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

"Murder-on-the-train" mystery has lawyer Malone chasing his paroled embezzler client (Kepplar) who still hasn't paid Malone's fee. When Kepplar jumps parole on a train to Chicago, Malone ... See full summary »

Director:

Norman Taurog

Writers:

William Bowers, Stuart Palmer (story),

Stars:

Marjorie Main, James Whitmore, Ann Dvorak

Cast

Complete credited 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

Storyline

"Murder-on-the-train" mystery has lawyer Malone chasing his paroled embezzler client (Kepplar) who still hasn't paid Malone's fee. When Kepplar jumps parole on a train to Chicago, Malone follows, in company with Kepplar's ex-wife, a police inspector and Mrs. O'Malley, a hearty radio contest winner from Montana. Kepplar is murdered, and a game of musical corpses commences, with hijinks in coach corridors as Malone and Hattie search for the killer.

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Plot Keywords:

railway | character name in title

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Taglines:

THEY'RE WACKY! (original print ad - all caps)

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Genres:

Comedy | Mystery

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 December 1950 (USA)

Also Known As:

Trem das Surpresas

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

69 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

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

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Soundtracks

"Missus O'Malley and Mister Malone"
(uncredited)
Music by Adolph Deutsch
Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster

User Reviews

Would Have Been Better with Miss Withers As Originally Written.

The original story that inspired this film -- "Loco Motive" -- was a collaboration between Craig Rice and Stuart Palmer, featuring her alcoholic Chicago lawyer detective, John J. Malone, and his New York old-maid schoolteacher sleuth, Hildegarde Withers; it was the first of several stories (collected as "The People vs, Withers and Malone") teaming the two, generally in ways calculated to enrage and/or frustrate Malone's Chicago nemesis, Captain von Flanagan or Hildie's long-suffering New York Homicide detective, Inspector Oscar Piper.

Presumably because of rights issues -- money, perhaps, though this could have been during the time that Palmer (due to a divorce settlement) was intentionally making as little money as possible -- The Miss Withers part was rewritten to eliminate her.

It wasn't till some time later that an attempt was made to bring Hildie to the screen on TV, embodied in the formidable person of Eve Arden.

Other than disappointing fans of Miss Withers or of the original story in and of itself, this is a decent enough film of it.