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.

***SPOILERS*** It's when San Francisco débutante Nicki Collins, Deanna Durbin, saw a murder being committed while in transit to the Big Apple or NYC she tried her best to get the NYPD who,in it being the Christmas holidays, had much better things on their mind to sliver it. While trying to get famed mystery writer Wayne Morgan, David Bruce, to find the killer in a local movie-house where his fiancée Joyce Williams, Patricia Morison, was on the screen Nicki to her both shock & surprise saw a newsreel about the tragic death, he fell from a step ladder, of shipping magnet Joseah Waring! That was the man she saw murdered at the train stop by an shadowy figure!It's when Nicki went to the Waring Estate in Long Island to check things out about the old man's demise she's mistaken for the old guys new flame night cub singer Margo Martin whom he left his entire fortune to. With old man Joseah Warings' relatives being left out of his will things start to heat up with all of them trying in one way or another to get Margo, or better yet Nicki, to give up her claim to her dead lover's money & personal property. As for Margo, the real one, herself she's later murdered at the night club that she works at by one of Waring outraged, in being left out of his will, relatives.***SPOILERS*** The pretty Canadian Nightingale Deanna Durbin was at her best as she belted out songs like "Silent Night" & "Night & Day" as well as being the damsel in distress but it was the final few minutes of the movie that really made things matter in the reason for old man Waring's brutal murder. Not only was he knocked off but everyone who suspected he was in fact murdered, not that he died in an accident, was to be knocked off as well by his killer. It was Nicki who in finding out who the killer was that put her life in mortal danger. Not just by the killer but the Keystone Kops and her boyfriend mystery writer Wayne Morgan who kept screwing things up and almost made it possible for the killer to not only get away with his crimes but add Niki, as his latest victim, to them.

A film noir starring Deanna Durbin may seem as natural as eating an oyster with a splash of chocolate syrup, but if you're adventurous, well, somebody has to be the first to try it. Actually, the movie's a pleasant romp. Lady on a Train is a comedy mystery with some nice noir characteristics...shadows, trains, bodies and a climax in a darkened office building that would make Dick Powell feel right at home. Nikki Collins (Durbin) is a society deb from San Francisco coming in on the train for a visit to New York. As the train pulls into Grand Central, she casually looks out the window of her compartment and sees an elderly gentleman in an office across the way having his head bashed in by a crowbar-wielding murderer. She can see the victim's face, but not the assailant's. There are two things we need to know about Nikki. First, she's an energetic, confident young woman who is as determined as they come. Second, she loves mysteries. In fact, she was reading Wayne Morgan's "The Case of the Headless Bride" when she looked out the window. She goes to the police but they don't take her seriously. Plus, it's a few days before Christmas and no one is looking for more work than they already have. What's an heiress to do? Nikki looks up Morgan's address and pesters and prods him into using his skills as a detective to help find the killer. Nikki isn't fazed when Morgan (David Bruce) tries to tell her he's an author, he's shy, he's faint-hearted and he's no detective. She's determined to enlist his help, but in the meantime she's learned who the victim is, a very rich man. And she learns not only where he lived, but that his family is saying the man died accidentally in a fall. So off she goes to the family mansion in the dead of night with snow starting to sift down...and just happens to be mistaken for Margo Martin, a singer at The Circus nightclub who was the "fiance" of the dead man. Wouldn't you know it, the old man's will leaves nothing to his two nephews, the eccentric and courtly Jonathan Waring (Ralph Bellamy) and the charming and untrustworthy Arnold Waring (Dan Duryea), but everything to Margo. Nikki has to deal with Danny, the Waring's thug of a chauffeur, and Mr. Saunders, the cold- eyed proprietor of The Circus who always carries a large white cat cradled in one arm. She finds she has to keep impersonating Margo, even if it means she has to sing "Night and Day" and "Give Me a Little Kiss, Will You, Huh?" as part of Margo's act. Tailing after her, like a small tug in the wake of a cruiser, is Morgan. I think they're starting to be attracted to each other. Up to now the movie has been amusing, light-weight and very much a vehicle for Deanna Durbin. She's no longer the little girl with a wonderful voice, as she was in the Thirties and Early Forties. She's a grown-up, and the studio is showing her off as a romantic lead who has a sense of humor. She's impeccably photographed, stylishly dressed and confident as all get out. It all pays off in the last 15 minutes when Nikki finds herself in the same office building where the killing took place. She's got both nephews looking for her, and one of them knows where the crowbar is hidden and intends to use it. There's the garage with the creaking car lift, the great storage floor where mounds of grain are piled, there are all the empty offices and hallways...and everything is dark and shadowed. Nikki keeps her cool, although she's quite happy when Morgan finally shows up to help save her. "Oh, darling," she tells him afterwards, as he faints, "you were wonderful." Could the movie end without a marriage? And we know Deanna Durbin has grown up when, just before we see "The End," there's a charming moment of sexual innuendo on the train taking Nikki and Morgan, newly married, to San Francisco. Deanna Durbin never seemed to take herself too seriously; she was always ready for a pratfall in the mud or a joke at her expense. She may not have had Judy Garland's overwhelming charisma, but she came close for a lot of people. More importantly, she didn't have Garland's edgy sense of an impending neurotic breakdown. Durbin was the girl next door with a sunny disposition, a great sense of humor and with a bit of the tomboy about her. In 1948, when she was 27, she announced her retirement. She and her husband, who directed this film, moved to France, where she still lives. She has never shown any interest in her movie-making past. She has never made another movie, has refused all requests for interviews and photographs, and has devoted herself to living a sane life. Good for her. The studio surrounded her in this film with some excellent character actors. In addition to Duryea and Bellamy, there's George Coulouris, Allen Jenkins, Edward Everett Horton, Samuel S. Hinds and William Frawley. And in a small role is Patricia Morrison, who three years later would be wowing the crowds singing "I Hate Men!" in Kiss Me Kate.

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.