Jessica Fletcher (Dame Angela Lansbury) is attacked on a train when she investigates the case of a missing passenger.Jessica Fletcher (Dame Angela Lansbury) is attacked on a train when she investigates the case of a missing passenger.Jessica Fletcher (Dame Angela Lansbury) is attacked on a train when she investigates the case of a missing passenger.
- Awards
- 3 nominations
Michael Krawic
- Radley
- (as Michael A. Krawic)
Stuart Proud Eagle Grant
- Jim Sunrise
- (as Stuart Grant)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis was one of the most complicated scripts to prep because of the number of locations required. Matching terrain for road work, Sheriff car chases, helicopter landing and takeoff points, interior café diner (Saugus, California), lecture interior, train station (Acton, California), tracks for the Amtrak train to travel for filming while the train was in motion. The production company (Universal Studios) and Amtrak had to gain permission from Metro Rail to use right of way on their rail tracks, with the film train waiting on side bar tracks for the daily Metro schedules. Filming the bus interior while moving on back roads of Acton, the town of Piru, California for the bus passengers to disembark, completely dressing the Piru Main Street for the scripted scenes. An epic for a two hour Movie of the Week, this was a very busy shoot. Every member of the crew drove to each location on his or her own. Not one person was put up in a hotel during the entire filming schedule.
- GoofsDriving through "Aqua Verde" a street sign above can be seen for "Magic Mountain Parkway"
- Quotes
[last lines]
Jessica Fletcher: ...It starts with a simple electronic game and an eastbound train.
- ConnectionsFollowed by Murder, She Wrote: A Story to Die For (2000)
Featured review
The best! of the 4 spin-off TV movies from the 'Murder, She Wrote' TV series.
Without a doubt the best! of the 4 spin-off TV movies from the 'Murder, She Wrote' TV series.
Superb styling. A great story that pans out well, with a couple of surprising plot twists at the end. More worthy of Lansbury's dramatic scope than, sadly, the rest of the TV spin-offs, this is one film that is well worth setting the set-top box to record.
With wonderful subtle references to other 'train crime' movies: the film noir 'Double Indemnity'; 'The 39 Steps' (the rural train station at which Jessica Fletcher disembarks is amusingly named 'Hannay' after that film's lead character Richard Hannay); and of course another famous Hitchcock train movie: 'North by Northwest'. Plus there are elements of 'The Lady Vanishes' when one of the lead characters disappears; all the more poignant, of course, as Angela Lansbury herself starred as 'the lady' in the 1978 film version of the 'TLV'!
Indubitably a fun film for die-hard fans of the TV series. And the most watchable of the spin-offs. Maybe this is because it was the first (made in 1997) of the 4 movies. But in any case the other 3 spin-offs in this TV franchise are little more than self-indulgent, rambling & soporific TV 'dross'. This initial TV movie, however, is a more 3-dimensional film.
A well-scripted story in which the plot gives Lansbury the chance to really act. Enjoy. It offers a fun couple of hours' viewing.
Superb styling. A great story that pans out well, with a couple of surprising plot twists at the end. More worthy of Lansbury's dramatic scope than, sadly, the rest of the TV spin-offs, this is one film that is well worth setting the set-top box to record.
With wonderful subtle references to other 'train crime' movies: the film noir 'Double Indemnity'; 'The 39 Steps' (the rural train station at which Jessica Fletcher disembarks is amusingly named 'Hannay' after that film's lead character Richard Hannay); and of course another famous Hitchcock train movie: 'North by Northwest'. Plus there are elements of 'The Lady Vanishes' when one of the lead characters disappears; all the more poignant, of course, as Angela Lansbury herself starred as 'the lady' in the 1978 film version of the 'TLV'!
Indubitably a fun film for die-hard fans of the TV series. And the most watchable of the spin-offs. Maybe this is because it was the first (made in 1997) of the 4 movies. But in any case the other 3 spin-offs in this TV franchise are little more than self-indulgent, rambling & soporific TV 'dross'. This initial TV movie, however, is a more 3-dimensional film.
A well-scripted story in which the plot gives Lansbury the chance to really act. Enjoy. It offers a fun couple of hours' viewing.
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- SceneByScene
- Dec 21, 2012
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- Se ha escrito un crimen: La muerte viaja en tren
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Top Gap
By what name was Murder, She Wrote: South by Southwest (1997) officially released in Canada in English?
Answer