This blog was begun on Christmas Night, 2021 :
Last night I found the perfect movie for this Christmas Eve. Normally I get in the spirit and watch a dozen holiday classics and throw in a Dickens miniseries for good measure, but because of recent circumstances, I didn't think I could handle the sentiment. Then I got a recommendation for "Lady on a Train"(1945) starring Deanna Durbin, one of our very favorite stars. Described as a screwball noir, it takes place at Christmastime, making it the perfect remedy for my Yuletide Blues while also fitting into the season.
Deanna plays "Nikki Collins", a San Francisco ingenue, traveling by train to New York. As the movie opens, she's reading a murder mystery in her compartment : "The Case of the Headless Bride". She's engrossed in the book, and is startled when the train stops unexpectedly. Then, without warning, she witnesses a real-life murder through the window of a nearby building. Arriving at the depot, she ditches her father's butler (who's supposed to chaperone her) and hurries to the nearest police station to report what she has seen. Fred Mertz is the sergeant on duty. After listening to her story, he notices the book in her hand, with it's shocking title. Now he thinks she's making the whole thing up. "Listen lady, it's Christmas Eve. Unofficially, I've got the night off. Why don't you take your wild imagination elsewhere"? Now, as a mystery aficionado, she has something of the natural born detective in her, so she looks up the book's author "Wayne Morgan" (David Bruce) in the telephone directory. He's listed, along with his address. Instead of calling him, she goes straight to his house. "Mr. Morgan! I need your help! I've just witnessed a murder. The police don't believe me. Please, you're the only one I can turn to". "But how can I be of help"?, he asks her. "You write mysteries, you know all about murder!", she tells him, as if the answer should be obvious. Unfortunately, Morgan can't be bothered. His girlfriend (Patricia Morison) is suspicious. "Who was that woman?", but as Deanna is leaving, he does give her one good piece of advice : "Why don't you do what the murderer would do? Return to the scene of the crime!"
She then walks along the train tracks, trying to locate the building where the terrible deed took place. When she can't find it, she goes back in search of Morgan, who's now at a movie with his girlfriend. This sets off a disruption in the theater, displaying the kind of hijinx you're in store for throughout the picture. When Deanna's about to leave in frustration, a newsreel plays the story of the death of a shipping tycoon. She turns back to look and sees it's the same man she saw from the train. The newsreel shows his mansion. You can guess where she turns up next. At the mansion, she's accosted by the servant, then the tycoon's son (Dan Duryea, yay!) who mistakes her fora nightclub singer named "Margo Martin", his dead father's fiancee. This allows Deanna to play along with his misconception. She enters a conference room with Duryea where the old man's will is being read. Everything he had, including stocks bonds and real estate, goes to Margo, meaning Deanna in this case. She witnessed his murder on a train, now suddenly a day later she's mistaken for his fiancee and has inherited his estate.
That's how you do creative screwball screenwriting, but you've gotta make the changes seamless.
Continuing to indulge her Nancy Drew complex, Deanna - as Margo - gets in good with the family. You'd think they'd know she isn't the real Margo Martin, but I guess the father never introduced her and it's never made clear. At any rate, Dan Duryea tells her he'd love to come and hear her sing. Of course, because it's Deanna Durbin, this isn't going to be a problem and of course it's written into her contract. Pretending to be Margo, she goes to the club and saunters on stage, after locking the real Margo in a closet in her dressing room. She's going to such lengths because she's committed to justice. It's extremely important to her to find the murderer, who she's now certain is a member of the family. And while she's singing (as Margo Martin), who should show up at the nightclub but Wayne Morgan, the mystery author. He's again with his girlfriend, who's now really teed off. "It's that same woman who was at the house! You came here to see her on purpose"! The girlfriend storms off, and Morgan is very confused. As played by David Bruce, he has the look and timing of Johnny Depp in his light comic roles. Now that Morgan's girlfriend has left him, he and Deanna are headed for a screwball romance, but first they've got to solve the murder.
