Lady on a Train (1945) "The Case of the Headless Bride" novel. Anyone ever do a replica?

[Odin82]

"Lady on a Train" from 1945 is a really fun murder mystery from 1940's Universal, and one of the early "eyewitness" plots.

In New York, a woman who partially witnesses a killing from a train window seeks the aid of a crime novelist to solve the murder.

Really fun film with Deanna Durbin, and scratches the murder mystery itch if one has it.

One of the main props the main character has, is a fictional novel called "The Case of the Headless Bride". Screencaps in the film are hard to pick out, and found one promotional image of the actress with the book.

Just wondering if anyone here who loves paper props has made their own version. Can't find any pics of the OG screen used prop.

 

[RafalFett]

Still a WiP, but here is the 1st version:


I chose this red/blue combo because converted to grayscale it looks pretty close to the screenshots/stills:


Enhancing and colorizing the image will be a bit hard, but we'll see if it's doable.

On a side note, Google might think that I lost my mind, because yesterday and today I have intensively searched for vintage wedding dresses and brides:


That pose from the book was a specific one to that period.

 

[rorschach999]

looking good so far

 

[RafalFett]

Thanks!

 

[RafalFett]

First attempt of colorizing, but sadly still no enhancement on the quality:


The base colors were achieved with an automated colorizing software, then I added a bit of saturation, changed the color of the dress and added some color to the flower bouquet.

 

[RafalFett]

A better attempt of colorizing and enhancing. It looks promising:


Update:
I call this the final version (for now); the size was reduced and now the cover dusk jacket should print at 468 x 210 mm (basically the book is close to an A5 format).

 

[RafalFett]

And two bonus photos of Nikki Collins (first enhanced with Topaz Photo AI, partially colorized with an automated option:, then the final colors were added individually):


Made from this screencap:

 

[Odin82]

Google might think that I lost my mind, because yesterday and today I have intensively searched for vintage wedding dresses and brides:

Sweet work dude! Amazing! I know the feeling about googling, as I had been searching for almost the same search terms and finding the same poses and the swooping weddings dress to the sides! In hope of it being a stock image that had been used.

Amazing work Rafal! And with the colouring! Looks incredible! (I had seen there's an old colorized trailer on youtube, but no shot of the book).

Some reason I didn't get any reply notifications.

The end scene has Wayne Morgan's new book on the film too. But hard to find a good pic of it to be able to work with, or see what the image on the cover is.

Hope you enjoyed the film if you had given it a watch!

 

[RafalFett]

Thanks for the kind words, Odin!

I found this colorized version, but I didn't liked the color choices for the book:


I noticed the other book, but I think it will be hard to do something with it. Not impossible, just hard to make...

At one point I'll have to see the movie.

 

[Tenno]

Dunno if it was mentioned before, but did you confer with www.theearlhayspress.com. Chances are they made the book cover.

 

[RafalFett]

I was thinking about that possibility. This is a task for PropsToHistory who is responsible for archiving anything he find in their building.

 

[PropsToHistory]

I was thinking about that possibility. This is a task for PropsToHistory who is responsible for archiving anything he find in their building.

Haha, we found that about a month ago and hadn't identified it yet. I'm back there on Monday. I'll see if I can find it again.

 

[RafalFett]

Haha, we found that about a month ago and hadn't identified it yet. I'm back there on Monday. I'll see if I can find it again.

That is great! I'm sure there are other paper props made by them for Tombstone, more exactly the No Guns Ordinance, the Bird Cage Theater Program and the My Friend Doc Holliday book (these are all WiPs):


And the Circus Program from Batman Forever:


The font and design on the inner left side is identical to the one from the No Guns Ordinance.

 

[Odin82]

Haha, we found that about a month ago and hadn't identified it yet. I'm back there on Monday. I'll see if I can find it again.

Wait, you found this book from Lady on a Train? Noooo wayyy... really? What a coincidence! I was going to post it a few weeks ago but said I'd spend some time researching images first. If the second one is there, would be well cool to see what they look like now!


I'm guessing the newspaper / clipping from the movie is located near it hopefully!

 

[PropsToHistory]

Wait, you found this book from Lady on a Train? Noooo wayyy... really? What a coincidence! I was going to post it a few weeks ago but said I'd spend some time researching images first. If the second one is there, would be well cool to see what they look like now!

Yeah, about a month ago we found that title on 3 different covers. It went into the "figure out what its from later file". Now I just have to find it again :/

 

[Odin82]

That's fantastic man. It's a fairly prominent prop / plot device in the film. If it would be possible, would love to see some photos. It's a terrific fun film.

 

[RafalFett]

I replaced the image in post #6 with a final-ish variant (it's the same cover, but its size was reduced close to an A5 format). Quick jump here ==> Lady on a Train (1945) "The Case of the Headless Bride" novel. Anyone ever do a replica?.

I managed to print the cover at work and found a book good in size, but not thick enough:

 

[Odin82]

I replaced the image in post #6 with a final-ish variant (it's the same cover, but its size was reduced close to an A5 format). Quick jump here ==> Lady on a Train (1945) "The Case of the Headless Bride" novel. Anyone ever do a replica?.

I managed to print the cover at work and found a book good in size, but not thick enough:

Looks absolutely terrific!

I'm going to be printing this out as soon as new ink arrives at work!

 

[RafalFett]

Looks absolutely terrific!

I'm going to be printing this out as soon as new ink arrives at work!

Thanks! Can't wait to see yours.

 

[RafalFett]

Awakening this thread from its lethargy.
Accidentally found the original photo used by Mr. Haskell at the train station to recognize Nikki:


Cleaned up the photo, run in through Topaz Photo AI to enhance it, then used HitPaw Photo Enhancer to partially colorize it, then the final touches were done manually:


This should print around 260 x 220 mm.

I'm also working on the Circus Club matchbook. Here's a preview of the fully vectorized logo (1st variant from the matchbook and the 2nd variant from the sign outside the club):