Murder on a Honeymoon

Murder on a Honeymoon opens aboard a seaplane flying several passengers out to a vacation destination: it's a neat opening scene that sets the plot in motion with a murder and introduces us to all of the suspects as well. Among those passengers is Hildegarde Withers, played one more time by the great Edna May Oliver, who is a bit sick during the flight but recovers nicely when the plane lands and it is discovered that a fellow passenger is dead.

James Gleason returns as Inspector Oscar Piper; it seems the murdered man was involved in a case his department is on, so he hops a flight himself and quickly joins his old collaborator Miss Withers. ("Hildegarde, you get screwier every day" is practically the first thing he says to her when they meet, thus quickly re-establishing their outwardly adversarial, genuinely affectionate personal relationship.)

Good photography—both of island scenes and in some atmospheric shadowy night shots—adds sparkle to a script that neatly balances comic banter with murder. A solid supporting cast features Leo G. Carroll as a big shot movie director (who carries a flask with two compartments in it—one containing the good booze he drinks, one stocked with the cheap stuff he shares with others) and Lola Lane as an aspiring actress hoping to catch his eye.

Overall, the suspense is a bit more taut, the solution more surprising than in the two previous Withers-Piper pictures; it's a top-notch B mystery.

Oliver, especially, is at her very best, especially when dealing with those who underestimate her—for example, the local police chief and doctor, who are beginning the murder investigation while still in their bathing suits: "Don't try to be impressive in that rig, my man," Miss Withers snaps when one attempts brusqueness. "You can't frighten me until you've put on your trousers."

Murder on a Honeymoon is directed by Lloyd Corrigan and adapted to screenplay by Robert Benchley and Seton I. Miller from the novel The Puzzle of the Pepper Tree written by Stuart Palmer. It stars Edna May Oliver, James Gleason, Lola Lane and George Meeker. Music is by Alberto Colombo and cinematography by Nick Musuraca.

During a flight to Catalina Island a passenger falls sick and dies. Hildegard Withers (Oliver) smells a rat but has trouble convincing the authorities that murder is evident. Help is on the way, though, in the shape of Hildegard's side-kick, Inspector Oscar Piper (Gleason).

The third and last outing for Oliver as fun crime solver Hildegard Withers, Murder on a Honeymoon gets in and does a grand job for entertainment purpose. The by-play between Oliver and Gleason is very precious, harking back to a cinematic time when actors attacked their roles with brio, and here the actors are helped by having humourist Benchley at the writing table. The mystery element is strong, and this even though we only have a small group of suspects, while the big reveal is a genuine surprise as the plot twists into crafty avenues.

Phsyical froth meets murder mystery shenanigans. Nice. 7/10

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.

This, and Penguin Pool Murder, are just plain fun and pleasant. Both are well written, surprisingly well photographed and edited. As I get older, I like less drama and more mystery, and more characters. Not a bad format for a TV mystery, like a light-hearted Columbo.

I did not have an appreciation of James Gleason until viewing these two. He is often a minor character actor as is Edna May Oliver (sometimes Mae). Both fare very well as lead actors. It was fun to see a younger Leo G Carroll.

These old movies give one a glimpse of early 1930's America, although perhaps an inaccurate one (it was Depression time). Murder on a Honeymoon shows Catalina Island offshore of Los Angeles in 1935 and of travel/commute by seaplane. It hasn't changed much except that the seaplanes are gone.

... which would be Edna May Oliver as schoolteacher Hildegarde Withers and James Gleason as NYPD detective Oscar Piper. The first film had these two on their way to get married at the conclusion, but that would have ruined the sequels, so they are just good friends and colleagues. In this installment, Hildegarde is going to Catalina on a seaplane when a fellow passenger suddenly takes ill and dies. Law enforcement on the island seems rather lax, and the coroner is just going to chalk it up to heart failure. For some reason, Hildegarde thinks it is murder. Not getting any help from the locals, she wires Oscar in New York. It turns out the man who died was hiding from the police as he was a key witness to the crimes of a big city gang and was afraid for his life. Apparently he was justified in that fear. Oscar thus flies to Catalina to do further investigation, but then the body is stolen in the middle of the night so there can't be a proper autopsy.

So everybody on the plane is a suspect, and they could have been hired by the mob in New York to do away with this guy, but none of them have obvious criminal histories. The plot thus gets rather involved as is the search for the missing body. The fact that the production code is in force blunts the banter between Hildegarde and Oscar, but they are still good together. There was something special about Oliver as Hildegard - The way she adjusted her wrap after making a point, Those eyes that sparkled, the all knowing look she would give. Unfortunately this will be her last film in this role as she switches studios from RKO to MGM where she plays in support of a number of production code era costume dramas. I don't think that movie factory MGM ever got the mileage out of her that little RKO did. But I digress. I would recommend this one, but definitely see "Penguin Pool Murder" first as it lays the groundwork for the relationship between Withers and Piper.