Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone

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.

The script lags at times but it is full of fun lines. Despite its flaws there are a quite a few laugh out loud moments - mostly thanks to the cast.

It is an all star cast full of some comedic talents as well as some very lovely ingenues. James Whitmore is a fine actor but I don't think he was a master of comedy.

The real shame is Ann Dvorak isn't givem much to do. She was a fun comedienne at the height of her talent at this point.

If you enjoy silly old fashioned fun and quirky characters I think you will enjoy this. If you ignore some of the script's flaws you can enjoy this as an undiscovered jewel.

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!

... that could have benefited from the leads having more chemistry, as did the mismatched crime-solving pair of the thirties, Hildegard Withers and Oscar Piper of the Penguin Pool Murder series. Mrs. O'Malley (Marjorie Main) owns/runs a boarding house in Montana and wins a radio contest by recognizing an obscure song, one her late drunken husband apparently sang after he jumped off a roof believing he could fly - thus his status as deceased. Part of her prize is a trip to New York.

Meanwhile, John Malone (James Whitmore) is a big city lawyer that makes good money but whose dissolute lifestyle has his business on the ropes. He gambles, drinks, and womanizes with wild abandon and only with his long-unpaid secretary getting ready to walk and the lights about to be turned off does he suddenly pay attention to his financial house. He thinks he's found a solution though. Steve Keppler, a man jailed for embezzlement whose parole Malone negotiated is getting out of jail and Malone is expecting a 10K fee from him. Also note that Steve Keppler has never given up the 100K that he stole, that he has supposedly hidden the money from his other partner(s) in the heist, and that he has a greedy ex-wife. Keppler skips town without paying off Malone or anybody else, supposedly with the 100K in tow. The police know Keppler's taken a train to New York, and they're aboard as is everyone else who's looking for him. Did I fail to mention Mrs. O'Malley is on this train too, in the compartment next to Mr. Malone? What follows is a murder on board the train with Malone looking like he's been framed and Mrs. O'Malley helping Malone try to solve the mystery before the police can nail him for the crime. Ms. Main holds up her end marvelously with her famous brand of rough verbal and physical comedy, and Mr. Whitmore does well too but for one annoying habit. His character ogles and sophomorically hits on every attractive woman he sees often before the last woman he hit on is two feet away. Mr. Malone needs more Bogart in his routine with women and less Harpo Marx, who is frankly who he reminds me of during these particular scenes.

Overall, this film is more humor than it is mystery, and it is pretty fast-paced. The introductory musical score sounds like something from 50's TV, which is what B features like this were competing with in 1950 with the "attack of the small screens" already eating into studio profits. I recommend this one for an amusing 70 minutes or so of fun.