Murder in the Private Car (1934)

Copyright 27 June 1934 by Metro Goldwyn Mayer Corp. No New York opening. Australian release: 5 December 1934. 7 reels. 63 minutes.U.K. release title: MURDER ON THE RUNAWAY TRAIN.SYNOPSIS: A telephone switchboard operator in a Los Angeles stockbroking firm is suddenly told she is the long-lost heiress of a New York railroad tycoon.COMMENT: Weird yet wholly wonderful, "Murder in the Private Car" is undoubtedly the best "B" film M-G-M ever made. True, it was never showcased in New York. The reason for this apparent neglect was not the studio's belief that the movie lacked anything in entertainment. Rather the contrary. In fact the movie opened not as a "B", but as a main feature in Australia. The problem in New York was simply the film's lack of big-gun star power and its short running time. M-G-M had agreed to support other studios and the cinema chains in a campaign to stamp out double features, thus not only achieving cost- cutting all around but enabling city theaters to run more sessions per day. The picture-going public, however, stubbornly and steadfastly resisted this proposed change. (It was not in fact until nearly fifty years later that the studios finally achieved their desire). Studio chiefs Mayer and Thalberg were well aware of the public's real sentiments. Not only that but Louis B. Mayer himself always had a soft spot for the "B" feature. He regarded the "B" not only as an excellent training ground for producers, directors, writers and all other creative personnel, but he also knew that a "B" feature, no matter its quality, just so long as it was completed either on or below budget, was assured of a certain profit. However, to Mayer, quality was also important because the prestige of the studio was at stake. It was always Mayer's aim to make M-G-M's "B"-movies the best in the industry. Accordingly, whilst he and Thalberg gave lip service to the industry campaign, in actual fact the studio did not curtail its "B" production units in any way at all. So what they did they did was simply to cut the number shown in New York where the industry's anti-double- feature bandwagon was at its strongest.When I said "Murder in the Private Car" was the best, I meant not only best in sheer entertainment, but in technical and artistic quality as well. So far as entertainment was concerned, contemporary audiences much have been knocked right out of their seats. Not only is the movie super-fast-paced, densely written and ingeniously characterized, it all comes to the most stunningly extravagant climax ever devised for a "B" picture. The extraordinary location footage is so cleverly combined with the most realistic miniatures that it's absolutely impossible on one or two viewings to determine where one begins and the other ends.Beaumont's direction is as zippily smooth as the crackerjack plot. The work of two photographers is also superbly meshed by an astute film editor, whilst the dazzling art direction and attractive costume design are miracles of "B"-movie artistry.Mary Carlisle is one of the most sympathetic of heroines. And here she receives solid support even from the likes of Una Merkel (who in many other pictures is inclined to over-act). Charles Ruggles' impersonation may strike as a bit odd on a first viewing — and the story itself of course is the wildest flight of fantasy — but that's what movies are all about: the unusual, the fantastic, the imaginatively weird, the extravagantly bizarre.All told, an absolute stunner.OTHER VIEWS: Lucien Hubbard was a fascinating producer. He started off as a writer and I've no doubt he contributed to the script of his every production. He certainly did on Ebb Tide on which I worked for him. He had a wildly extravagant imagination and he used to fill his script with phrases like, "Ten thousand horsemen ride through towering cliffs into a ten-mile-long deserted canyon." The studio would be looking at a week's work and half the picture's budget to realize this shot on the screen — and then it would last for only ten seconds anyway! — Ray Milland. For his efforts on "Murder in the Private Car" (which fully justifies Milland's description), Lucien Hubbard was rewarded with a prestige "A" for William Randolph Heart's Cosmopolitan Productions (then attached to M-G-M), "Operator 13", starring Marion Davies and Gary Cooper. Unfortunately the film was only modestly successful (mainly due to Miss Davies' waning popularity) and Hubbard soon found himself back in the "B" hive.

I was expecting a quick murder mystery set on a train. Instead, I got to see Charles Ruggles as a romantic lead. For those who don't know the man, he was Major Applegate in the farce Bringing up Baby.But, in this movie, he was a little less formal, but with the same halting delivery. He spends the better part of this movie successfully seducing one of the women. And, why not? Mild-mannered people have to reproduce as well.Plot-wise, this movie is kind of confusing. I got the impression that the movie just kind of stopped because they ran out of film or one of the actors had to go on vacation or something. It definitely wasn't bad.And, it definitely wasn't great, either.

The years haven't been kind to this sort of material, a fragile murder mystery dependent on flat one-liners from leading man CHARLES RUGGLES and a script that ends with a Keystone Cops sort of train chase that only manages to liven up the proceedings for the final fifteen minutes.The runaway car sequence is full of process shots that only add to the tangled mess of a plot involving a bit of murder and mayhem. UNA MERKEL gives her standard flighty interpretation of a dull role, as does MARY CARLISLE. The broadest comedy relief comes from the train porter, played by a black man billed as "Snowflake." Today's viewers would find his interpretation of a comically frightened coward as offensive as can be.Getting to that train chase ending is almost unbearable. Charles Ruggles has a thankless role and is unable to deliver a single believable line. His detective character is not only annoying but obnoxious--not the actor's fault but the poor script gives him no opportunity to be anything but foolish and boorish in behavior.Only those who love to wallow in '30s-style comedies, whether good, bad or indifferent, will be able to tolerate this one.My advice is to let it pass. Mercifully, it's a short feature film.

An amateur crime ‘deflector' finds his skills put to the test aboard a transcontinental train when there's MURDER IN THE PRIVATE CAR.All of the much-loved elements of the Old Dark House spook films can be found in this regrettably obscure little thriller -- damsels in distress, mysterious legacies, strange disappearances, hairy clutching hands, sudden death, terrible menace (and, for a few delicious moments, a rampaging gorilla)-- except here it all takes place in the fancy carriage car of a swiftly moving train. The plot moves just as quickly, catapulting the viewer along, with the climax especially fast & furious.The delightfully quixotic humor of comic actor Charles Ruggles is highlighted as his offbeat character relentlessly pursues the solution of the mystery. His bemused encounter with the denizens of a smashed circus train--camel, kangaroo and MGM's Leo the Lion--is especially funny. The teaming of Ruggles with pert & perky Una Merkel is inspired. Her sarcastic wisecracks, uttered in that wonderful Southern drawl, are the perfect counterpoint to Ruggles' wry utterances.The rest of the cast offers good support: Mary Carlisle as a terribly endangered rich girl; Russell Hardie as her stalwart boyfriend; Berton Churchill as a slightly stuffy millionaire who's about to face enormous peril; Porter Hall as a protective lawyer; and Fred ‘Snowflake' Toones as a terrified train porter.Movie mavens will recognize Sterling Holloway as a gossipy office boy and Walter Brennan as a train yard switchman, both uncredited.