Murder in the Private Car: A Train Ride That Won't End

Is it worth your time?

If you like old-school B-movies that don't know when to quit, you’ll probably have a decent time with Murder in the Private Car. It’s light, it’s frantic, and it features a train setting that always feels a bit claustrophobic in the best way possible.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Murder in the Private Car (1934) through its definitive frames.

However, if you need your mysteries to make sense or have high stakes that actually feel scary, you might want to look elsewhere. It’s the kind of flick that feels like it was written by five different people, which, looking at the credits, it actually was.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Murder in the Private Car (1934) through its definitive frames.

The whole premise is just an excuse to cram a bunch of nervous, shifty-looking people into a train car. There’s an heiress, a detective, and enough red herrings to stock a deli. Charles Ruggles is doing his best, but the movie keeps getting distracted by its own subplots.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Murder in the Private Car (1934) through its definitive frames.

There is this one moment where someone is hiding in a compartment, and the camera lingers just a second too long on their shoes. It’s not subtle. It’s barely even a clue. But it’s the kind of clunky detail that makes me love these old studio era things.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Murder in the Private Car (1934) through its definitive frames.

I found myself wondering if Walter Brennan was actually having fun or if he just happened to be on the set that day. He pops in and out like he’s playing hide-and-seek with the script. It’s weirdly hypnotic.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Murder in the Private Car (1934) through its definitive frames.

The pacing is all over the place. One minute it’s a high-stakes thriller, and the next it’s a slapstick routine that forgot there’s a killer on the loose. It feels like the director was trying to film two different movies at the same time. Sometimes it works! Sometimes it’s just noisy.

• Una Merkel is basically the only one holding the whole thing together.
• The train sets look like they were built out of cardboard and sheer willpower.
• I swear the same background extra walked past the door at least four times.
• The dialogue sounds like it was written by someone who had only ever heard people talk in stage plays.

It doesn't have the grit of something like A Rough Shod Fighter, but it’s got a weird energy all its own. It’s not trying to be high art. It’s just trying to get from the station to the final reveal without falling apart entirely.

Did it succeed? Maybe. Maybe not. Does it matter when you’re watching a movie with this many people shouting in a train car? I don't think so. 🚂