BY TIM MCGLYNN
$70,000
is hidden somewhere on the Fleagle family farm and everyone wants to find
it. Kino-Lorber has released a Blu-ray
of the madcap comedy Murder, He Says from Paramount in 1945 wherein a wild cast
of crazies will do just about anything to find the loot.
Fred
MacMurray plays pollster Pete Marshall who is searching the highways and byways
of rural Arkansas looking for a fellow employee of his company, Trotter
Polls. After he gets lost on a dark road
one night he meets the Fleagle family led by the whip-snapping matriarch Mamie
Fleagle Smithers Johnson (Marjorie Main). Aided by her twin sons Mert and Bert (Peter Whitney), Mamie believes
that Pete knows where the booty from a bank holdup that their sister, Bonnie
Fleagle (Barbara Pepper), hid on the grounds before she landed in the
slammer. Add in Elany (Jean Heather),
another Fleagle sister who is “touchedâ€, Mamie’s third husband (Porter Hall),
Helen (Clair Matthews), a member of a neighboring family who was wronged by the
Fleagles, Grandma Fleagle (Mabel Paige), who knows where the money is hidden
and finally, the many assorted Fleagle farm animals, and you have a wild
90-minute chase in the same vein as It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.
Director
George Marshall, a fifty-year veteran from the silents to John Wayne’s Big Jake
in 1971, keeps a lid on the festivities and allows the story to unfold in real
time. There is much physical humor
including a classic scene where Mamie serves a meal to everyone at a lazy Susan
table. Everyone knows that one of the
servings is poisoned, but no one will admit it. The table swings around so many times that the lethal serving gets lost
among the plates. Another set-up
involves a crazed baling machine that ties up all the characters into large
bundles of hay. These scenes are played
without any background score as laughs are piled upon laughs and the gags just
don’t quit. The entire film is devoid of
music with the exception of a nursery-like tune that holds clues to the whereabouts
of the stolen cash. Elany continues to
sing this silly melody throughout the movie to the extreme annoyance of the
other characters.
Fred
MacMurray is terrific as the put upon Pete, constantly frustrated in his
attempts to locate both the money and his missing co-worker. One is reminded of his later performances in
the live action Disney comedies of the ‘60s and his role in the television show
My Three Sons. This film was released a
year after MacMurray’s turn as the duped insurance salesman in Double
Indemnity, which demonstrated the range of his acting skills. He would go on to play a real cad as Thomas
Keefer in The Caine Mutiny in 1954.
Murder
He Says was actually produced in 1944, the same year as Double Indemnity, but
held back by Paramount for a year. It
was felt by studio executives that a comedy could wait until the expected end
of the war in 1945. The studio still had
military pictures in the pipeline that it wanted to get released first. Ironically, it was service personnel returning
to the U.S. on the Queen Mary who got the first look at this film.
Marjorie
Main, an audience favorite from film and radio, is at her best playing Mamie,
the tough as nails leader of the family. She keeps her twin sons in line as she beats on them constantly when
they disobey her. Peter Whitney’s dual
role as Mert and Bert is flawless as many moviegoers at the time assumed the
actors were also twins. Brilliant
staging by director Marshall and the matte magic of Gordon Jennings allowed
Whitney to slip easily between the two characters. This is not the split screen of 60s
television with Patty Duke. The matte
lines here are completely invisible and the clever use of a body double make
you forget it is only one actor. Today’s
audiences might recognize Whitney as one of Rod Steiger’s deputies from In the
Heat of the Night. Claire
Matthews plays Helen, who spends most of the movie masquerading as the Fleagle
sister who robbed the bank. She plays
foil to Pete in their efforts to escape this house of humorous horrors.
The
rest of the cast is equally skilled although special mention needs to be given
to Porter Hall as the somewhat creepy inventor husband of Mamie. He creates a potion that makes people and
animals glow in the dark. Why? Because he’s just a little off his nut, like
everyone else in this loony story. The
scenes with this ghostly effect are also noteworthy for the work of Jennings
and his assistant, Paul Lerpe.
This
edition from the folks at Kino-Lorber is taken from a 4K master and the results
are beautiful. Black and white
photography responds so well to restoration and, along with the noir style of
lighting and photography, allows the picture to almost jump off the screen.
If
you are a fan of the dark humor of Arsenic and Old Lace, then Murder, He Says is
right up your alley. As with all clever comedies, this film needs to be watched
intently so as not to miss any of the witty dialogue. It would be funniest if viewed in a group as
many of the sight gags present repeated laughter as they build to a
climax.
Besides
the striking print of the movie, Kino-Lorber has including a feature length
commentary by filmmaker/historian Michael Schlesinger and film archivist Stan
Taffel. These two gentlemen know this
film inside out and they share many funny anecdotes concerning the cast and the
production. They themselves are funny
guys and this track is almost as enjoyable as the movie itself. Also included is the theatrical trailer.
During
these trying times we really need the opportunity to laugh and forget all of
our concerns. I recommend buying this
disc and getting comfortable for a clever and screamingly funny entertainment.
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