'Tis the Season - Part II

Whodunit? That's the question on everyone's mind. Of course, motive and method are important, but only insofar as they are necessary to solve the puzzle. The classic whodunit should not be weighed down with psychological quirks and ramifications. As to method, we will leave the gory details to the television of the 21st century. If I had wanted to be an autopsy surgeon, I would be an autopsy surgeon.

The comedy-mystery film can be one of the most delightful ways to spend time, but the style is fraught with pitfalls. It takes the right touch from all involved to pull one off successfully. 1945s Lady on a Train is a comedy-mystery that works for me. It is based on a story by Leslie "The Saint" Charteris with a screenplay by Edmund Beloin who wrote everything from Bob Hope's Christmas classic The Lemon Drop Kid to episodes of television's Family Affair.

The movie was directed by Charles David, a career producer/production manager who has two directing credits to his name. The other is also based on a Charteris story, 1945s River Gang starring Universal's criminally under-valued Durbin back-up, Gloria Jean. Charles David married his leading lady, Deanna in 1950 and they remained so until his death in 1999.

Deanna Durbin

Lady...with a book...on a train

Deanna Durbin stars as Nikkie Collins, an heiress. She is not the madcap heiress of 30s comedies, but a determined young lady with an acute case of Nancy Drew Syndrome. On her way to NYC from San Francisco to spend Christmas with an aunt we never meet, Nikki looks up from her mystery novel and witnesses a murder through her train window. In the natural course of events desk sergeant William Frawley has no time for dizzy dames and suggests she consult the author of the fiction she's reading to help with the fiction she has brought to the authorities.

Nikki needs ploys-a-plenty to solve this case. She finds ways to ditch her "keeper", Haskell of the New York office, who proves totally inept in his assignment to keep her safe and secure. She convinces the befuddled and bemused mystery writer that he must help her. She convinces the heirs of the murder victim that she was the late millionaire's paramour.

Dan Duryea, Deanna Durbin, David Bruce

Suspects include disinherited nephews Ralph Bellamy and Dan Duryea, a proud sister, Elizabeth Patterson, a sinister underling, George Colouris, a mug, Allen Jenkins and a lawyer, Samuel S. Hinds. A gloomy mansion, a fancy nightclub and a deserted warehouse complete the atmosphere.

David Bruce, usually seen as the best friend gives an assured, appealing performance as the romantic lead in this picture. However, I'm one of those gals who has eyes for no one else when Dan Duryea is on the screen. Here Duryea is a wastrel nephew with an eye to increasing his fortune.

Deanna's lovely voice is showcased beautifully and naturally in this movie. She sings a tender Silent Night over the long-distance telephone to her father. When put on the spot by the baddies at the night club, she gives out with a cute-sexy rendition of Gimme a Little Kiss. Later in the club, Deanna's sultry Night and Day is a highlight.

Lady on a Train also abounds in Christmas trees. There is the tree the sergeant is delicately decorating at the police station. There is a big, friendly tree in the mystery author's spacious apartment. There is an elegant tree in Nikki's hotel suite. There is a partially decorated tree at the mansion. It is believed the deceased millionaire fell from a ladder while decorating his tree. We can also spot a tree behind a fellow who thinks he is shaving in the privacy of his own apartment but comes face to face with Nikki seeking the room she spotted from the train.

Lady on a Train offers a satisfying puzzle, moments of true suspense, and comedy that comes from its characters without becoming frantic. All that plus Dan Duryea and Christmas trees. Thank you, Santa.

'Tis the Season - Part I

I adore the Christmas season. I love the music, the baking, the decorations. The days grow short and the nights are long and dark with the murky atmosphere of mystery and film noir. Enough light seeps between the cracks in my Venetian blinds to remind me that life, filled with jolly revelers, is going on outside my door. I curl up with a steaming brew (dolloped with something special) and lose myself with the tough guys and gals of classic cinema.

First up, 1944s Christmas Holiday starring Deanna Durbin and Gene Kelly. A movie with that title and those stars leads the mind to a Lake Placid resort featuring a tap dance on skates to Jingle Bells and a heartwarming Ave Maria solo. No. The musical side of my soul must seek elsewhere for that sort of entertainment. A Somerset Maugham story was the basis for Herman Mankiewicz's screenplay, a story of deceit and obsession. Noir master Robert Siodmak directed and this places among his best in that time-honoured style, The Killers, Criss Cross, Phantom Lady, and Cry of the City.

