ThiefHott Too much of everything

Lucybespro It is a performances centric movie

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

mark.waltz It's another Christmas holiday for Deanna Durbin, and this time, she's got a fun script and the perfect atmosphere. She's just passing 125th Street when she witnesses a man being bludgeoned with a crowbar. Reading a murder mystery novel at the time before she glances out at East Harlem, she is full of ideas of how to solve the crime on her own. Through the aide and blockage of a superb supporting cast, Durbin turns this into a very entertaining mystery comedy with a few songs added. Coming from the A unit of a B grade studio that specialized in similar situations in their bottom of the bill programmers, this is the type of crowd pleaser that I will be reminded of every time I walk underneath the trestle at 125th and Park Avenue, just down the street from where I live.Durbin is continuing to play the ambitious "Little Miss Fix It" whose determination to become involved in her favorite passion (crime solving) and becoming a thorn of the sides of everyone she crosses. There's David Bruce, the poor mystery novelist he stalks; Patricia Morison, a glamorous actress. Jacqueline De Witt as his Eve Arden like secretary; Edward Everett Horton as her father's nervous assistant; Elizabeth Patterson as the imperious sister of the murder victim (Thurston Hall), and William Frawley as a harassed cop. Crashing the reading of Hall's will, she becomes involved more than she intended, encountering Ralph Bellamy as Hall's flip nephew and Dan Duryea as his seemingly shady brother, Maria Palmer as a nightclub singer who got more than just flowers from the deceased, with Allen Jenkins as the chauffeur, all a bit suspicious as potential suspects.With a cast like this (which I've edited due to space issues), it seems a bit overstuffed by talent, yet the spooky atmosphere mixed with comedy makes this a top of the line variation of "The Cat and the Canary" theme. Durbin once again proves what an able comedian she could be, whether pretending to be a comfy chair (complete with seat cover) or giving a hard time to the always in the wrong spot Horton. She sings a Beautiful version of "Silent Night" during a call to her unseen father as the sinister Jenkins stalks her. She then sings a sultry "Gimme a Little Kiss" at a nightclub after locking Palmer in her closet. This is one of Durbin's best films, certainly close to the top as she began to wrap up her film career. A perfect rainy day diversion for any season, actually night or day.

MartinHafer As I read through the reviews for "Lady on a Train", I was very surprised at how positive they were. After all, I thought the movie was poorly written and, at times, a bit dumb. Sure, the actors tried their best (it did have a pretty impressive supporting cast for Deanna Durbin), but the film often just made little sense.When the film begins, Nikki Collins (Durbin) is on a train bound for New York. However, at one of the stops, she sees a man being killed outside her window. Does she pull the emergency cord to alert the driver to stop? Nope. Does she make the conductor stop the train? Nope. Instead, she waits until the train arrives at the station and then goes to the nearest police station--and babbles like an idiot and explains what she saw in a very poor manner. Naturally, the policeman at the desk thought she was a nut. Does she go to another cop or another police station? Nope...she decides to find a mystery writer and get his help!!! He tells her to go to the cops--and instead she runs off on some insane lark to investigate the case for herself!Soon Nikki reads that the man she saw murdered was a rich guy who's allegedly died by falling off a ladder. So, she tells the cops, right? Nope. Instead, she sneaks onto the dead guy's property and is nearly torn apart by guard dogs. When she is discovered, the guy who found her thinks she's come for the reading of the will--and she then poses as Margo Martin--the nightclub singer who is about to inherit everything! Not surprisingly, this offers her a chance to sing a few songs at the nightclub--where no one (including the band) seemed to notice that she wasn't Margo! Huh?!There's a lot more to it than this. However, whether you'll care will depend on if you buy the story. I didn't. I hate a film where repeatedly the viewer needs to accept that the leading character NEVER behaves rationally or makes normal decisions. It made watching the film a real chore for me--though as I said before, most reviews on IMDb are very, very favorable. The bottom line is how willing are you to suspend disbelief? And, how much do you adore Miss Durbin? If the answer to both is yes--than by all means watch and most likely you'll enjoy the film. I just couldn't get past the sub-par writing and Durbin deserved better. For me, it's a watchable time-passer and not much more.

kidboots Deanna Durbin never seemed to go through an "awkward age" on screen. Even though she was a child star, she had already passed that uncomfortable age when she made her first film. Also she was very pretty and Universal studio was small enough to let her talent blossom. In "Lady on a Train" she tries her hand at screwball comedy and it really works. The original story was by Leslie Charteris, creator of "The Saint".Deanna Durbin (as a beautiful blonde) plays scatty Nicki Collins, addicted to crime novels, who sees a murder from her carriage window - she is going by train to spend Christmas in New York with her aunt and uncle.Of course no one believes her so she tries to enlist the help of Wayne Morgan (David Bruce) her favourite crime novelist. He is not interested and is also hampered by his fashion model girlfriend (the gorgeous Patricia Morison). Nicki goes snooping at the murdered man's mansion and stumbles onto the reading of the will. Everyone assumes she is Margot Martin, the murdered man's fiancée and she keeps up the pretense. She meets Arnold Waring (Dan Duryea) glib and carefree and Jonathon Waring (Ralph Bellamy) caring and cautious, both of whom have not benefited from the will. Allen Jenkins plays a surly thug, who is trailing Nicki with instructions to kill her. When he hears her sing "Silent Night" he is putty in her hands for about five minutes.She arrives at the Circus Club and goes on in Margot's place (Margot just happens to be a singer) singing "Give Me a Little Kiss, Will Ya, Huh??". Also figuring in the plot is a pair of men's bedroom slippers - the ones that the victim was wearing. Nicki first found them at the mansion and from then on she has a job to keep them out of the murderer's hands - until the butler gets hold of them and cleans all the evidence off them. She also sings a beautiful, sultry version of "Night and Day".When the real Margot is murdered Nicki is arrested. Creepy Arnold bails her out and on the way to a meeting he confides that he hated his uncle (along with everyone else). She gets away and thinks she has found a safe haven but ......This is a great mystery with screwball elements. Durbin does an excellent job and it is a real pity that she didn't have a longer career. Dan Duryea continued forging his career as a character actor of quirky roles.Highly Recommended.

theowinthrop Deanna Durbin had one of the best singing voices in movies in the 1940s, and a pleasing personality. She did make some good films like "It Started With Eve" and "Can't Help Singing", but most of her films have gone into a kind of eclipse which is hard to understand. Her one time film partner Judy Garland (in the short "Every Sunday") is recalled by her myriads of fans to this day for her records, her concerts, and her films. So is Mario Lanza, and he made far less movies than Durbin. But she got married, retired from movies as a regular profession (occasionally doing a voice over or a song), and became very contented. A far better fate, perhaps, than Garland's or Lanza's. The problem was the choice of vehicles for her. She did luck out on a few films, but most did not have the care that Garland's best work at MGM had.This 1945 film was really unique, as it was a murder mystery that tried to keep you guessing until the end who was the murderer. Dearbin is returning by train to Grand Central Station, and while passing through the lofts of the upper East West Side of the Manhattan of the middle 1940s she sees the apparent murder of an elderly gentleman by a person whose back is towards her. She tries to get the train to stop so others can see what she saw, but the people who come in don't see a life and death struggle going on.Yet two days later Durbin is reading the newspaper and sees an item about the death of a major businessman (Thurston Hall). She starts investigating this death, and finds that his two nephews are his heirs. The nephews (Dan Duryea and Ralph Bellamy) start being questioned by Durbin, but she is not sure which of them (if either) is the guilty party. Duryea acts like his typical untrustworthy hedonist, and Bellamy acts like someone who would just like to be of assistance.There are some moments for singing, of course. One funny one is when Durbin is alone in her apartment except for Allan Jenkins, one of the villain's henchmen. Jenkins just has to pick up some piece of evidence in Durbin's bedroom, to get rid of it. He has managed to get inside, but she is on the telephone. He starts thinking seriously of killing her, but hears her singing a very sentimental ballad over the telephone. From time to time we see it does affect him as he listens carefully. Finally Durbin hangs up, and leaves the room (so that Jenkins can leave the house unobserved). He does, but not before blowing nose quite hard. It's rare to see Jenkins so moved.It is a cute little thriller - comedy. Nothing spectacular, but it was a change of pace for Durbin, trying to be Nora Charles.