Trem de Luxo

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.

"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.

The only really surprising thing about this pleasant little caper is that LEONID KINSKEY (a very funny character actor) has a major part and runs off with most of his scenes. Even when actors like VICTOR McLAGLEN and DENNIS O'KEEFE are around. Pretty MARJORIE WOODWORTH is the bland romantic lead as O'Keefe's love interest, a movie star on a publicity stunt involving a baby that turns out to be the subject of a kidnapping investigation.

The misunderstandings pile up as everyone takes a turn at shielding the baby from the police. PATSY KELLY and ZASU PITTS supply some comedy relief and do well enough to provide a few chuckles.

Gordon Douglas directs, keeping the farce moving along at a rapid enough pace except for a few lulls where things get a little dull due to script problems.

Summing up: Nothing special about this harmless enough B-film that manages to be cheerful enough but entirely forgettable. Railroad fans get to see the Broadway Limited in action with plenty of shots of trains and tracks for good measure.

Big shot movie director Ivan Ivanski (Leonid Kinsky) insists, in his best Russian accent, that his hot starlet (Marjorie Woodworth) must have a baby—for publicity reasons. Assistant Patsy Kelly, train driver Victor McLaglen, young doctor Dennis O'Keefe and movie fan Zasu Pitts are along for the ride—a train ride to New York, actually, along with a "borrowed" baby who is passed back and forth among these reluctant guardians for the duration of the trip.

The plot isn't much, but some entertaining moments and enthusiastic performances add up to a pleasant 75 minutes. O'Keefe and Woodworth are the cute young stars, and they have a silly off-again, on-again romance that is not particularly exciting but inoffensive enough. McLaglen has a charming, hilarious scene telling the story of the three bears to the (mostly indifferent) baby. Kinsky is great fun as the temperamental movie man who will do anything to make his next picture.

Kelly and Pitts stand out in their roles—Patsy is the practical-minded, quick-moving secretary who manages Ivanski's erratic moods handily and is hoping to catch a few moments on the trip with McLaglen, her boyfriend; Zasu is the slightly loony fan who is slightly obsessed with Renfrew, her radio hero (apparently a mounted policeman who may or may not kiss Melinda on tomorrow night's episode).

Zasu: "Must you go, Renfrew?" Patsy: "Yes, he must!" –It doesn't exactly look like great dialog, but delivered by these two pros that simple exchange is hilarious.

It's all good-natured silliness. Lots of neat footage of trains, too!

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.