THE MYSTERY TRAIN
US, 1931, 62 minutes, Black and white.
Hedda Hopper, Marceline Day, Nick Stuart, Bryant Washburn, Al Cooke, Carol Tevis.
Directed by Philip H Whitman.
For those interested in the career of gossip columnist, Hedda Hopper (played in such films as Trumbo by Helen Mirren and The Feud, Betty and Joan, by Judy Davis), this is an opportunity to see her during her film career in the 1930s.
Here she plays an older woman in financial difficulties, relying on her attorney and the possibility of marriage to a millionaire who possesses an exotic diamond.
They are travelling by train when it crashes and she come across a young woman, handcuffed to the police, who escapes, but is taken on by the widow and groomed to become the bride of a young millionaire.
There is some slapstick comedy when the young couple encounter each other in a muddy accident. They do fall in love, but the girl is conscious that she had been arrested. The police seem to be suspicious of the older woman and come to her house only to tell her that the young girl is innocent. The woman decides to hide the facts from the young woman so that she can have a hold over her.
While there was a train crash, 1931 style, at the opening of the film, there is another crash at the end with some moments given to the dangers of a runaway carriage.
Some complications about the diamond, especially with extraneous criminals on the train wanting it, but happy ever after ending for the young couple – but the widow and her attorney dying the crash.
1. Thriller of the early 1930s? Camera work, sound engineering, action, special effects?
2. The title, the focus on the train at the beginning, the end? The recreation of crashes? The runaway train the dangers, possible collisions, final crash? The use of miniatures? The credibility of the sequences?
3. The melodrama? Hedda Hopper as Mrs Radcliffe? Her situation, wealth, extravagance, relationship with the attorney? Diamond? His collusion?
4. The crash, Joan and her being handcuffed, Mrs Radcliffe taking her under her wing, calling her niece? Her plan? Ronnie and his wealth? Potential marriage? Her being too old? Grooming Joan? The collaboration of the attorney?
5. The screwball comedy aspects of Joan and her riding, running into the car, her falling off, humiliation, Clash? Her laughing it off? The party, Ronnie and his infatuation with Joan, Joan liking Ronnie, their meeting, the verbal sparring? Falling in love?
6. The police, tracking down Mrs Radcliffe? Explaining that Joan was not guilty? Mrs Radcliffe deciding not to tell Joan, to keep power over her, the attorney agreeing?
7. Picture of high society, wealth, glamour? Joan fitting in? Yet her feeling guilty, Ronnie and his attentions, her not being able to say yes? Mrs Radcliffe being upset? Her blackmailing and pressurising Joan?
8. On the train, Ronnie and the diamond, Joan and her compartment, Mrs Radcliffe, the attorney? The coinciding of the two criminals on the train?
9. The attendant on the train, African- American, the treatment? Touches of racism?
10. The stealing of the diamond, the irony of the attorney in the bunk overhead, the audience thinking that Joan had stolen it? Mrs Radcliffe willing to be searched?
11. The crooks, uncoupling the carriage, its going backwards, the danger, Joan seeing it, with Ronnie?
12. Comedy of the married couple and their incompatibility, yet going to Niagara Falls, the slapstick comedy, their survival?
13. The crash, news of the death of Mrs Radcliffe and the attorney, Joan and Ronnie happily surviving, ever after.
