Murder on a Honeymoon

This was — I believe — the third of the series and the last with this woman. I like these because James Gleason does a ratatat detective, cigar-chomping, who always gets things wrong. The original idea was that a schoolmarm bests him, but her position as a teacher seems to have been forgotten after the first two.

In the first one, they actually fall in love. In the second, she establishes a new pattern as the pushy friend who seems to muddle through before the officials do. It was Gleason that makes these work. He's something of a genius.

In this one, two things are changed. The mystery goes from a pre-noir template to an Agatha Christie one: murder on a small airplane. That means you have only so many suspects and we have seen them all moving about and bumping each other, each doing something suspicious. So its mildly more engaging as a mystery than any of the others.

But something else changes here. There's much, much more physical humor. She tumbles about ungracefully as if that were a hoot. Gleason's inspector gets whacked by every door he gets close to.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

Edna Mae Oliver and James Gleason are a perfect team. Their exchanges are hilarious.

The supporting cast are also first rate and the murder mystery storyline is done well.

Murder On A Honeymoon finds Edna May Oliver on holiday to Catalina Island where on the small plane she's traveling on, a witness in a mob case from New York is poisoned. The case piques the interest of Oliver's old friend Inspector James Gleason of the NYPD for him to come out and help the Catalina PD.

In these three films Edna May is a virtual stand-in for Agatha Christie's Miss Jane Marple who is constantly making fools of the police wherever they may be. But she and Gleason have a really effective chemistry in the three films they did. Sad to say Edna May did not want to continue the series. She and Gleason would have been a great weekly series in the age of television.

Murder On A Honeymoon may have been the best of the three films because based on the other two, I thought I had the perpetrator all picked out. But I was completely wrong and I think other viewers will fall in the same trap. Two other murders occur before Gleason and Oliver finally figure it out. By the way the clue here is in how the crime was committed. And a big red herring is also served up for the audience to convince you of the perpetrator's apparent innocence.

Even on vacation it seems as though Edna May's Hildegarde Withers can't get away from murder.

Edna May Oliver is flying out to Catalina when one of her fellow passengers falls ill and dies. The police don't think it's anything but natural. Miss Oliver disagrees. She reaches out to James Gleason in New York City, who soon discovers the dead man is a wanted criminal. He joins Miss Oliver on Catalina to figure out which of the passengers is a murderer.

It's the third and final pairing of the two leads in RKO's series of movies about Stuart Palmer's amateur detective Hildegard Withers and the bumbling Inspector Piper. The exchanges are sharp, Miss Oliver has it all in over Gleason, and this clearly made money; RKO continued the series for two more episodes. So why did Miss Oliver not appear in them? After a lifetime as a stage actress, playing the same role wasn't an issue. I believe that she simply became too expensive for RKO. The year this movie came out, Miss Oliver signed a contract with MGM. RKO simply could not afford to pay MGM's rates to borrow the actress.

So we have to enjoy this and the earlier two entries in the series. RKO certainly did her proud, hiring Robert Benchley to co-write the screenplay, and surrounding her with a capable cast that included Lola Lane, George Meeker, Dorothy Libaire, and Leo G. Carroll.

Another fun Hildegarde Withers mystery starring the great Edna May Oliver. This is the third and final Withers film starring Oliver. She would be replaced by two other actresses in the other films. Those don't match up to the Oliver entries in the series but are watchable. The plot here is about Hildy flying on a plane when one of the passengers is mysteriously killed. When the plane lands Hildy wastes no time starting her investigation. She contacts Inspector Piper (James Gleason), who quickly comes to help. Oliver and Gleason are terrific, as always. Their banter and chemistry is the primary reason to watch these movies. Nice cast includes Leo G. Carroll and the lovely Lola Lane. Willie Best also appears in one of his stereotypical parts that will make some modern viewers uncomfortable.