Sun 27 Jun 2021
Movie Review: HAVING WONDERFUL CRIME (1945).
Posted by Steve under Mystery movies , Reviews[9] Comments
HAVING WONDERFUL CRIME. RKO Radio Pictures, 1945. Pat O’Brien (Michael J. Malone), George Murphy (Jake Justus), Carole Landis (Helene Justus), Lenore Aubert, George Zucco, Gloria Holden (as Anje Berens), Chili Williams. Based on the characters if not the novel by Craig Rice. Director: A. Edward Sutherland.
Craig Rice did indeed write a novel of the same name and with (more or less) the same characters, but other than that there is absolutely no resemblance between the book and the movie. (Note that in the book the lawyer is named John J. Malone, not Michael. It is not clear why they thought a change was necessary. Perhaps Michael flows better in dialogue than John.)
In any case this review will be about the film, which is perhaps is among the last of the “screwball†comedies ever made in its day. The three friends, with two of them, Jake and Helene Justus, as it turns out, on their honeymoon, attend a magic show in which the headline performer disappears for real in the middle of his act. They suspect his body may be the trunk his girl assistant is taking to the same resort lodge they decide to go to. Why Malone is going along on the honeymoon of the other two is not quite clear.
And all kinds of funny business ensues, with both the trunk and the “body†appearing and disappearing at regular intervals. I use the word “funny†with a word of caution. A better phrase might be “mildly amusing,†not laugh out loud funny. The comedy just isn’t in sync, no matter how hard the players seem to be trying. On the other hand, the mystery just doesn’t make any sense at all.
Watch this one then for the presence of Carole Landis, whose performance is witty, sparkling and fresh, and whenever I read one of Craig Rice’s novels in which Helene Justus is in, I am sure that from now on I will have Miss Landis in mind. George Murphy is OK, if not quite fine in his role, but Pat O’Brien seems too old for me, even though in this otherwise disappointing film both he and Landis play off each other in terms of witticisms and other banter in reasonably fine fashion.
June 27th, 2021 at 2:43 pm
I don’t think O’Brien was too old, but his physique was incredibly stolid; a character or supporting actor, not a leading man, usually a pleasure to see.
June 27th, 2021 at 2:51 pm
Right, O’Brien was only three years older than Murphy, but his chunky build and receding hairline made him seem older. Both were almost twice as old as Carole Landis. (I looked it up.)
June 27th, 2021 at 7:31 pm
The best screen Malone, though hardly the best film, was James Whitmore, who captured some of the qualities of the character. After him Brian Donlevy was surprisingly effective in THE LUCKY STIFF. Lee Tracy did the television series, but truthfully no one really captured the character on screen — for one thing they were all too sober.
Landis and O’Brien jelled well together here if the film had been a little better and Murphy fit in a tad more. O’Brien seemed much more Malone-like as the private eye in SLIGHTLY LARCENOUS.
It’s odd they changed HAVING A WONDERFUL CRIME so much for the screen since the book itself was both funny and perfectly cinematic with little need for changes. Rice, Stuart Palmer, and Richard Lockridge all seemed to me to write highly cinematic books that didn’t need much to work on screen.
June 27th, 2021 at 8:14 pm
“…. but truthfully no one really captured the character on screen — for one thing they were all too sober.”
Ha! I knew there was something I was going say in my review but somehow manged to leave out.
June 27th, 2021 at 8:58 pm
I did not like any of the Malones on film, but there was a series on radio, Murder and Mr. Malone, or it seems also known as The Amazing Mr. Malone, and under either title, I listened. Frank Lovejoy was the Malone I remember best, but Gene Raymond and George Petrie may have done as many episodes.
June 27th, 2021 at 9:44 pm
Pat O’Brien comes off somewhat better in the above review (and subsequent commentary) than he does in this scathing reception:
https://mysteryfile.com/blog/?p=54905
Right here on this very site. I remember wincing at it.
Poor ‘ole Pat O’Brien –even in 1947 — always seemed to be ‘at least twenty years older’ than anyone else he was cast with. Ouch!
He was actually lean once. Paired with Adolph Menjou in ‘The Front Page’, remember?
June 29th, 2021 at 2:02 am
Perhaps Helene and Jake Justus thought Michael J. Malone would be useful on their honeymoon because he was a lawyer.
It doesn’t look good for the success of their marriage, though.
June 29th, 2021 at 10:04 am
Perhaps they are a throuple and in love, but the mores of the time only allowed a suggestion of that. Carole Landis should have been able to do better.
June 29th, 2021 at 7:56 pm
Considring how often Jake and or Helene ended up in jail or suspected of murder I would have taken a lawyer on my honeymoon too.