Very disappointed :(

recommended

Perfectly adorable

Best movie ever!

Fred MacMurray (Pete) arrives at a backwater town to carry out some market research and find out what happened to his predecessor. He is pointed in the direction of the Fleagle family and he basically never leaves their premises. The Fleagles are a murderous bunch who are after some hidden money.The film is a comedy with plenty of slapstick. It's OK as entertainment but that's all, I'm afraid. There are some genuinely funny laugh-out-loud scenes. Two to watch out for are the Lazy-Susan episode where 7 people sit down to dinner and keep spinning the table around to avoid the plate of poison food. It's funny throughout and ends with a surprise. The second stand-out scene occurs when escaped convict Barbara Pepper (Bonnie) confronts MacMurray and mistakes him for one of her thick cousins. She quizzes him as to where the money is hidden whilst MacMurray is sitting on the real cousin who is inside the chest but whose legs are dangling over the edge making it look like they belong to MacMurray. This scene is hilarious as MacMurray tries to control the legs and throws in a bit of improvisation. I love how MacMurray keeps turning to bash the cousin on the head inside the trunk. MacMurray is good as always taking everything in his stride. Unfortunately, outside of these scenes, the film drags and certain episodes just aren't funny. You end up willing the film to finish and the final chase just drags on.

Guess I won't be making a trip to the backwoods anytime soon after seeing this advertisement for staying home. Just look at what happened to poor Pete Marshall (MacMurray). Here he is, some nicely dressed bureaucrat trying to do what his job tells him. So out he goes to the sticks to count noses and (shudder! shudder!) meets up with what can only be called The Hillbillies from Heck, otherwise known as the family Fleagle. First, there's Ma Fleagle (Main) who's just gone a few rounds with Mike Tyson and is now looking for new victims, with a voice about as gentle as an air raid siren. Then there's the brothers Fleagle, Mert and Bert (Whitney), whose combined IQ is about 25, which is just about how many tons their hulking frames can lift. And don't forget dear Granny (Paige) who's just resting up between pot shots at any stranger who mistakes her for their own grandmother. Put them together, courtesy ace director Marshall, and they redefine the whole idea of family values, plus, of course, the whole concept of evolution. And, oh yes, mustn't forget sweet, pretty Elany (Heather)—now, if she could just think as well as she looks or find a new tune with real words, well, who knows.And get a load of their Addams Family mansion, all secret passages and about as comfortable as a weekend at Alcatraz. Worse, drink the water and you light up like Broadway at midnight—just check out that that roulette wheel dinner. So, pity poor Pete once he crosses the threshold, it's just one hilarious mishap after another. Mix in 30-grand in missing loot somewhere on the premises, a fetching helper for Pete (Walker), plus a hay- bailer from heck, and you've got one of the funniest, most delightful madcaps of the 1940's. A real group triumph. So don't miss it.

I had always wanted to check out this black comedy – a rare thing for Hollywood during this era (off-hand, the only other one I can recall is ARSENIC AND OLD LACE [1944]). However, it's never been available to me until now…so that, in compiling a list of lightweight titles I most wanted to watch throughout the Christmas season, it's no surprise the film ended up at the top of the list. Even so, this has more of a cult than classic reputation – but it was certainly a delight: incidentally, while I'm usually somewhat queasy watching movies centering around hillbillies, their inherent eccentric nature works perfectly within the context of MURDER, HE SAYS' bizarre plot.By the way, the greedy/homicidal-family-after-a-sum-of-money involved harks back to the popular 'old dark house'-type comedy-thrillers – which undoubtedly gives the whole added appeal. With this in mind, the location of the loot being hidden within the nonsensical verses of an old ditty is a much-used device in this kind of picture – as is the presence in the house of both a secret passageway and a mysterious assailant (whose identity actually isn't hard to guess). Similarly, the fact that the moribund crone (justifiably) suspects her relatives' motives and opts to confide in a stranger is particularly reminiscent of the wonderful Sir Roderick Femm scene in my favorite subgenre entry – the appropriately-titled THE OLD DARK HOUSE (1932).That said, the original elements here are no less engaging – with the unlikely albeit effectively-handled 'glowing poison' expedient a recurring motif (which reaches its zenith in the hilarious dinner sequence around an inconveniently revolving table). The most side-splitting visual gags, then, both feature bodily contortions: the hero being tied up in a most awkward position to be grilled by the Fleagles and his own later pretense as a midget in order to conceal one of their two identical sons lying unconscious at his real feet! For the record, there's even an amusing in-joke in the film's reference to THE GHOST BREAKERS (1940) – the marvelous Bob Hope comedy-horror vehicle, also made by director Marshall at Paramount! Fred MacMurray makes for an ideal lead – suitably bewildered and out-of-his-depth at first, but who eventually contrives to outwit the crazy clan by employing his 'superior' city-slicker ways. Apart from a whip-cracking Marjorie Main (perhaps the quintessential female hick) and mad scientist(!) Porter Hall as the respective heads of the backwoods brood, the remaining cast members were unknown to me – though all enter gleefully into the offbeat spirit of the thing. The twins were obviously played by the same actor and, unsurprisingly, leading lady Helen Walker turns out not to be vicious/demented after all (since she's only impersonating a convicted member of the dysfunctional family, with the real character herself surfacing towards the end).Maintaining a frenzied pitch virtually for the entire duration (leading to an extended chase finale that's capped by an inventive come-uppance for practically the entire main cast) makes the film seem longer than its 94 minutes – but it's an inspired ride all the way, and great fun to boot. The quality of the copy I acquired (derived from VHS) isn't optimal if still quite passable under the circumstances…at least until Universal (who now owns the film) sees fit to give it a decent – and much-deserved – release on DVD. I guess HD-DVD is out-of-the-question for such an obscure little item and, in any case, I'm not yet willing to give in to the format just yet owing to the undue hassle and expense this would clearly entail!

Boy, is this movie funny. Of course, you have to like slapstick to enjoy it. Nothing subtle at all. I wish I could get this on a DVD somewhere. I would add to my collection in a New York second! There's a lot of running around by the cast. McMurray is as close to early Cary Grant as possible. He acts overly befuddled and Marjorie Main as the mama is type-cast, of course. The family won't let him leave and his situations are crazy. I was reminded of the three stooges antics. It is hard to believe that this is the same guy who paid the insurance murderer in "Double Indemnity." I heartily recommend this movie to anyone easily led to laughing out loud.