Deanna Durbin and Gene Kelly 

Reliable "everyman" Dean Harens plays Lt. Mason, a young soldier about to be sent overseas. On the eve of what he thought was to be his wedding a "Dear John" letter spurs him to thoughts of revenge. A storm detours his plane to New Orleans where he is befriended by drunken (aren't they all?) newspaperman Simon Fenimore played by future director (Champagne for Caesar, TVs My Three Sons) Richard Whorf. Fenimore thinks the lieutenant needs to drown his sorrows and takes him to a dive run by Gladys George who introduces him to jaded gal singer Jackie Lamont played by Durbin.

Jackie has her own troubles. Let's start with the fact that her real name is Abigail and she's running from something, running from herself. She fell in love with a charmer by the name of Robert Manette played by Kelly. Manette, in turn, had his own issues with narcissism, gambling and mother. Mother is played by Gale Sondergaard so you know off the bat that something is off-kilter in the family tree.

Deanna Durbin with Dean Harens

The rain-soaked Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Lt. Mason spends with Abigail as she recounts life with a murderous hubby and imperious mother-in-law prove to be life-changing for the young man and intriguing storytelling for the viewer.

Gene Kelly channels his famous energy and charm into the wastrel Manette. His attraction to lonely Abigail is understandable. Deanna Durbin's trademark perkiness is nowhere in view as we see her tentatively reaching for happiness and shutting down when life slaps her in the face. Her perfunctory delivery of Frank Loesser's Spring Will Be a Little Late This Year when we first meet her in the nightclub shows us her weariness. The later rendition of Irving Berlin's Always is a heartfelt glimpse into her pining heart.

I am struck when watching Christmas Holiday how so many private things occur in such very public places. Abigail and Robert meet and fall in love in the upper gallery of a crowded concert hall. The final crash of the safe world Abigail thought she had found is in a courtroom filled with spectators. It is in church on Christmas Eve that Abigail finds the strength to start to break down. What private calamities and victories will be going on around us during this busy season?

Before "the Marias": Part II

DEANNA DURBIN

"Winnipeg's Sweetheart", Edna Mae Durbin, was born December 4, 1921. Since 1950, the widowed (1999) Mrs. Charles David has lived in retirement in Paris. She raised her family and lived life on her own terms. She left Hollywood in 1949 after a 13 year career because: "I couldn't go on being Little Miss Fix-it breaking into song forever". For Deanna Durbin's fans, that is what she will always be - the teenager with the amazing voice and the young woman who grew into a talented comedic actress. Deanna never seemed to go through that awkward stage. Her talent and self-possession grew and was universally admired.

MGM was her first studio, however her contract lapsed and she was snapped by Universal. That studio was facing difficult economic times, but all that was about to change when Deanna Durbin appeared in "Three Smart Girls" (1936). The public was enthralled and this was reflected at the box office.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwrzxSzrzB4

Over the course of her career, Deanna appeared in 14 movies, bringing classical music to the masses and presenting that rare ability among sopranos with the ability to take a standard and do it justice. Entertaining movies with wonderful co-stars like Adolph Menjou, Charles Laughton, Dan Duryea, Gene Kelly, Pat O'Brien, Robert Cummings, Franchot Tone - Leopold Stowkowski. I would like to recommend a few titles: One Hundred Men and a Girl, It Started With Eve, His Butler's Sister, Christmas Holiday, Lady on a Train, Up in Central Park.

Deanna was a favourite of Winston Churchill and Ann Franks. She inspired Dame Joan Sutherland and Lily Pons. Angela Lansbury has said she used to sing around the house trying to be Deanna Durbin. The Metropolitan Opera wanted her for their boards. Rodgers and Hammerstein wanted her for "Oklahoma!". Alan Jay Lerner personally played her the songs for "My Fair Lady" in an effort to dissuade her from retirement. Obviously, she is a lady who means what she says.

The release of Deanna's Universal pictures on DVD is creating new fans, as devoted as her followers in the 30s and 40s. Talent will tell.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inV3RlOTOXM