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I love this movie so much

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

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.

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 made many movies, mostly bad. But the ones that are good make all the others palatable, including "Lady on a train". She was a unique personality. Almost impossible not to like. For example, It's like watching John Wayne walk through one boring, formulaic plot after another and not minding because you just like John Wayne. So to be thoroughly charmed by Deanna Durbin, you have to inoculate yourself against the dumb plots she was given later in her career. First dose should be with one of the best stories. "It started with eve" That should win you over for anything to come later. Then it's good to go to the beginning, her first picture, "Three Smart Girls" when she was a little girl and won everyone's hearts ( but be warned the story and direction are bit creaky). Your third dose should be "Three smart girls grow up" by this time your ready to take on and enjoy any of her movies regardless of plot. I do admit to fast-forwarding past some of her singing in her later movies, but that's because they're badly placed in the story and tend to slow things down to a crawl. Bottom line, she's something special and not to be missed.