blanche-2 "Murder, He Says," is a comedy from 1945 starring Fred MacMurray, Helen Walker, Marjorie Main, and Porter Hall.MacMurray plays Pete Marshall, a pollster who goes looking for another employee who disappeared. He soon finds himself at the mercy of a bunch of inbreds who are looking for money hidden by a relative, Bonnie Fleagle, who is in prison. The matriarch, Ma (Marjorie Main) walks around with a whip to keep everybody in line. Everybody includes twin brothers, Mert and Bert, one of whom has a crick in his neck. This leads to a funny scene later.Pete can't seem to get away from them, and they make him pretend he's Bonnie's boyfriend, hoping that grandma, whom Ma poisoned with something that makes her glow in the dark, knows where the money is. Grandma gives Pete a sampler with a song on it, and something to quote for Bonnie. Meanwhile, another relative, Elany, seems to know the song, but the words she sings are nonsensical.Things become more complicated when Bonnie (Helen Walker) escapes from prison and shows up. Except she's not Bonnie. Her father was accused of helping Bonnie Fleagle steal $70,000, and she wants to find it to clear his name. Pete is all for hightailing it out of there, but she wants to stay and find the loot. Everyone knuckles under to her until the real Bonnie (Barbara Pepper) shows up.I perhaps wasn't in the mood for this comedy, but it was very funny anyway, if a little long. The scene at the dinner table is hilarious. I just don't understand how this glow in the dark stuff was supposed to work. Anyway, the house is filled with hidden passages that everyone disappears in and appears from.Fred MacMurray was perfect for this, a normal guy caught up in complete insanity. Helen Walker, whose career would suffer so badly later on, is terrific. Marjorie Main - off the wall with that whip. Brilliant.The denouement is clever and a riot.Helen Walker gave a ride to three soldiers on New Year's Eve 1946, and had a terrible accident where one soldier was killed and the other two injured. The surviving soldiers accused her of driving drunk and speeding, and she was put on trial. She was cleared, but her career was basically over. She died at 47. In this film, she's on the verge of stardom and after "Murder, He Says," she was cast as the lead in a big film, "Heaven Only Knows," but the producers replaced her.She's very good here -- if you get a chance to catch this film on TCM, don't miss it.

sinful-2 I was not having any high expectations seeing this movie, but I did initially understand the very high rating it had. I had a very good time watching the first 45 minutes.Unfortunately as with many comedies they do not know when to stop. So the movie does go on at least 20 minutes too long. If you do enjoy seeing people chase each other around in an old house for half an hour then it will not loose momentum for you and most likely still be hell of a kick. But for me personally I just sat and waited to see what the end would be for a quite long time.Too bad really as good actors and fair story. It just outstays it welcome in my opinion. Also quite good ending. I just wish it had been there much earlier. For me that was the difference between a gem and something not worth spending your time on.

davetree Custom made for Fifties TV. Ma Kettle with a shotgun, but the gun doesn't make her any funnier--was she ever?--even for late 40's audiences, perhaps still around in Rick Perry territory, it dies on the vine.Predictable, silly, not really a lot of fun even as an historical piece.Most interesting thing was the clever filming of the same-actor twins.But really, a 1/2 hr episode of any "Lucy" show, built along the same nonsense, is funnier. Aside from "history" a waste of time.The hay bales wrapped around people at the end...all of them looked zonked. Was it really hay???! Ho ho Hah hah The ho's and ha's is about at the level of this

patterson-m Most everyone who has seen this movie agrees that it is VERY funny...one of Fred McMurray's best, and Marjorie Main is really a HOOT. For those who DON'T want to pay an exorbitant price, there is a DVD available from BLOWOUTVIDEO for $14.95 plus $4.95 S&H. I just got one so it is a legit offer. And I received it within a week from ordering. Don't expect HiDef quality; this is probably even a pirated, bootleg copy since the disc has no label although the jewel case has the same poster image as the studio issued copies (and it is sent from Las Vegas)! But if you just like the movie for it's goofy antics, this is probably a good bargain.