Although Wallace Reid is the star attraction in this racing picture he gets less screen time and less concentrated exposure than the secondary attraction, the much older character actor Theodore Roberts. The modest use of Reid was due to his growing morphine dependence which was beginning to show on screen at the time this adventure was filmed, though from the glimpses we get here, he didn't look bad at all at this relatively early stage of his addiction. He participates in very little physical action other than climbing in and out of a few cars, escaping from a prison window and losing his temper a couple of times. To say this movie is dated would be the understatement of the century, literally. Bicycles of the current century move faster than the racing cars of 1918.
Review of The Roaring Road
