Murder, He Says

“Meet the Fleagles. You’ll love the nut-like flavor in Paramount’s hilarious comedy-mystery”

Fred MacMurray (The Absent-Minded Professor, Double Indemnity) stars as the hapless Pete Marshall, a pollster who has been sent by his company to locate a coworker who is missing. While following his coworker’s trail, he ends up at the home of the Fleagles. The Fleagles are a family of backwoods criminals that include the whip-toting matriarch Mamie Fleagle Smithers Johnson, twin boys Mert and Bert who have a passion for shotguns, Grandma, and Ma’s husband, innovator Mr. Johnson.

Under the threat of death, Mamie coerces Pete to learn from the dying Grandma the location of $70,000 that she is hiding for her imprisoned granddaughter Bonnie. Grandma dies after giving Pete a clue to the money’s whereabouts. When Bonnie shows up looking for the money, Pete must work to find the money, escape the house, and avoid being shot by the twins, poisoned by Mamie, or killed by a shrouded stranger wandering through the house.

The plot of Murder, He Says revolves around two mysteries. The first being the location of the missing coworker that brings Pete to the Fleagles house in the first place. This is solved pretty quickly early in the film. The second mystery is the location of $70,000 in stolen money that Grandma is hiding for her granddaughter Bonnie. The issue with the hidden money is that for the most part, Pete doesn’t care about the money. He just wants to leave the property but is either manipulated or coerced into finding it. As far as mystery goes, this one is a bit of a dud. There is only one clue in the form of a nonsense song that Grandma gives to Pete to deliver to Bonnie. While not entirely indecipherable, there is no other clues given for the audience to even try and solve the mystery themselves. Most of the movie is Pete running from one bad situation to another while trying to escape the Fleagles.

Murder, He Says gives more laughs than it does mystery. The comedy falls heavily onto the slapstick type, but there are some good dialogue and situational laughs. One bit involving Fred Macmurray straddling the legs of unconscious Mert (or was it Bert?) and pretending they are his legs is reused years later in the Gene Wilder comedy Haunted Honeymoon. Other great moments include a dinner table scene where Pete really wants gravy, and a plot climax involving a hale bale maker in a barn. While modern audiences may miss out on some of the jokes that are of the time, there are still plenty of laughs to be had in Murder, He Says.

These laughs are greatly attributed to the performances of some of the actors in the film. When watching Murder, He Says, you get to see the Majorie Main (Ma and Pa Kettle, Meet Me in St. Louis) perform as Mamie Fleagle Smithers Johnson, a role that may have influenced her later successful performance as Ma Kettle. Her threatening, tough as nails persona not only brings a bit of danger into the plot, but also delivers laughs as she pushes around the other actors that are much bigger than she is. Her accent, movement, and facial expressions are so natural for her that it is hard to believe that in real life she was said to be soft-spoken and shy.

Another stand-out performance was that of Peter Whitney (Three Strangers, Whistling in Dixie) who played the twins Mert and Bert. While his interactions with the other actors were well performed, it is his interactions with himself that are great to watch. The split-screen and body double effects for twins played by the same actor had been used before and since, but few at that time were as natural and clean as this film. For the most part, it is hard to tell that it is one actor when they are both in the scene. Especially when they (he?) interact with each other.

As for the lead actor, Fred MacMurray, this film is a mixed bag. He has some memorable comedy bits including the aforementioned fake leg bit and another where he pantomimes with a “ghost” to fool the twins. But his delivery of a nervous and scared individual is a bit too hammy for me. In those scenes when his performance pulls back a bit, we see both the actor and the character shine.

I have to mention the house set for the film. Great work on the designers for both the look of the home and the layout for the maze of hallways, hidden passages, and rooms they developed throughout the film. Personally, I would love to own this house if it were real.

I was very disappointed with the DVD that I purchased for this review. It is from TCM and is a M.O.D. (Manufactured On Demand) DVD that contains only the movie. No special features, no scene navigation, nothing. On top of that, like many M.O.D.s I have purchased, there were issues getting it to run on my players. I was able to get it to run on my DVD player, but it made a lot of racket as it spun, popped it into my Blu-Ray player and it was fine, then I put it in my computer to get some screen grabs and most video players wouldn’t even recognize it as a playable disc. I am waiting to see if I can exchange it and see if it was a bad burn (as I have had before). There is a double feature version that may be a better deal. As always, both are linked below if you want to get yourself a copy. However, no matter what, I am glad to have Murder, He Says in my collection even with the poor release.

Murder, He Says is a good old fashion comedy. Lots of slapstick, plenty of goofiness, and pretty innocent. As a whole, the cast puts on a good show and delivers all the laughs you would expect from a film from the ’40s. It also has some memorable segments that you will probably use if you reference this movie in the future. So pop this into your player, grab your bullwhip, relax on your couch, and save me some popcorn!

Rating:

Jack Savage:

“Honors flysis. Income beezis. Onches nobis. Inob keesis.”

Film Clip:

Grab Yourself a Copy by Clicking Below and Support Our Site!