FilmIndia (1945)

FILM INDIA December, 1945 "LADY ON A TRAIN* (Universal, August 24; time, 93 min.) This mixture of murder, mystery, melodrama and comedy, will have to depend on Deanna Durbin's popularity, for, as entertainment, it is only fair. The story is thin and unbelievable, and the players struggle with the poor material. One wonders why Universal has wasted the talents of Miss Durbin, its most valuab'e star, on a story that is so far-fetched and at times ridiculous. Those who are not too concerned about the credibility of a plot may find some of the situations quite amusing. Three songs sung by Miss Durbin give the picture its most entertaining moments. As a matter of fact, more accent on the music and less on the melodramatics would have helped matters considerably. To the picture's credit are the swift action and the good production values: — As her train stops on the elevated tracks leading into New York's 125th Street station, Deanna Durbin, a wealthy California debutante with a penchant for reading mystery stories, sees a murder committed in a building facing the tracks but does not see the murderer's face. Deanna eludes Edward Everett Horton, her father's New York representative, who had been assigned to guard her, and rushes to the police to report the crime. When the police dismiss her as a crank, Deanna seeks the aid of David Bruce, her favourite mystery book author. Bruce, fearing the wrath of Frances Rafferty, M.G.M. star, becomes more aggressive with a new offensive gadget, as if her eyes were not enough to kill. Known for her craze to play the unconventional roles, Ella Raines is now working in a murder drama, "Uncle Harry" produced by Universal. Patricia Morison, his jealous fiancee, puts Deanna out of his apartment. She follows Bruce and Patricia to a movie theatre, where she sees a newsreel shot reporting the death of a wealthy shipbuilder on his Long Island estate, and recognizes the man as the one whom she had seen murdered. After creating a disturbance in an unsuccessful attempt to get Bruce to accompany her, Deanna goes to the estate to investigate. There, the dead man's relatives and associates, gathered for the reading of the will, mistake her for Marie Plamer, a night-club singer, to whom the victim had left the bulk of his estate. Searching for clues, Deanna finds a pair of bloodstained slippers and manages to get them out of the house. Finding it necessary to carry on the deception in order to gain more evidence, Deanna goes to the night-club where she locks Marie in a closet and takes her place as the club's singer. Meanwhile the relatives and other sundry characters, some of them bent on regaining the slippers, arrive at the club. Bruce, who had finally become intrigued by the mystery, joins the party. Deanna soon finds herself embroiled in a series of strange adventures that result in two additional murders before she, aided by Bruce, finally unmasks the killer as Ralph Bellamy, one of the victim's nephews. It all ends with Deanna and Bruce embarking on a honeymoon. Edmund Beloin and Robert O'Brien wrote the screen play, Felix Jackson produced it, and Charles David d;rected it. The cast includes Dan Duryea, George Coulouris, Allen Jenkins, Elizabeth Patterson, Samuel S. Hinds and others. Unobjectionable morally.