Ruth Raymond (Mary Carlisle) is a switchboard operator at Allen and Company in Los Angeles. She works with her best friend Georgia Latham (Una Merkel). New in the building is Godfrey D. Scott (Charles Ruggles). He tries to introduce himself but the girls are busy and basically ignore him. Ruth’s boyfriend is John Blake (Russell Hardie).
Ruth gets called into her boss’ office where she meets Alden Murray (Porter Hall). Murray tells her that, after a fourteen year search, she is the daughter of railroad tycoon Luke Carson (Berton Churchill). He says that she was kidnapped when she was a baby from her father by her uncle when they had a falling out. Now that she is an heiress her picture is all over the papers. An attempt is made to kidnap her but it is foiled by Godfrey Scott.
Alden receives a telegram to bring Ruth to New York. Ruth takes Georgia with her. They are given a private car on the train. Believing that something is wrong Godfrey gets on the train and smuggles Ruth’s boyfriend John aboard. Strange things begin to happen. Ruth’s life is threatened. Godfrey tells everyone that he is a deflector. A deflector is someone who prevents crime. During the night the tracks are blocked by a wreck from a circus. While the track is being cleared the gorilla escapes. It manages to get onto the train and ends up attacking everyone before it falls from the train. During the commotion Murray is murdered.
When the train stops the next day everyone decides to get off. Ruth’s father is at the station and he and Ruth reunite. Carson assures everyone that there is nothing wrong with the train and makes everyone return to the car and head for New York.
Suddenly someone uncouples the car from the train. A voice tells everyone that they the car is wired with explosives as the car hurtles down the track toward certain doom.
“Murder in the Private Car” was released in 1934 and was directed by Harry Beaumont. It is a pre-code mystery romance with lots of comedy. The movie was based on the play “The Rear Car” by Edward Rose.
What a lot of fun this was. If you like train movies you will get a kick out of it. At a little over an hour the movie speeds along like a runaway train and has the most amazing ending sequence I’ve ever seen in a movie. It’s all horseradish of course but it was still a blast. There’s a lot more going on here than just a murder on a train, and there’s a gorilla. Yes, there are lots of flaws in the film and if you are not a Charles Ruggles fan than you may have some prejudice towards it, but the ending is worth it all.
Fred “Snowflake” Toones plays Titus the porter. Chief Standing Bear plays the Native American selling wares at the railroad station. Naba the gorilla was played by Ray Corrigan. The film was shot along the Southern Pacific's Donner Pass.