bmacv Review of Lady on a Train

Lady on a Train (1945)

For fans of Deanna Durbin or of screwball suspense; others steer clear

[6/10 · 17 December 2001]

Screwball mystery was always a misbegotten genre, a hybrid providing satisfaction neither to connoisseurs of comedy nor fans of suspense. As such, it boasts few successes. Lady on a Train, alas, is not among, them, but at least it's not unbearable, either, like The Mad Miss Manton or A Night to Remember. A large measure of its success lies in its studio-created Manhattan on a snowy Christmas Eve, dazzlingly shot by Woody Bredell. Stars Deanna Durbin, David Bruce, Dan Duryea, Edward Everett Horton, Ralph Bellamy (et al.) all bring seasoned talent aboard. As in Agatha Christie's tale, 4:51 From Paddington (aka What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw), Durbin witnesses a murder from her train window. Madcap debutante that she is, she sets out, flashlight at the ready, to solve the crime, the murder of a prominent industrialist. In one long sequence she impersonates the heiress to his estate, a chanteuse in a posh nightclub; she thus gets to belt out a couple of numbers -- pleasant enough, but nothing like the singing-in-character she managed in Robert Siodmak's Christmas Holiday. Inevitably, the surfeit of double-takes and fainting spells takes its toll, but Lady on a Train just stops short of collapsing into utter lugubriousness.