To me, this movie is perfection.

Just perfect...

A Masterpiece!

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

. . . with THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN (the 2016 Emily Blunt flick based upon Paula Hawkins' 2015 novel), since I'm the only person that they know who has seen both movies. Most of my circle assumes that the show that they've actually watched--GIRL--is far more violent than LADY ON A TRAIN, since GIRL is more recent and people are getting offed with rocks and corkscrews during its story. However, LADY does not restrict itself to just polite Edwardian stranglings and Rat-a-Tat-Tat firearm slayings. During LADY a crowbar also gets a homicidal star turn. And while GIRL has two or three "red herring" candidates for the so-called "Real Killer" witnessed by a female train passenger (Blunt's Rachel), LADY's "Nikki" (Deanna Durbin) has at least FOUR bogus murder suspects to muddle her ability to finger the killer she window-peeped from HER Choo-Choo. LADY's perky heiress Nikki certainly seems to have a leg up on the depressed divorcee "Rachel" of GIRL (especially when it comes to singing talent). Though some may wince at GIRL's title, and find it demeaning if not misogynistic, LADY includes a racist reference to a person of Japanese Origin just 10 minutes or so into its convoluted tale. This, however, should be blamed upon what was then known as the U.S. Department of War, which legally forced ALL American movie studios to include such "morale-boosting" language in each and every American flick of the World War Two Era.

LADY ON A TRAIN (Universal, 1945), directed by Charles David, stars Deanna Durbin in another change of pace from her usual "sweetheart" image of musical films, this time a fine mix of murder mystery and comedy. Having already given an emotional dramatic performance in Christmas HOLIDAY (1944), playing a troubled girl with a dark past, this time the dark-haired girl becomes a blonde who spends her Christmas holiday stirring up trouble trying to solve a murder she had witnessed.Coming from Chicago by train to spend Christmas in New York with her Aunt Martha, Nikki Collins (Deanna Durbin) a San Francisco débutante and avid reader of murder mysteries, sits in her compartment very much obsessed with her latest book, "The Case of the Headless Bride" by Wayne Morgan. As the train makes a stop, Nikki looks out her window onto an apartment building where she witnesses a middle-aged man (Thurston Hall) being murdered with a crowbar in an apartment building by the back of a mysterious man seen through the shadows after pulling down the shades. Shocked from what she's witnessed, Nikki, after arriving at Grand Central Station, bypasses her father's awaiting attorney, Mr. Haskell (Edward Everett Horton), "of the New York office," to enter a taxi bound for the nearest police station. Her report to desk sergeant Brennan (William Frawley) is not taken seriously, especially after noticing the mystery novel in her hand. After setting up residence at the Park Towers Hotel, Nikki pays a visit to mystery novelist, Wayne Morgan (David Bruce) for advice. Taking his suggestion by returning to the scene of the crime, Nikki spends the entire day doing so. Following Morgan escorting his fiancée, Joyce Williams (Patricia Morison) to the newsreel theater, Nikki notices the murder victim being presented on the theater screen as ship magnate Josiah Waring, who had fallen to his death from a step ladder at his residence. Tracing his estate to Long Island, Nikki trespasses and finds herself mistaken for Waring's young fiancée, Margo Martin (Maria Palmer), a night club singer. Going on with her masquerade, she soon encounters Waring's nephews, Jonathan (Ralph Bellamy) and Arnold (Dan Duryea); their outspoken Aunt Charlotte (Elizabeth Patterson); Mr. Saunders (George Coulouris) a mysterious night club owner with his white cat companion; Danny (Allen Jenkins), Saunders' chauffeur; and Mr. Wiggam (Samuel S. Hinds), the family attorney at the estate reading Waring's will. After further involving poor Morgan into the case, further complications, additional murders and evidence ensue leading to the case of the missing bedroom slippers. And this is how Nikki spent her Christmas holiday.Not breaking away from the traditional Durbin formula, three pleasant song interludes are presented. First comes the traditional Christmas song, "Silent Night." Durbin sings it while on the phone with her father (H.H.) from California. Rather than having the camera set still on through the two verses, it captures her moments through various angles. Next comes "Give Me a Little Kiss," performed at the Circus Club where Nikki (Durbin), masquerading the songstress, sings it in a sultry, sexy manner as she crouches around one of its patrons, Wayne Morgan, thus stirring up more trouble between him and his jealous fiancée (Morison). The third, Cole Porter's immortal, "Night and Day" sung to a dark and moody atmosphere at that same nightclub, with touches of suspense and "film noir" fashion during her performance while knowingly being in constant danger surrounded by any one watching to possibly be the real killer.An impressive supporting cast of Jacqueline De Wit (as Morgan's secretary); Horton, Jenkins, Coulouris, and Patterson, all give capable performances. Only David Bruce, making his third and final appearance opposite Durbin, is unfamiliar by both name and face. He does, however, prove satisfactory playing the harassed author constantly annoyed by Nikki while struggling for a creative story on his next mystery, unaware that he's actually living the character and situations for his book. Morison, a fine actress in her own right, is wasted in her limited role, while Horton, the man hired to watch over his client's daughter, retains his familiar befuddled personality during all this confusion.Regardless of its title, there's not much train but plenty of lady to go around. It's understandable for anyone to confuse LADY ON A TRAIN for an Agatha Christie novel or the works of director Alfred Hitchcock (whose best train suspense thrillers being of THE LADY VANISHES (1938) and STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951)), yet, the film itself, adapted by Leslie Charteris, author and creator of the character, Simon Templar in "The Saint" novels, is a class by itself. Being one of many Hitchcock or Christie imitators, LADY ON A TRAIN offers a great opening and conclusion, with doses of humor in between that keeps the pace moving for 94 minutes. As much as the Durbin name and her movies have faded from memory throughout the years, due to lack of television revivals, LADY ON A TRAIN has made it on home video in the 1990s and later displayed onto DVD to assure availability for future generations to endure, especially mystery lovers like the Nikki Collins character. LADY ON A TRAIN did have its rare cable television presentation, on Turner Classic Movies, where it had its premiere March 6, 2003, and few re-broadcasts after-wards. As good highly entertaining as LADY ON A TRAIN is, it deserves to be more recognized. (*** guesses)

