Daily Archives: December 24, 2022

Murder, He Says
Directed by George Marshall
Written by Lou Breslow and Jack Moffitt
1945/US
Paramount Pictures
IMDb Page
First viewing/Criterion Channel

Pete Marshall: It’s like looking for a needle in a… a slaughter house.

I think the golden years of Screwball ended in 1944.

Pete Marshall is a pollster. He goes deep into the Ozarks to investigate the disappearance of his colleague. He runs into the Fleagle family. The family is currently on a search for the $70,000 cousin Bonnie Fleagle (Barbara Pepper) stole in a bank robbery. Pete also learns that the hillbilly family is armed and ready to shoot outsiders who interfere.

Eventually Claire Matthews (Helen Marker), daughter of a man who has been falsely accused of the robbery, turns up to clear her father’s name. Now Pete has an ally and love interest. With Marjorie Main and Porter Hall as the heads of the clan.

This one has a plot similar to “Spider Baby” or “The Hills Have Eyes” only it’s supposed to be a madcap comedy. It wasn’t for me. For one thing, Marjorie Main’s “Ma Kettle” loud voice grates on me and she is in this a LOT. Watchable but not much more than that.

It Happens Every Spring
Directed by George Marshall
Written by Valentine Davies from a story by Davies and Shirley W. Smith
1949/US
Twentieth Century Fox
IMDb page
First viewing/Criterion Channe

“The results of scientific research very often force a change in the philosophical view of problems which extend far beyond the restricted domain of science itself.” – Albert Einstein

Far-fetched baseball/romcom is just OK.

Professor Vernon K. Simpson (Ray Milland) is working on a rat repellant when a stray baseball demonstrates that on impact glass is destroyed and wood is repelled. He immediately realizes that this could be the start of a pro pitching career. Vernon is in love with Deborah Greenleaf (Jean Peters) daughter of the university’s President (Ray Collins). He can’t support her on his current salary.

He tries out for Saint Louis. Nobody can get a hit off his pitches. So he is hired in the middle of the season. The whole thing seems very strange and catcher Monk Lanigan (Paul Davis) becomes his roommate with instructions to babysit the rookie and keep him on a very short leash. Vernon is terrified of being seen by his girlfriend and her father so he changes his name to King Kelly.  He learned to pitch on a desert island where there was nothing to do but throw a ball.  (no kidding)

Blah, blah, blah the team wins the Series and Vernon gets the girl.

I wouldn’t call this a screwball comedy. For me those need to have snappy dialogue and a madcap romance. This film has neither. Its watchable but I wouldn’t go out of my way to see it. Maybe I have been spoiled by watching so many classic screwball comedies in a row.  On a topical note: The source material for this film was written by the author of The Miracle on 34th Street.