Silly mystery that almost compensates with a white-knuckle finale. Ruggles plays an addled "deflector" who can't seem to get his sayings right—"The early worm gets the bird"! All in all, he's an imaginative twist on the usual sleuth in that he bumbles his way before getting moments of brilliance. Sort of like a mix of Sherlock Holmes and Inspector Clouseau. Too bad his shtick is not funnier. At the same time, the incoherent mystery part is submerged beneath Ruggles and two loud blondes Merkel and Carlisle who keep the decibel level peaking. They're cute, of course, and understandably get most of the screen time. Overall, I'm not sure what MGM was reaching for, but the parts don't blend that well. Still, the bang-up finale is worth the price, with scares galore and no models for the runaway trains. I'm not sure how they did it with real locomotives and passenger cars, but it comes as a stunning surprise after 50-or-so minutes of blah. Anyway, much of the cast—Ruggles, Merkel--thankfully went on to better material. Meanwhile, no more trains for me, I'll be taking air travel from now on, for sure.

"Murder In The Private Car" tries to combine three different genres: mystery, comedy, and action. It succeeds only at one - action. The last 10 minutes are a pretty spectacular ride on a runaway train car. On the other hand, the mystery never really builds any interest, and the comedy never really brings any laughs. Charlie Ruggles tries hard, but his lines are simply not funny. Una Merkel is a sheer joy to watch, but she is also sabotaged by the script. Even an escaped gorilla drops in, all for naught. And the less said about the humiliating role of the black comic relief guy, the better. On the whole, a weak film whose only part really worth seeing are the last 10 minutes. ** out of 4.

One thing you can say for sure, it certainly is not a rip-off of "The Thin Man" or any other big budget murder mystery of its time.The scene opens on two switchboard operators busy at work at an investment firm - Ruth Raymond and Georgia Latham (Mary Carlisle and Una Merkel). One day an investigator informs Ruth that she is the long lost daughter of a wealthy man. She is to be whisked away via a private car to New York to meet her father. She asks her friend and coworker, Georgia, to come along too, and thus the adventure begins.Onboard the train the bodies start piling up, there is a mysterious invisible voice telling Ruth she has only hours to live, and there are doubts raised as to whether or not she is the long lost daughter of the wealthy man in the first place. Along for the ride is the long-time boyfriend of Ruth, as well as a goofy fellow, Godfrey Scott (Charles Ruggles), who has taken a shine to Georgia before all of this mystery began and appointed himself investigator of the case. There are escaped primates in assorted sizes and also a plot device that reminds me of the "Wild Wild West" TV show.Ruggles' act can get tiresome depending on how big a dose is injected into a particular movie, but there is so much going on here that I really didn't think him more of a hindrance than a help, plus the building relationship between himself and Merkel's character is adorable. I'd recommend it if you're in the mood for a rather offbeat film that is certainly very atypical output for MGM of the period.

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.