Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone (1950)

Director:

Norman Taurog

Writers:

William Bowers (writer)
Stuart Palmer (story)

Release Date:

8 December 1950 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Mystery

Tagline:

MGM's NEW SCREAM TEAM... (original print ad - all caps)

Plot:

"Murder-on-the-train" mystery has lawyer Malone chasing his paroled embezzler client (Kepplar) who still hasn't paid Malone's fee...

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Railway | Character Name In Title

Cast

Marjorie Main	...	Harriet 'Hattie' O'Malley
James Whitmore	...	John J. Malone
Ann Dvorak	...	Connie Kepplar
Phyllis Kirk	...	Kay, Malone's Secretary
Fred Clark	...	Inspector Tim Marino
Dorothy Malone	...	Lola Gillway
Clinton Sundberg	...	Donald, Steve's bookie
Douglas Fowley	...	Steve Kepplar
Willard Waterman	...	Mr. Ogle, Compartment 208-A
Don Porter	...	Myron Brynk
Jack Bailey	...	The Game Show Host
Nancy Saunders	...	Joanie, Hattie's Niece
Basil Tellou	...	The Greek Passenger, with beard
James Burke	...	The Train Conductor

Runtime:

69 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #14730)

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Intended as the first of a planned film series with stars Main and Whitmore.

Sleeping car train is the setting for MGM comedy/mystery...

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.