La muerte va de viaje

If you can't appreciate the quirky offbeat humor of the late 1940's-1950's then you will not be watching this but if you are looking for a fun off beat escape this will have you longing for some Ma and Pa Kettle!!

From start to finish Whitaker's role is of an obnoxious attorney whose "malpractice" produces an onscreen request for disbarment even before we meet his character.

This storyline is totally unbelievable but isn't that what makes comedies the funniest? There's a fun assortment of real "characters" whose connection with the main characters leads to mayhem and more.

There are mysteries to be solved and relationships to figure out with laughs throughout.

It was well worth the time .. pure 50's fun that I bet my parents totally enjoyed back in the day.

MARJORIE MAIN and JAMES WHITMORE are the title characters in this comedy/mystery from Craig Rice that moves along at a brisk pace and gives both leads a fun time solving a crime.

The audience may not have as much fun, depending on how witty you may or may not think the proceedings are because the accent is on the comedy angle and many of the one-liners aren't loaded with enough ammunition. Fans of Marjorie Main will probably be delighted with her brass characterization but Whitmore gets a little tiresome in his over-confident manner, never at a loss for a flippant remark.

For what really is an MGM B-picture, the cast isn't bad at all. We have PHYLLIS KIRK, ANN DVORAK, DOUGLAS FOWLEY, FRED CLARK and DON PORTER rounding out a good supporting cast, although Kirk has only a brief role at the beginning. All of them handle the mystery/comedy material with professional ease in a story that has Main and Whitmore discovering two dead bodies while a train is enroute from Montana to New York and trying to solve the murder while eluding the efforts of detective Clark to get to the bottom of the matter. Much of the humor depends on their struggle to get a dead body back and forth into different compartments.

It's a breezy sort of B-film that passes the time pleasantly, nothing more, and at a brief running time of one hour and nine minutes probably played the lower half of double bills in '50.

Trivia note: The scene where Marjorie Main sings with a band is painfully funny (with the pain outdoing the laughter). Not for every taste.

Mrs. Hattie O'Malley (Marjorie Main) wins a radio contest for $50k and a trip to New York City. On the way there, she meets cash-strapped Chicago lawyer John J. Malone (James Whitmore). His client Steve Kepplar has just been released from prison and still owes him $10k. Kepplar supposedly stole $100k and the money is still missing. Everybody is looking for him or most specifically, for the money.

I would want Hattie and John to team up sooner and more consistently. It does turn into a fun screwball Weekend at Bernie situation. It's silly although it could get even more ridiculous. It's a solid duo.

James Whitmore and Marjorie Main made an interesting pair of sleuths of convenience as Whitmore an ambulance chasing criminal attorney and Main a radio contest winner wind up as allies on a train from Chicago to New York chasing a deadbeat client who owes Whitmore his fee.

The defendant is an embezzler and he's also thought to have the loot with him. Main and Whitmore find him though, very dead in Whitmore's compartment. Now the task is to find his murderer before the deceased is found.

Such various and sundry folk as an ex-partner Don Porter, an ex-wife Ann Dvorak, a secretary Phyllis Kirk are also on the train and a Chicago PD detective Fred Clark with his patented slow burn, the best this side Edgar Kennedy. And other passengers any one of whom could have been an unknown associate.

Main was at her raucous best and Whitmore seems to model his character on some of Pat O'Brien's fast talking types from the 30s. In fact O'Brien would have been good casting next to Main.

From MGM's B picture unit this was enjoyable mand unpretentious comic film.

Thanks to the recommendation of critic/friend I caught this obscure gem on Showtime in the mid-1980s and have cherished my tape ever since. Boisterous Marjorie Main and blustery James Whitmore are as inspired a detective-team mismatch ever to grace the screen. Set in a cross-country sleeping-car train ride, "Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone" is blessed with expert direction, a crackling script (based on a story by the wondrous Craig Rice, whose novel "Home Sweet Homicide" was the basis of another classic comedy/thriller), MGM's high-gloss production values, and, besides the endearing leads, a first-rate supporting cast (the luminous Ann Dvorak, lovely Phyllis Kirk, etc.) A swift, alternately hilarious and genuinely suspenseful 69 minutes, this forgotten treasure was intended to be the first of a series. A pity that no sequels were ever made. But TCM occasionally shows this gem, and don't miss it. And, amidst the laughter and chills, just try and guess whodunnit!