with the girl. Check the ladder and gangplank. Wild!

RELATED MEDIA

Watch the full film for FREE on Cine Meccanica Youtube channel