"Murder in the Private Car" is from 1934, right at the beginning of the production code.
A pretty switchboard operator, Ruth (Mary Carlisle) is told by detectives that she is the long-lost daughter of a wealthy man. Her coworker (Una Merkel) accompanies her in a private train car ordered for her to take her to her father. But somebody -- a disembodied voice, in fact - wants her dead -- and tells her she has only hours to live.
A man on the train, Godfrey Scott (Charles Ruggles) is on the train. He is a "deflector," one who stops crimes before they start. Ruth's long- time boyfriend is also on the train.
Soon people start being murdered, and it's obvious Ruth is in great danger.
This is an odd movie in that the story - for me, anyway, wasn't very clear. There is a circus train wreck thrown in, giving Ruggles the opportunity to interact with several animals.
The highlight of the film is a train chase, and the process shots were very well done - normally you can tell the background is a movie screen, but here it wasn't always apparent, and the chase was very exciting.
I was confused because it looks in the beginning of the film as if the detectives faked the evidence in order to say that Ruth was the long- lost daughter, but I don't think it was followed up. I guess whether she was or not, she thought she was and the father believed it.
The other thing that threw me was the disembodied voice which I thought I recognized - I won't say who I thought it was, but I spent some time thinking the murderer was someone who wasn't. In fact I'm not sure if the murderer was revealed. I was probably distracted. It reminded me of an old episode of Inspector Morse that was so confusing, I called my friend and asked whodunit. He returned my call and said, "I not only don't know whodunit, I don't know who was killed."
Georgia (Merkel) and Godfrey have a cute relationship that grows during the film.
Definitely worth seeing - Walter Brennan is one of the men at the train switch, obviously a very early role. Sterling Holloway, so familiar to Baby Boomers from TV and the voice of Winnie the Pooh, is also in the film.
MGM supposedly remade this film about ten years later - but to be honest, the description of "Grand Central Murder" doesn't sound the same, except for the train sequence. This movie is also reminiscent of a film with Lana Turner minus the train - so who knows.
I thought this B movie ended before certain things were cleared up.
According to IMDb, Mary Carlisle is still alive at 101. Wow.
