Murder, He Says

Pollster Pete Marshall (Fred MacMurray) is up in the mountains looking for his missing colleage. He is directed to the Fleagle clan led by Mamie Fleagle Smithers Johnson (Marjorie Main). On her death bed, the matriarch reveals to only him clues to a hidden $30k stolen loot. He is supposed to show the criminal Bonnie Fleagle, but he barely understands the clues himself. Claire Matthews (Helen Walker) comes looking for the money while pretending to be Bonnie. This starts off with a bit of fun with MacMurray. Then the plot turns convoluted and it becomes a Scooby-Doo mystery. It doesn't all work but it is enjoyable fun.

Murder, He Says (1945) : Brief Review -

George Marshall gives a "glowing" touch to "The Ghostbusters" (1940) days, minus Bob Hope hysteria. Remember James Whale's classic gothic horror-comedy "Old Dark House" (1932) and Bob Hope's "The Cat and the Canary" and "The Ghostbusters"? Murder, He Says is something like that, but you have no Bab Hope going hysterical with his trademark chatter and jokes. Of course, you can't have Fred MacMurray as his replacement, but this wasn't even supposed to be one of those comparisons. Look at it as a fresh film, and you have a super entertainer in front of your eyes. Murder, He Says is a mix of murder mystery and comedy, and then you have a slight touch of horror as well. MacMurray plays a trotter poller, looking for one of his colleagues who went missing. He goes to the haunted-like house of the nutty and murderous Fleagles family and finds himself in a jam. A dying granny tells him a secret of $70, 000 of bank loot, and he can't make a head or tail out of it. Bonnie, a jailbird who has had a successful jailbreak, is after the money and arrives at the house at the right time. Wait, do we have a real Bonnie? Let's not spoil the fun. So, things get mixed up in the house, and the search for money turns the family members against each other. Meanwhile, fake Bonnie has her own agenda, and we have a scientist with a powerful glowing liquid to make things mystical and intriguing. The script, the screenplay, and the character fit well in the funny mess together, and we certainly enjoy the chaos. Seeing Fred MacMurray in such a funny role was a big surprise to me. I have always seen him in intense and classy roles. Helen Walker brought that Bonnie accent well, but the character wasn't well-written. Marjorie Main was deadly, and Jean Heather sounded cutely dumb. Marshall's trademark scenes were visible here. He actually made them look different and did quite well there. Overall, a healthy entertainer.

RATING - 7/10*

By - #samthebestest.

So silly that's it's actually hilarious. Holds it's own thru the years. Fred McMurray is totally incredulous thru it all and Helen Walker is his beautiful counterpart. The mystery is good. And of course the topping on the cake is Marjorie Main with that whip! BTW Let's not forget Peter Whitney playing both twins. Super job. The whole cast deserves a good round of applause.

Fred MacMurray gives his funniest performance as a pollster who gets tangled up in the plots of maniacal hayseeds in search of stolen money.

The plot is beyond description with so many twists and turns it keeps you guessing. The pacing is brisk and the film is filled with slapstick, in-jokes, puns, and references to other films. This is a very modern, very black comedy, and it's totally hilarious.

MacMurray was always a smooth comedy leading man but here he's outright funny and loose. Helen Walker is also very good as one of the Bonnies. Marjorie Main is hysterical as she prowls around with her whip. Peter Whitney is excellent as the twins. Jean Heather has her best role. Porter Hall is always a treat. And Mabel Paige positively GLOWS as Grandma.

A must see film! And remember: honors flysis, income beezis!!

I had always wanted to check out this black comedy – a rare thing for Hollywood during this era (off-hand, the only other one I can recall is ARSENIC AND OLD LACE [1944]). However, it's never been available to me until now…so that, in compiling a list of lightweight titles I most wanted to watch throughout the Christmas season, it's no surprise the film ended up at the top of the list. Even so, this has more of a cult than classic reputation – but it was certainly a delight: incidentally, while I'm usually somewhat queasy watching movies centering around hillbillies, their inherent eccentric nature works perfectly within the context of MURDER, HE SAYS' bizarre plot.

By the way, the greedy/homicidal-family-after-a-sum-of-money involved harks back to the popular 'old dark house'-type comedy-thrillers – which undoubtedly gives the whole added appeal. With this in mind, the location of the loot being hidden within the nonsensical verses of an old ditty is a much-used device in this kind of picture – as is the presence in the house of both a secret passageway and a mysterious assailant (whose identity actually isn't hard to guess). Similarly, the fact that the moribund crone (justifiably) suspects her relatives' motives and opts to confide in a stranger is particularly reminiscent of the wonderful Sir Roderick Femm scene in my favorite subgenre entry – the appropriately-titled THE OLD DARK HOUSE (1932).

That said, the original elements here are no less engaging – with the unlikely albeit effectively-handled 'glowing poison' expedient a recurring motif (which reaches its zenith in the hilarious dinner sequence around an inconveniently revolving table). The most side-splitting visual gags, then, both feature bodily contortions: the hero being tied up in a most awkward position to be grilled by the Fleagles and his own later pretense as a midget in order to conceal one of their two identical sons lying unconscious at his real feet! For the record, there's even an amusing in-joke in the film's reference to THE GHOST BREAKERS (1940) – the marvelous Bob Hope comedy-horror vehicle, also made by director Marshall at Paramount!

Fred MacMurray makes for an ideal lead – suitably bewildered and out-of-his-depth at first, but who eventually contrives to outwit the crazy clan by employing his 'superior' city-slicker ways. Apart from a whip-cracking Marjorie Main (perhaps the quintessential female hick) and mad scientist(!) Porter Hall as the respective heads of the backwoods brood, the remaining cast members were unknown to me – though all enter gleefully into the offbeat spirit of the thing. The twins were obviously played by the same actor and, unsurprisingly, leading lady Helen Walker turns out not to be vicious/demented after all (since she's only impersonating a convicted member of the dysfunctional family, with the real character herself surfacing towards the end).

Maintaining a frenzied pitch virtually for the entire duration (leading to an extended chase finale that's capped by an inventive come-uppance for practically the entire main cast) makes the film seem longer than its 94 minutes – but it's an inspired ride all the way, and great fun to boot. The quality of the copy I acquired (derived from VHS) isn't optimal if still quite passable under the circumstances…at least until Universal (who now owns the film) sees fit to give it a decent – and much-deserved – release on DVD. I guess HD-DVD is out-of-the-question for such an obscure little item and, in any case, I'm not yet willing to give in to the format just yet owing to the undue hassle and expense this would clearly entail!