Lady on a Train is a 1945 comedy

Comedy

Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

 film noir

Film noir

Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...

, starring Deanna Durbin

Deanna Durbin

Deanna Durbin is a Canadian-born, Southern California-raised retired singer and actress, who appeared in a number of musical films in the 1930s and 1940s singing standards as well as operatic arias....

 and based on a story by Leslie Charteris

Leslie Charteris

Leslie Charteris , born Leslie Charles Bowyer-Yin, was a half-Chinese, half English author of primarily mystery fiction, as well as a screenwriter. He was best known for his many books chronicling the adventures of Simon Templar, alias "The Saint."-Early life:Charteris was born to a Chinese father...

.

Plot

Debutante

Debutante

A débutante is a young lady from an aristocratic or upper class family who has reached the age of maturity, and as a new adult, is introduced to society at a formal "début" presentation. It should not be confused with a Debs...

 Nikki Collins, an enthusiastic reader of detective stories, witnesses a murder in a building while passing by on a train entering New York's Grand Central Station. She goes to the police, but is frustrated to find that no one believes her. The police think that her story is the product of an overactive imagination.

Undaunted, Nikki approaches mystery writer Wayne Morgan (David Bruce) to help her solve the mystery. She identifies the murdered man as Josiah Waring, a ruthless millionaire businessman, after seeing him on a cinema screen. She is then mistaken by the 'grieving' family (who all hated him) as Margo Martin, a nightclub singer and his fiancee, who stands to inherit the bulk of his fortune.

But the real Margo is murdered and Nikki must stay one step ahead of two disinherited cousins out to kill her.

Cast

• Deanna Durbin.....Nikki Collins/Margo Martin
• Ralph Bellamy.....Jonathan Waring
• David Bruce.....Wayne Morgan
• George Coulouris.....Mr. Saunders, Circus Club Manager
• Allen Jenkins.....Danny
• Dan Duryea
  Dan Duryea
  Dan Duryea was an American actor, known for roles in film, stage and television.-Early life:Born and raised in White Plains, New York, Duryea graduated from White Plains Senior High School in 1924 and Cornell University in 1928. While at Cornell, Duryea was elected into the Sphinx Head Society...
  
   as Arnold Waring
• Edward Everett Horton
  Edward Everett Horton
  Edward Everett Horton was an American character actor. He had a long career in film, theater, radio, television and voice work for animated cartoons. He is especially known for his work in the films of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.-Early life:Horton was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Isabella...
  
  .....Mr. Haskell
• Jacqueline deWit.....Miss Fletcher
• Patricia Morison
  Patricia Morison
  Patricia Morison is an American stage and motion picture actress and mezzo-soprano singer . She made her feature film debut in 1939 after several years on the stage. During her time as a screen actress she was lauded for her patrician beauty, with her blue eyes and extremely long, dark hair among...
  
  .....Joyce Williams
• Elizabeth Patterson
  Elizabeth Patterson (actress)
  Elizabeth Patterson was an American film and television character actress remembered for her portrayal of elderly neighbor Matilda Trumbull on I Love Lucy.-Career:...
  
  .....Aunt Charlotte Waring
• Maria Palmer.....Margo Martin
• Samuel S. Hinds
  Samuel S. Hinds
  Samuel Southey Hinds was an American actor who is perhaps best remembered for playing Peter Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life and for his part in You Can't Take It With You , both films by Frank Capra...
  
  .....Mr. Wiggam
• William Frawley
  William Frawley
  William Clement "Bill" Frawley was an American stage entertainer, screen and television actor. Although Frawley acted in over 100 films, he achieved his greatest fame playing landlord Fred Mertz for the situation comedy I Love Lucy.-Early life:William was born to Michael A. Frawley and Mary E....
  
  .....Desk Sgt. Brennan

Legacy

In 1957, Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie

Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...

's 4.50 from Paddington

4.50 From Paddington

4.50 from PaddingtonThe article time reads: Four-fifty from Paddington. In the United Kingdom's time notation, hours and minutes may be separated by a dot rather than a colon sign...

was published, using a story markedly similar to that of Lady on a Train. In 1990, Charteris's story was adapted for the pilot episode of the television series Over My Dead Body

Over My Dead Body

Over My Dead Body is a detective drama which was aired in the United States on the CBS television network as part of its 1990 fall lineup.Over My Dead Body starred Edward Woodward as Maxwell Beckett, an aging mystery novelist whose three successful early novels were starting to be overshadowed by...

.

Awards and nominations

Academy Award

• Nominated, "Best Sound, Recording" - Bernard B. Brown
  Bernard B. Brown
  Bernard B. Brown was an American sound engineer. He won an Academy Award in the category Sound Recording and was nominated for seven more in the same category. He was also nominated three times in the category Best Visual Effects...