Deanna Durbin: Lady on a Train [DVD]

Nikki Collins (Deanna) is on a train bound for New York for the Christmas holiday, reading a mystery by her favorite author, Wayne Morgan (David Bruce), when out the train window she witnesses the murder of Josiah Warring. Since no one will believe her, she hunts down mystery writer Morgan and slowly drags him into her enthusiastic search for the killer. He is engaged to a rather stuffy society babe, and we know right away that he and Durbin will end up together before the final curtain.

The murdered man was a rich shipping magnate and when Durbin attempts to snoop around the tycoon's mansion she is mistaken by nephew Arnold (Dan Duryea) for Margo Martin, the nightclub singer to whom Josiah has left everything, much to the chagrin of everyone. This gives Durbin an opportunity to go to the nightclub and do some amateur detective work, as well as do a sexy rendition of "Give Me a Little Kiss, Will Ya?" and the lovely "Night and Day," the latter in an alluring black dress you'll definitely remember.

The real Margo gets murdered of course, as does the owner of the swanky nightclub "The Circus," and everyone seems to be after the blood stained slippers Nikki has found that prove the tycoon was really murdered! David Bruce does a nice job as the mystery writer Morgan as does Duryea as the black sheep of the family, Ralph Bellamy being the good nephew. Edward Everett Horten gives a very funny performance as Mr. Haskell (of the New York office!) who has been instructed to keep an eye on Durbin by her father, a nearly impossible task!

This is an entertaining muder mystery that is a lot of fun to watch. Deanna Durbin and the great cast make this film light and airy. She married director Charles David II later on and maybe that's part of the happiness you feel from the screen. We get to watch a glowing Durbin solve a murder, fall in love and sing some nice songs, all during a snowy Christmas weekend. What could be wrong with that?