Lady on a Train (1945) Reviews

• The plot is Agatha Christie material...Durbin has fun in a comic thriller...

  Doylenf2001-04-14

  Deanna Durbin finally got a chance to get out of her giddy teen-age roles and into a giddy adult role for a nice change of pace! She's made up to look sophisticated as she emotes in a screwball comedy-mystery about a girl who witnesses a murder from her train window and then sets out to find the corpse and the killer with the help of a mystery writer (David Bruce). The cast is studded with oddballs: Edward Everett Horton, Dan Duryea, Elizabeth Patterson, George Coulouris, Jacqueline DeWitt, Ralph Bellamy, William Frawley. All of it is highly unlikely but reality is not what this amusing mystery spoof is about. Deanna Durbin not only manages to bring comic flair and poise to her inquisitive young lady--she does a nifty job on some torchy night-club numbers: Night and Day and Give Me A Little Kiss, as well as Silent Night for a Christmas scene. Enjoyable as long as you're not expecting true-to-life situations! The wacky plot seems like something Agatha Christie might have spun in one of her wilder moments.

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• Good Comic Mystery With A Talented Cast

  Snow Leopard2004-07-21

  Talents as diverse as Deanna Durbin's charm and singing ability, Edward Everett Horton's flair for screwball comedy, and Dan Duryea's knack for portraying impish, enigmatic characters, are brought together here in a pretty good comic mystery. Neither the mystery story nor the comedy would have been enough to sustain a movie by itself, but they fit together well, with the help of an assortment of interesting characters and some well-chosen settings. The mystery story is rather like a simplified (and less plausible) version of an Agatha Christie-style plot, and it seems likely that the similarity was intended. As you watch, you do want to see how it comes out, but in itself it's relatively insubstantial. The settings and characters provide more of the material for the cast to use. A couple of the settings were done quite nicely, especially the night club/dressing room set, which allowed for some interesting possibilities, and which also fits in pretty well with the story. While it is true that nothing about "Lady On A Train" is exceptional, at the same time it has a lot of small strengths that add up to an enjoyable movie.

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• Good fun for a snowy evening!

  JohnnyOldSoul2004-12-25

  This was the first Deanna Durbin film I've seen, and while it's much different than her other films, it seems a great place to start! The first thing that struck me was how likable Ms. Durbin is in the lead role. She keeps the tone light and airy, and the film flies along at a joyous speed! The photography is amazing (the snowy Manhattan sets and Ms. Durbin's close-ups are wonderful!) Deanna's vocals on "Night and Day" hint at a sensuality that wasn't present in her other pictures, and her rendition of "Silent Night" is divine. I won't summarize the plot, as it has been done in other comments, just suffice to say that this hilarious whodunit is perfect viewing while curled up with a hot drink on a snowy winter evening!

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• Screwball Noir

  subcityii2003-05-05

  This marks the first film I've seen by Ms. Durbin from beginning to end and I must say I found it to be a lot of fun. This film is without a doubt a star vehicle for Ms. Durbin; I think I counted 7 costume changes, at least 5 different blond hairstyles over the course of the picture and it was well directed by her husband Charles David. There was also the (I think) required scene where she got to speak to someone on a white telephone. The plot of the picture is that Ms. Durbin sees a murder from her train window and enlists the aid of a mystery writer to solve the crime. I am a fan of film noir and this film is sort of a combination film noir (good mystery plot, chases in dark alleys), musical (Durbin singing "Silent Night" and "Night and Day" among others)and comedy (many slapstick scenes involving Ms. Durbin as an amateur detective). You might even call this picture screwball noir. Ms. Durbin was probably the most popular star under contract to Universal until Abbott and Costello arrived and this film marked one of the few change of pace roles she was given and she literally shines in the part. The only negative comment I have is that there are a few dated racial stereotypes that I wish had been eliminated. Other than that, I found it to be stylish entertainment.

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• Great cast and very entertaining

  blanche-22010-09-18

  Deanna Durbin is a "Lady on a Train" in this 1945 mystery/comedy also starring David Bruce, Dan Duryea Edward Everett Horton, Ralph Bellamy, Patricia Morison, and George Coulouris. The film is directed by Durbin's future husband, Charles David. Photographed and wardrobed like the great star she was, Durbin plays Nikki Collins, a débutante who comes to New York to spend the Christmas holidays with her aunt. On the train en route to Grand Central, she looks out the window and sees the murder of an old man. Determined to investigate, she appeals to the mystery writer whose novel she was reading (Bruce). She nearly wrecks his life. His fiancée (Patricia Morison) is suspicious of Nikki, and thanks to Nikki, he gets beat up a lot. Meanwhile, her father's assistant (Horton) can never find her. Nikki finds herself involved with the victim's money-grubbing family and puts herself in danger. A screwball comedy with the delightful Durbin doing a great job, singing like a dream, and looking fabulous. It's very slight but fun and directed by David with a good pace. The child Durbin was a little manic for me, but I love her adult work. Plus, she had possibly the best voice and best trained voice in films. The rest of the cast is wonderful, particularly David Bruce as the hapless author. It's a shame that Universal, with such a valuable commodity, didn't buy and/or develop better properties for her. Durbin is often compared with Judy Garland, who definitely got better treatment at MGM. Durbin was smart to retire while at the top, though with the coming musicals of the '50s, I'm sure her star would have risen even higher. In many hearts, 60 years later, she's still a star.

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