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"Broadway Limited" earns a good rating (7 of 10) mostly for its screwball plot. The last two-thirds of the film are cleverly funny as the cast play 'pass the baby.' I don't think this could have been staged any other way than on a train. So, the railroad setting adds some to the fun. I imagine younger people watching today in most of the U.S. would find scenes of rail travel quite foreign. I remember it well.

The cast of supporting comics is quite good, but Dennis O'Keefe was just fair and Marjorie Woodworth was flat and far too serious. Had the romantic leads been able to get into the comedy, the film would have rated and fared much better.

This was Woodworth's first lead role since Hal Roach discovered her three years earlier. He had been building her up with publicity to become the next Jean Harlow. But, as some news accounts of the time, and later articles noted, Roach pushed her too soon. Unfortunately, she wasn't ready to debut with a talented cast of accomplished comedians and comediennes. With this and a few more co-starring roles that didn't fare well, Woodworth's promising young career soon faded from view.

Woodworth's story is interesting. She did have talent and the usual attributes that went with early Hollywood stars. And, she got a chance to make it big. But, as with many another would-be star, Woodworth's career in films soon died. To show how abruptly and completely she fell from the scene, the DVD issued today of "Broadway Limited" doesn't include her name on the front cover. She's in the cover photo, but the names across the top billboard are O'Keefe, Pitts, McLaglen, Kinskey and Kelly. Even IMDb didn't have a bio or trivia section on Woodworth as of the time of this review. But, I was curious and found an interesting article about Woodworth's Hollywood "career" and later life online at obscureactresses.wordpress.com.

Broadway Limited is a madcap, low-budget comedy from 1941. It stars Marjorie Woodworth, Dennis O'Keefe, Leonid Kinskey, Victor McLaglen, Patsy Kelly, and Zazu Pitts.

Wanting publicity for his star, April (Woodworth), a director, Ivan (Kinskey) wants her to take a baby with her on a train going from Chicago to New York.

The director's secretary (Kelly) asks her old beau, who is the train's engineer, for help. He hears from a stranger that he has just such a baby. Once on the train, April runs into an old love, Harvey (O'Keefe), who knew her at school.

Meanwhile the search is on for a kidnapped baby, and the engineer wonders if the baby on the train is that child.

The best scenes in the film are those showing the Pennsylvania Railroad trains, equipment, and the pacing shots. Excellent.

Kinskey, Pitts, and McLaglen are just great, very funny. I admit that I've never cared for Patsy Kelly. She had a loud voice and a flat delivery (to me) and that's about it. O'Keefe and Woodworth were okay - with a touch better casting, this comedy might have gone up a few notches. Woodworth was apparently pushed into stardom before she was ready, and O'Keefe, always solid and likable, doesn't have a flair for comedy.

Fun and enjoyable. The baby is cute, too.

This movie turned up in one of those cheap 50 movie comedy DVD packs recently and I was surprised to see a number of great character actors of the 40s playing lead parts.

The story itself is pretty simplistic and has been covered by other reviewers. Having typed that, I should add that the script is tight, the performances fine and the direction good. So what you have is a typical 40s screwball comedy which will provide an enjoyable diversion for all age groups.

Finally but most interesting of all are the outstanding Pennsy railroad scenes, especially the pacing shots. Unusually, railroad fans are treated to a number of long shots and station scenes.

All in all, good fun for railroad and comedy fans alike.

Plot Summary:

A Hollywood publicity stunt staged upon the Pennsylvania Railroads' once infamous Broadway Limited, from Chicago to Manhattan, goes awry when it is discovered that a baby involved is kidnapped. Much scurrying about and plenty of off the wall shenanigans ensue in this light-hearted Hollywood romp.

What I thought of it:

A typical period piece, that is both surprisingly enjoyable as well as accurate in it's portrayal of Pennsylvania Railroad locomotives and equipment and the track-side shots of the train taking nearly the same Route that Amtrak's Broadway limited still takes to this day.

If you are a rail-fan, you're bound to enjoy it. Otherwise it's enjoyable, just pretty bland by todays standards. I loved this movie, unfortunately it is extremely difficult to find. It can be purchased however through the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania's gift shop, and several smaller online railroad merchandise retailers, you just have to have the patience to look around.

One more little side note: One of the Pennsylvania Railroad Locomotives #1223, a small 4-4-0 steam engine featured in "Broadway Limited", was re-dressed as a NYC locomotive and featured in the Beginning of Hello Dolly in 1969. That same locomotive was featured in a number of other TV shows and movies, and operated on the Pennsylvania Railroad until 1950. She then went on to operate on the Strasburg Railroad from the mid 60's until 1990 when she was retired and put on display at the Railroad museum of Pennsylvania where she still stands to this day.

This comedy is only fair overall, with some enjoyable moments but other material that doesn't really work. That's hardly the fault of the cast, which contains several talented performers who do their best with what they have to work with. The story idea is rather silly, but in itself that's not necessarily a problem, since some very entertaining movies have been made with similar setups. But the script and the direction don't always hold up their end well enough.

The story involves a star actress being accompanied by a baby on a train trip, as a publicity ploy by her director, with the baby's unknown origins and identity causing various misunderstandings, suspicions, and anxieties. The idea has possibilities, but a story like that needs a lot of snappy writing and brisk direction to make it work. Here, there are some pretty good scenes, but there are too many occasions when things move more slowly, or when the more implausible aspects of the story become too obvious to overlook.

The cast, though, is good. Victor McLaglen, as the train's engineer, works in the role of a lovable lug. Leonid Kinskey has some very funny moments as the eccentric director, and Patsy Kelly makes good use of her role as his spunky secretary. Marjorie Woodworth and Dennis O'Keefe are quite likable, if occasionally a little lackluster. They are backed up very capably by Zasu Pitts and George E. Stone.

It's a mildly funny movie, mostly pleasant, if hardly anything special. It's not really worth going out of your way to see it, but it's not bad as light entertainment.