Murder, He Says (1945)

User Rating:

8.3/10   

Director:

George Marshall

Writers:

Lou Breslow (writer)
Jack Moffitt (story)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

NUTTY...as a...FRUIT CAKE! (original poster)

Plot:

Trotter pollster Pete Marshall is trying to find a missing coworker. In a rural town he stumbles onto the roughian Fleagle family...

Plot Keywords:

Treasure | Dysfunctional Family | Slapstick | Embezzler | Hillbilly

Cast

Fred MacMurray	...	Pete Marshall
Helen Walker	...	Claire Matthews
Marjorie Main	...	Mamie Johnson
Jean Heather	...	Elany Fleagle
Porter Hall	...	Mr. Johnson
Peter Whitney	...	Mert Fleagle / Bert Fleagle
Mabel Paige	...	Grandma Fleagle
Barbara Pepper	...	Bonnie Fleagle
Walter Baldwin	...	Vic Hardy
James Flavin	...	Police Officer
Francis Ford	...	Lee
Si Jenks	...	80-Year-Old
Milton Parsons	...	Townsman
Syd Saylor	...	Townsman
Ralph Peters	...	Townsman

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Grandma gives Pete a cross-stitched sampler on which is stitched a line of music to a nonsense song: "Flizon horzis, Beezin komzis, Onches nobis, Inob keezis."

Quotes:

Pete Marshall: I'm with the Trotter Poll. We're like the Gallop Poll but not as fast.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Unruly Hare (1945)

I'm 52...

I'm 52, and, along with my younger sister and brother, saw this movie, when I was a kid. It remains one of the funniest movies I've ever seen, and I've seen an awful lot of movies. After seeing it the first time, and literally screaming and crying with laughter at much of it, my siblings and I would search the TV Guide as soon as the magazine arrived at our house hoping to find Murder He Says among the listings for the coming week. Once or twice a year, we would be beside ourselves with glee to find it. It was an absolute treat for us.

Many of its scenes are indelibly etched in my memory: Fred MacMurray with Grandma; the scene at the large, lazy-susan dinner table, with everyone trying to move the table one way or another to get the poisoned food away from them; the scenes in the basement toward the end of the movie, and, especially, the scene when Fred MacMurray is caught in the basement coal bin by Bonnie Fleagle (unquestionably, one of the funniest scenes in movie history.

It's a movie that is both frightening and extremely funny. Directed by George Marshall, who also directed several other favorites of mine: Destry Rides Again (Jimmy Stewart and Marlene Dietrich; a 1939 classic); Fancy Pants (Bob Hope) and The Mating Game (Tony Randall, Debbie Reynolds).

Yes, it's improbable and, I'll grant you, silly. It is also, IMHO (in my humble opinion) a great movie. Yes, great...so there!!