Tourneur, who was once considered the peer of De Mille and Griffiths, was on a steep learning curve at this stage. His American films are a great advance on something like GAIETÉS DE L'ESCADRON though THE WHIP is not one of the best.
Set among the moneyed Irish horsey set, the film moves from the week end hunt party which reveal's sinister Baron McAllister (the heavy in NOAH'S ARK) planning to fix the champion racer "The Whip" and incapacitating artist and hunt master Cummings. The action shifts to the US where his next evil design involves wrecking the Saratoga express. He is frustrated by spunky (though lacking in fashion sense) Hanlon.
The odd, striking, picture book composition (shooting into the sun behind heavy cloud) shows Tourneur's hand and some of the staging is ambitious - a full scale train crash and running insets on the race track. The dramatic intrigue is unlikely to involve however. We still have a way to go till we get to VICTORY or THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS.