La dama del tren

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!

...that turns briefly into a noir thriller near the end, and takes place almost entirely on Christmas Eve. Of course the plot is manipulated to make time for a couple of songs, including Cole Porter's "Night and Day," when she has to pretend she's a night club singer during her investigation.

The film begins while her train is pulling into New York, and during a brief pause before continuing to Grand Central Station it pauses long enough for her to see a murder being committed in a warehouse window across the tracks. Naturally since she's been reading a murder mystery, so nobody believes she saw a real murder, so she tries to enlist the author of her book to help her solve the crime. Somehow she stumbles into the reading of the will for the dead man and is mistaken for his nightclub mistress, who is the sole heir. It's too bad Durbin did not continue her career, as she does a great job playing an adult role with a winning blend of comedy, drama, romance and still a bit of music.

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.

Deanna Durbin made many movies, mostly bad. But the ones that are good make all the others palatable, including "Lady on a train". She was a unique personality. Almost impossible not to like. For example, It's like watching John Wayne walk through one boring, formulaic plot after another and not minding because you just like John Wayne. So to be thoroughly charmed by Deanna Durbin, you have to inoculate yourself against the dumb plots she was given later in her career. First dose should be with one of the best stories. "It started with eve" That should win you over for anything to come later. Then it's good to go to the beginning, her first picture, "Three Smart Girls" when she was a little girl and won everyone's hearts ( but be warned the story and direction are bit creaky). Your third dose should be "Three smart girls grow up" by this time your ready to take on and enjoy any of her movies regardless of plot. I do admit to fast-forwarding past some of her singing in her later movies, but that's because they're badly placed in the story and tend to slow things down to a crawl. Bottom line, she's something special and not to be missed.

Lady on a Train is directed by Charles David and adapted to screenplay by Edmund Beloin and Robert O'Brien from a Leslie Charteris story. It stars Deanna Durbin, Ralph Bellamy, David Bruce, George Coulouris, Allen Jenkins, Dan Duryea and Edward Everett Horton. Music is by Miklos Rozsa and cinematography by Woody Bredell.

Part murder mystery, part film noir, part comedy and part musical! And it's a Christmas movie as well! Lady on a Train has a lot going on for sure. It's a fun packed little movie that gives Durbin full licence to show her various talents before she retired out of the limelight three years later. In main essence it's the murder mystery aspect that drives the picture forward. Durbin plays Nikki Collins, a spunky young woman who loves reading detective mysteries, so when she witnesses a murder being committed from her train window seat, she's obviously all of a tingle. However, convincing the authorities of what she saw proves to be difficult and she decides to take up the case herself. Pretty soon she is up to her neck in intrigue and life threatening peril.

Things start getting twisty once Durbin meets the victim's bizarre family, a veritable roll call of miserablists and shifty shysters. Aided by mystery writer Wayne Morgan (Bruce), Nikki has to run the gamut of bluffing and boldness to stay one step ahead of the game, including imitating a chanteuse singer. This allows Durbin to the chance to warble three songs, with a version of "Silent Night" beautifully tender and a sensuous and sultry rendition of "Gimme a Little Kiss, Will Yah, Huh?" Having us in the palm of her hand. It builds nicely to a darkly tinged last third, where Bredell's noirish photography comes into its own and the resolution of the tale is most satisfactory. Good laughs, good suspense and good songs, well worth a viewing. Story was filmed as a straight British thriller in 1940 titled A Window in London, with Michael Redgrave starring. 7/10