Back at the mansion, Deanna finds a pair of bloody slippers, belonging to the dead tycoon. This causes the nightclub manager to send out a thug to try to kill her. He ends up killing the real Margo Martin instead. Finally, she and Wayne Morgan get framed for Margo's murder and that of the old man. They end up in jail, and it's looking like curtains for the two of them, but then Ralph Bellamy bails Deanna out. He's another of the tycoon's sons, and tells Deanna, "It's wrong that they're trying to pin this on you". That's all I'm going to reveal about the plot, which you'll need a strong cup of coffee to keep up with.
I learned about Deanna Durbin from my Mom, as I may have mentioned in an earlier blog. Mom knew all the old stars and their movies, which is how I got into older films in the first place. She was a fan of Deanna and spoke about her voice, which - to me - is the greatest singing voice in motion pictures (well, tied with Judy Garland). In "Lady on a Train" she sings three songs in all. This was one of her later films, when she branched out to do things like screwball comedy. As an adolescent, she always played the sweet but precocious young teen, more savvy than the adults. It was a great "look" for her (and she topped Shirley Temple at the box office), but she found it stifling and in her twenties she wanted a chance to stretch out. Then at 29, she married one of her directors and retired. Out of the blue, she moved with him to France and was basically never heard from again. Mom mentioned that it was one of the most abrupt and complete withdrawals from Hollywood, right up there with Greta Garbo. In any event, she's absolutely great in this movie, and she should be more well-remembered, I think.
Keeping up with the plot is not all-important, and it isn't easy to do. If you don't stay right on top of it, you'll miss a twist or two, but don't worry. It's more about the style and delivery, and you won't lose your place, even if you fall behind. Two Huge Thumbs Up for "Lady on a Train". Watch it now or save it for next Christmas (I say watch it now). The picture is widescreen and razor sharp, it's very very highly recommended. ////
The previous night, during the heavy rainstorm, we found an entertaining Crime Comedy/Mystery starring Lloyd Nolan as Detective Michael Shayne in "Blue, White and Perfect"(1942). Nolan, who folks my age remember as the sixty-ish doctor on Diahann Carroll's groundbreaking TV show "Julia"(1968), was at one time a young movie star. His hairline was receding even then, but he was quick with a quip, and hip. You might not imagine Lloyd Nolan as hip, but he was, and from what I read in the IMDB comments, he was a genuine box office draw. He made seven films in the Michael Shayne series, which was continued with Hugh Beaumont for five more. In "Blue, White", he's tracking down the theft, once again, of industrial diamonds, a theme we encountered last week in "Operation Amsterdam". As Detective Shayne, he's got Mary Beth Hughes waiting back at home. She wants him to give up being a gumshoe. "It's too dangerous and you said you'd marry me"! Every time he fibs, in order to sneak out on a case, she throws crockery at him - tea pots and coffee cups and lanterns and figurines. They smash against the wall and the door frame, as Shayne makes an exit on his heels.
There were a number of stylized Hollywood Sleuths in the 1940s, including "The Falcon" and "The Saint", among others. This is the first "Michael Shayne" mystery we've seen, and it's good enough to look for the rest of the films in the series. Much of the action takes place on a ship, heading for Hawaii on the day before Pearl Harbor. Future "Superman" George Reeves plays an undercover cop working independently of Shayne. Nazis are of course the culprits, including a blonde Femme Fatale, played by Helene Reynolds. Blossom Rock, aka "Grandmama" from The Addams Family makes an appearance also, and as with most of the light comedy detective movies of the era, the panache is more important than the plot. For my money, the main reason to watch is the interplay between Lloyd Nolan and Mary Beth Hughes, another actress we love because she's always such a character. She often has a look on her face like she's either gonna explode or burst out laughing. Here, she just wants to domesticate Michael Shayne, and if she can't do that she's gonna kill him. It's strictly for fun, but with A-list production values. I give it Two Big Thumbs Up. The picture is razor sharp. ///
That's all for tonight. I just went for a freezing cold CSUN walk and saw not one, but two coyotes. They were trotting together down Lindley Ave, near the gym. I'm guessing they must've come all the way down from Rinaldi, where the foothills start, close to Aliso Canyon. That's three miles from CSUN, so the poor guys must be pretty hungry. I hope they make it back to the hills okay.
I hope you had a nice Christmas, and I send you Tons of Love, as always.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
No comments:
Post a Comment