A woman witnesses a murder through the window of her train and enlists a hacky mystery novelist to help her solve the case. Comic noir is usually not my bag, but I found this one a lot of fun. I liked Durbin much better here than in Christmas HOLIDAY... her singing voice isn't that great (and her rendition of "Silent Night" is shoehorned into the story in the most awkward way) but she has some pretty good comedy chops. The enjoyable supporting cast includes David Bruce, Ralph Bellamy, Dan Duryea and the always delightful Edward Everett Horton. Duryea is an actor who took me a long time to warm up to, but he works really well in this setting. I'd like to see him in more comedies. The movie isn't incredibly funny, but it is amusing and moreover, the script does a good job of blending the humorous and the crime thriller. One crummy rear projection shot notwithstanding, it's surprisingly well photographed, with some terrific images and fine use of lighting. Does it explore the darkest depths of humanity or knock you over with hard-boiled realism? No, in fact a lot of it is really implausible. But as light entertainment, it hits the spot nicely and sports some clever construction.

Deanna Durbin is a "Lady on a Train" in this 1945 mystery/comedy also starring David Bruce, Dan Duryea Edward Everett Horton, Ralph Bellamy, Patricia Morison, and George Coulouris. The film is directed by Durbin's future husband, Charles David.Photographed and wardrobed like the great star she was, Durbin plays Nikki Collins, a débutante who comes to New York to spend the Christmas holidays with her aunt. On the train en route to Grand Central, she looks out the window and sees the murder of an old man. Determined to investigate, she appeals to the mystery writer whose novel she was reading (Bruce). She nearly wrecks his life. His fiancée (Patricia Morison) is suspicious of Nikki, and thanks to Nikki, he gets beat up a lot. Meanwhile, her father's assistant (Horton) can never find her. Nikki finds herself involved with the victim's money-grubbing family and puts herself in danger.A screwball comedy with the delightful Durbin doing a great job, singing like a dream, and looking fabulous. It's very slight but fun and directed by David with a good pace. The child Durbin was a little manic for me, but I love her adult work. Plus, she had possibly the best voice and best trained voice in films. The rest of the cast is wonderful, particularly David Bruce as the hapless author.It's a shame that Universal, with such a valuable commodity, didn't buy and/or develop better properties for her. Durbin is often compared with Judy Garland, who definitely got better treatment at MGM.Durbin was smart to retire while at the top, though with the coming musicals of the '50s, I'm sure her star would have risen even higher. In many hearts, 60 years later, she's still a star.