Murder in the Private Car (1934)

Director:

Harry Beaumont

Writers:

Edward E. Rose (play)
Harvey F. Thew (adaptation)

Release Date:

29 June 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery | Romance

Plot:

Ruth Raymond works on the switchboard and her boyfriend is John Blake. It has taken 14 years, but a...

Plot Keywords:

Railroad | Telegram | Rescue | Native American | Train Wreck

Cast

Charles Ruggles	...	Godfrey D. Scott (as Charlie Ruggles)
Una Merkel	...	Georgia Latham
Mary Carlisle	...	Ruth Raymond - aka Ruth Carson
Russell Hardie	...	John Blake
Porter Hall	...	Alden Murray
Willard Robertson	...	Hanks - Car Conductor
Berton Churchill	...	Luke Carson
Clifford Thompson	...	Mr. Allen (as Cliff Thompson)
Fred 'Snowflake' Toones	...	Titus - Car Porter (as Snowflake)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Harry Semels	...	Evil Eye (scenes deleted)

Also Known As:

Murder on the Runaway Train (UK)

Runtime:

63 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) | UK:A | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The play opened in Los Angeles, California, USA, on 6 August 1922, but had no New York run.

Quotes:

Godfrey D. Scott: Both your eyes are very pretty.

Average

Murder in the Private Car (1934)

** (out of 4)

MGM murder/mystery has Una Merkel playing a woman who is identified as a baby who was kidnapped fourteen years earlier. Now, as an adult, her father has paid for her to come home to him so she gets on a train where a stranger tells her she only has eight hours to live. Charles Ruggles plays a small-time detective who tries to keep the girl alive long enough to meet her father. Only God is certain on how many of these mysteries I've seen over the years and they are all mostly average with a few that manage to be quite good movies. This one here thankfully just runs 63-minutes but it's pretty lifeless through each of those minutes. The biggest problem is that the film goes for far too many laughs, which wouldn't be a problem if they were actually funny. Since they are all unfunny it really drags the film down and makes all the characters quite annoying. Ruggles just doesn't work as the leading man as his humor is very annoying and he really can't keep the film moving. Merkel is good in her role, although it's certainly not written too well. And yes, there's a gorilla who shows up to scare everyone. I'm still trying to figure out why all of these mysteries from the silent era to the 1940s featured a gorilla.