The Tunnel (1935) DVD

Writers:

Bernhard Kellermann (novel), Curt Siodmak (screen story)

Stars:

Richard Dix, Leslie Banks, Madge Evans

 

Transatlantic Tunnel is the English-language version of the 1932 French-German speculative drama The Tunnel. Set sometime in the future (complete with two-way televisions, art-deco airships and self-propelled automobiles), the film stars Richard Dix as McAllen, a visionary architect who devotes his life to the construction of a tunnel linking the United States with England. Despite devastating professional and personal setbacks, including the death of his own son in a tunnel cave-in, nothing dissuades Dix from completing the project. Guest stars Walter Huston and George Arliss are cast respectively as the American President and the British Prime Minister, roles that they'd played before on several occasions. Like William Cameron Menzie's Things to Come, the film is more impressive for its futuristic sets and state-of-the-art special effects than for its dramatic content.