Lady on a Train

Here's another old movie that takes place during the Christmas holidays.  It is based on a novel by Leslie Charteris, noted for being the author of the Simon Templar aka The Saint stories.  Lady on a Train stars actress/snger Deanna Durbin in one of her adult roles.  During Christmastime, Durbin is a train passenger Nikki, and while her train is stopped, she looks inside a building and sees a murder. She tries to convince the police what she saw was real, but they don't because she reads a lot of crime novels and they think she's making it up. It is a typical amateur detective movie.  She decides to investigate on her own, finds out who the dead man is, sneaks into his house, and--being mistaken for his mistress, a nightclub singer--is told she inherits his estate.

Nikki tries to get a mystery writer (David Bruce) to help her. Ralph Bellamy plays the nice nephew of the dead man who could care less about the money. There's also another ne'er do well nephew and a disapproving aunt. At the same time Nikki's trying to evade another member of the family who is after some evidence.

Every now and again she breaks into song (Night and Day by Cole Porter is the one I remember from watching this on TV years ago), even taking time for a costume change and new hairstyle even though the bad guys are still after her.

The film is more screwball comedy than murder mystery. It even has Edward Everett Horton, who played Fred Astaire's comical second fiddle in a lot of the early Astaire & Rogers films. William Frawley has a small part as a desk sergeant at the police station.

It manages to keep you guessing who the murder is and the contrivances are not too major--modern romantic comedies are just as fluffy. This is a light comedy with some good singing by Durbin.