BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

Bessie Smyth Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Cassandra Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

utgard14 Classic comedy starring Fred MacMurray as a pollster who shows up at a hillbilly family's house looking for another pollster who went missing in the area. He finds himself knee-deep in trouble with the hillbillies, who are a clan of criminals looking for some money that only their dying grandmother knows the location of -- and she only wants to tell Fred. Things get even more crazy when Helen Walker shows up, claiming to be the Bonnie Parker-esque member of the family who recently escaped from prison.It's a very funny movie with MacMurray in rare form as the poor guy who stumbles into a weird situation and can't wait to get out of it. The bit where he pretends to talk to a ghost to fool the dumb twins is priceless. At one point in the movie there's a clever gag where MacMurray's character comes upon an idea involving an organ because he saw the same bit in The Ghost Breakers, which was another Paramount comedy directed by George Marshall. Another great scene has MacMurray doing his version of Dorf decades before Tim Conway. Helen Walker is lovely and does a fine job but her part is mostly a straight one with few laughs. Marjorie Main is wonderful as a sort of dark version of her famous Ma Kettle character. Peter Whitney is lots of fun playing a set of dimwitted but violent twins. The rest of the cast includes Porter Hall, Jean Heather, Barbara Pepper, and a scene-stealing Mabel Paige as the grandmother. It's a good comedy with a terrific cast. Probably could've trimmed ten minutes in the middle but it doesn't hurt the pace too much. Definitely worth a look.

edwagreen This film was an insult to anyone's intelligence.Fred MacMurray collects statistics regarding rural areas and comes up a bunch of hillbilly murderers who are seeking a fortune buried somewhere.Helen Walker comes along and pretends to be the head gal of the clan who just broke out of jail. Turns out that she isn't Bonnie and is only there to clear her father's name. Her father was working in the bank on the night of the robbery and was accused of being part of the robbery team.Marjorie Main is the common old hag with two idiotic sons and a granddaughter who sings constantly. Main walks around with a whip and shoots a gun a lot as well. She is vile as her character is the beginning of a kinder Ma Kettle 2 years later, in 1947, and later.Bad enough, the film gets even worse with chase scenes, the real Bonnie showing up, people getting hit over the head and choked. The barn scene finale at the end becomes annoying.

Robert J. Maxwell I saw this as a kid in the Mayfair Theater in Hillside, New Jersey, at an age perfectly suited to being thrilled by the danger and amused by the jokes and slapstick. Saw it again recently and didn't find it quite so enthralling, but then it's harder for anything to set my ganglia aglow these days.Fred MacMurray, in a fine performance, is in the Bob Hope role -- a pollster who visits a house filled with lunatics somewhere in Southern Appalachia. He's swept up in the family's search for seventy thousand dollars they believe to be buried or hidden somewhere on the property. So is another visitor who appears a little later, the innocent Helen Walker.Marjorie Main is the domineering matriarch of the Jukes or the Kallikaks or whatever their name is. "Fleagle," that's it. She's great too, a flamboyant, gravel-voiced old lady barking out orders and wielding a bull whip. She can switch in a moment from impatient anger to cajolery and fraudulent sobs when the situation demands it.Her retarded sons are both played as twins by Peter Whitney. When MacMurray pretends to chat with the ghost of a man they've murdered, one twin asks the other, "You see him?", and the reply is, "Not too plain." Also present are Jean Heather as a still more retarded offspring.No sense going on about the silly plot. The ancient house is falling apart, there are multiple secret passages and hidden corridors through which a frantic chase is pursued -- and for a change the chase is funny. If you want to see failed farcical climactic chases, see "Sex and the Single Girl" or "What's New, Pussycat." But farces are always faced with this problem. How do you frame a climax that is more ludicrous than everything that's come before. Well, it works here. Everyone winds up packed into bales of hay. And it's all without any musical score to cue the laughter.

ZorbaLives I just saw this movie at the LaSalle Bank Cinema, a theater in Chicago where, each Saturday, a film noir movie is shown. This week's movie was Murder, He Said starring Fred Mac Murray. The audience (over 300 people) laughed out loud and were accompanied by a lady (near the front of the theater) who would react with a scream or a warning to Mac Murray whenever trouble would arrive. To say that a film over 60 years old would receive such reactions from a contemporary crowd would testify to the holding power and entertaining qualities of these old films. Mac Murray's comedic timing for the pratfall, wise crack and sarcasm was impeccable. I understand that this movie may have been intended as a vehicle for Bob Hope but Mac Murray did well. Marjorie Main with her whip, Peter Whitney as "the twins", and the beautiful Helen Walker as the heroine/love interest, were superb. Yes, I would recommend seeing this film but, as with many films, its best seen with a crowd with whom you can share in their reactions.