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Universal Pictures

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Lady on a Train

Name: Lady on a Train
Released: 1945-08-03T00:00:00.000000Z
Rating: 6.7

Deanna... on a Man (Oh! Man) Hunt!

1945 • 94 min • ★ 6.7 (53) • Released

Comedy Crime Mystery Romance Thriller

While watching from her train window, Nikki Collins witnesses a murder in a nearby building. When she alerts the police, they think she has read one too many mystery novels. She then enlists a popular mystery writer to help her solve the crime on her own, but her sleuthing attracts the attentions of suitors and killers.

IMDb ↗

Original title: Lady on a Train
Language: EN
Country: US
Budget: —
Revenue: —

Reviews & Ratings 1

John Chard

Dec 29, 2013 · via TMDB

★ 7.5

Genre blender of considerable worth. 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

User reviews courtesy of TMDB.

Keywords 9

crime fiction writer film noir heiress inheritance madcap comedy murder mystery train witness to murder

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Cast 61

Deanna Durbin

Nikki Collins / Margo Martin

Ralph Bellamy

Jonathan Waring

David Bruce

Wayne Morgan

George Coulouris

Mr. Saunders, Circus Club Manager

Allen Jenkins

Danny (Waring chauffeur)

Dan Duryea

Arnold Waring

Edward Everett Horton

Mr. Haskell

Patricia Morison

Joyce Willams, Morgan's Girl

Maria Palmer

Margo Martin, Circus Club Singer

Elizabeth Patterson

Aunt Charlotte Waring

Samuel S. Hinds

Mr. Wiggam, Waring Lawyer

William Frawley

Desk Sgt. Brennan

Jacqueline deWit

Miss Fletcher, Morgan's Secretary

Lash LaRue

Circus Club Waiter / Henchman

Jane Adams

Circus Club Photographer

Thurston Hall

Josiah Waring

Ben Carter

Maxwell

Mabel Forrest

Wife

Barbara Bates

Hat Check Girl

Chester Clute

Train Conductor (uncredited)

Joseph Crehan

Train passenger (uncredited)

Fred Aldrich

—

Ernest Anderson

—

Bobby Barber

—

Eddie Bruce

—

Charles Cane

—

Nora Cecil

—

George Chandler

—

André Charlot

—

Martin Cichy

—

Charles Dechamps

—

Robert Dudley

—

Tom Dugan

—

Eddie Dunn

—

Jay Eaton

—

Sarah Edwards

—

Franklyn Farnum

—

Al Ferguson

—

Clyde Fillmore

—

Mary Forbes

—

Stuart Holmes

—

Jack W. Johnston

—

Mike Lally

—

Ethelreda Leopold

—

George J. Lewis

—

George Lloyd

—

Lock Martin

—

Sam McDaniel

—

Matt McHugh

—

William H. O'Brien

—

Frank O'Connor

—

Ralph Peters

—

Karen Randle

—

Bob Reeves

—

Addison Richards

—

Cyril Ring

—

Bert Roach

—

Jeffrey Sayre

—

Charles Sherlock

—

Leo White

—

Florence Wix

—

Crew 1

Miklós Rózsa

Original Music Composer

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US Release Dates 4

Aug 3, 1945

Los Angeles, California

Theatrical (Limited)

Aug 17, 1945

NR Theatrical

Aug 3, 2004

DVD

NR Physical

Oct 11, 2022

Blu-ray

NR Physical