The Mystery Train

Hedda Hopper's movie career was basically a lifetime of bit-parts (147 credits on IMDb, most of them forgettable), and no-one ever claimed she was a great actress, except in her other career as a gossip-columnist, where she could be highly convincing as a helpless little frilly female, to whom men would confide their secrets - only to find them plastered all over next morning's paper. (Spencer Tracy was so furious, he kicked her in the pants.) So this is one of the few opportunities to see her in a starring role, though at just 62 minutes, it's obviously a B-film and the low budget does show through.

When you hear that it's a story of mistaken identity, involving the theft of a priceless diamond, you can't help thinking of Wodehouse, who had a surprisingly strong influence on Hollywood, and that is the kind of light snack we're talking about. (Why it needed four writers is anybody's guess.)

The date of 1931 signals the first shock of the Depression, so the unremarkable footage of the rich at play would have provided much-needed escapism for hard-up viewers in a thousand small-town cinemas. There is topicality in Hopper's character losing everything in a stock-market gamble. And film-buffs will note the signs that we are just pre-Code, with a distinctly suggestive passage where a young man teaches the girl golf by reaching around her from behind.

This was a pretty foggy print, and the sound is a bit dim too. The climactic fight-scene is so fake and feeble, you can almost hear John Wayne sneering "Fight-scene? Heck, I thought it was a love-scene." But at least Hopper is looking her best - a distinguished beauty, however widely disliked.

Marian Radcliffe (Hedda Hopper) is an awful person. She's lost her fortune and with her lawyer friend she's scheming to find a way to get back on easy street. When their train wrecks, a woman who is a prisoner chained to an officer finds the man dead...and manages to get out of the cuffs. Marian sees this and takes full advantage-- convincing the lady to pose as her daughter or else! The plan is to get this pretty young lady to use her charms on a young heir the lawyer is working for...and marry him for the money. And, since Marian knows the lady is a fugitive, she can then bleed the young lady.

Soon after this scheme is put into place, the Sheriff arrives. He's gone through all the information on the passengers and didn't see a ticket for the daughter! However, he's NOT there to arrest her. It's turned out that she wasn't guilty of a crime after all and he wanted to let the lady know she was free...but Marian promises to tell her 'daughter' but says NOTHING!!! What's next? See the film and find out for yourself.

The plot, according to IMDb, is all about a runaway train...but that is only in the final portion of the film. This is a very exciting and action-packed portion, though, and the film was far, far better than I expected from some poverty row B-movie. The acting was only fair but the writing and action were both exceptionally good...making the movie worth seeing--especially if you like Bs.

"The Mystery Train" is an alluring title for a movie. And it has the premise for a good plot. Unfortunately, it goes the way of so many other poverty row productions of the early Hollywood years. The screenplay is poorly done, and the script is very weak. The technical aspects are poor, the cinematography is low rate and the directing and acting are examples of why so many lesser studios and would-be stars didn't last long.

The only person of any stature in the film is Hedda Hopper. She never attained stardom as an actress, but kept plugging away with small roles into old age. She had 146 film credits in her lifetime. Of course, she was most known as a Hollywood gossip columnist. That was from the mid- 1930s to the mid-1950s. And she kept doing small parts in movies here and there while peddling her popular and lucrative gossip business.

Hopper had a rival – Louella Parsons, who came on the gossip scene much sooner. But, Parsons didn't have an acting career. The interest in this film is mostly to see Hopper in one of her roles. She wasn't in any major hits or high quality movies. So, movie buffs might have to look hard to find films in which she has a role.

I was curious about some of the actors, so I looked them up on IMDb. Some of them had long stints in silent films, but didn't go much beyond that. Al Cooke had 152 film credits but his last appearance was in a 1933 short. Bryant Washburn had 377 credits, mostly bit parts through the 1940s. Marceline Day, the heroine in this film, had 64 credits but had a short-lived career of just 25 years. Nick Stuart, a Romanian born actor, had 52 credits – all small roles and bit parts through the 1950s.

Wealthy Hedda Hopper (Marian) isn't so wealthy anymore and needs money. She discusses her predicament with her lawyer friend Bryant Washburn (William) whilst on a train journey. He suggests that it is a pity she doesn't have a daughter as the current case he is working on could prove fruitful for her if she had one. There is a valuable diamond to be passed on to whoever marries bachelor Nick Stuart (Ron) and this provides the basis for the wicked scheme. What Hedda needs is to find a 'daughter' from somewhere and set up a marriage to this rich youngster in order to get the diamond into her position. Once that is completed, job done - welcome back wealthy lifestyle.

The film has interesting beginning and ending sequences that are set aboard a train, and in between we get the trickery associated with the romance. Whilst it isn't the best acted film - Marceline Day (Joan) as the 'daughter' character has some pretty dreadful intonation and line delivery - there is still an element of tension to proceedings that keeps you watching. It gets a bit confusing at the end once the jewel goes missing and then the film resolves itself rather conveniently but it retains a dramatic interest as the audience wants to know what will happen next.

Hedda Hopper has been speculating in the market and lost everything. Bryant Washburn says his trust for millionaire Nick Stuart is about to be dissolved. They decide a niece for Mrs. Hopper will repair the holes in each of their finances by marrying young Mr. Stuart. Fortunately(!) the train they are on has a wreck, and Marceline Day escapes custody. Mrs. Hopper immediately adopts her and the plan moves forward.

It's a good set-up, although fans of old movies will find few novelties in its execution. The senior pair are good in their acting; the youngsters a bit stiff. Although Hampton Del Ruth inserted several funny bits in the movie, like Al Cooke and Carol Tevis as quarreling newlyweds, director Phil Whitman doesn't seem to integrate them into the story. Even the title seems to have been chosen to suggest thrills that never appear; the only mystery having to do with trains here is why they keep crashing when the principal actors are on them.