Cheap Lady on a Train (Video) (Deanna Durbin, Ralph Bellamy) (Charles David (II)) Price

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Customer Reviews of Lady on a Train

Lady on a Brain-Drain
Sappy and soporific, this attempt at seriocomic film noir is like a nightmare that rambles senselessly hither and yon, engulfing the viewer in a morass of near surreality of silliness! One could well imagine Abbott and Costello showing up at any moment!
Why Deanna Durbin's comedic and musical talents were plastered onto such a plot is a mystery, especially since the story spasmodically struggles to rise above the manic stooginess of it all. Some of the actors actually manage to perform unscathed by the flakiness--particulary Dan Duryea, who serves as a painful reminder of what the film could have been. Most, however, are utterly wasted--including a white cat lugged listlessly about by one villain. One waits eagerly for the mere prop of a puss to spring from its human's arms and guide the plot to a providential turn. But, alas!

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A Breezy Durbin Mystery for Christmas
This is a Christmas snowflake from the wonderful Deanna Durbin. She may have saved Universal from bankruptcy as a young musical sensation in the late 30's but by the mid 40's she had matured into a pleasantly gorgeous actress and made several memorable light comedies. This breezy murder mystery is one of her best. The entire film takes place over the Christmas weekend and it makes a marvelous backdrop to this fun film. It is snowing in almost every shot and I watch this every Christmas like some people watch "It's a Wonderful Life".

Nikki Collins (Deanna) is on a train bound for New York for the Christmas holiday, reading a mystery by her favorite author, Wayne Morgan (David Bruce), when out the train window she witnesses the murder of Josiah Warring. Since no one will believe her, she hunts down mystery writer Morgan and slowly drags him into her enthusiastic search for the killer. He is engaged to a rather stuffy society babe, and we know right away that he and Durbin will end up together before the final curtain.

The murdered man was a rich shipping magnate and when Durbin attempts to snoop around the tycoon's mansion she is mistaken by nephew Arnold (Dan Duryea) for Margo Martin, the nightclub singer to whom Josiah has left everything, much to the chagrin of everyone. This gives Durbin an opportunity to go to the nightclub and do some amateur detective work, as well as do a sexy rendition of "Give Me a Little Kiss, Will Ya?" and the lovely "Night and Day", the latter in an alluring black dress you'll definitely remember.

The real Margo gets murdered of course, as does the owner of the swanky nightclub "The Circus", and everyone seems to be after the blood stained slippers Nikki has found that prove the tycoon was really murdered! David Bruce does a nice job as the mystery writer Morgan as does Duryea as the black sheep of the family, Ralph Bellamy being the good nephew. Edward Everett Horten gives a very funny performance as Mr. Haskell (of the New York office!) who has been instructed to keep an eye on Durbin by her father, a nearly impossible task!

This is an entertaining muder mystery that is a lot of fun to watch. Deanna Durbin and the great cast make this film light and airy. She married director Charles David II later on and maybe that's part of the happiness you feel from the screen. We get to watch a glowing Durbin solve a murder, fall in love, and sing some nice songs, all during a snowy Christmas weekend. She also gets to sing the prettiest version of "Silent Night" you'll ever hear. What could be wrong with that?

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Did we see the same film?
Dank, Moldy, "film noir" mishmash with no suspense at all.
Yet Deanna makes something out of every movie where the screenwriter was smokin' something and the director graduated from the nudge, get it, get it school.

Most of her films where vehicles for her singing but this one doesn't even try to make sense. She's walking on elevated subway rails one minute, stumbling through some old creepy house where you expect abbot and Costello to meet frankenstein and then singing in a nightclub in someone else's place and nobody seems to notice. As a new fan who's discovered her charms, I urge you not to start with this one. That doesn't mean it's not worth watching though, after all, she's in it.