User Reviews

Murder on a Honeymoon opens aboard a seaplane flying several passengers out to a vacation destination: it's a neat opening scene that sets the plot in motion with a murder and introduces us to all of the suspects as well. Among those passengers is Hildegarde Withers, played one more time by the great Edna May Oliver, who is a bit sick during the flight but recovers nicely when the plane lands and it is discovered that a fellow passenger is dead.

James Gleason returns as Inspector Oscar Piper; it seems the murdered man was involved in a case his department is on, so he hops a flight himself and quickly joins his old collaborator Miss Withers. ("Hildegarde, you get screwier every day" is practically the first thing he says to her when they meet, thus quickly re-establishing their outwardly adversarial, genuinely affectionate personal relationship.)

Good photography—both of island scenes and in some atmospheric shadowy night shots—adds sparkle to a script that neatly balances comic banter with murder. A solid supporting cast features Leo G. Carroll as a big shot movie director (who carries a flask with two compartments in it—one containing the good booze he drinks, one stocked with the cheap stuff he shares with others) and Lola Lane as an aspiring actress hoping to catch his eye.

Overall, the suspense is a bit more taut, the solution more surprising than in the two previous Withers-Piper pictures; it's a top-notch B mystery.

Oliver, especially, is at her very best, especially when dealing with those who underestimate her—for example, the local police chief and doctor, who are beginning the murder investigation while still in their bathing suits: "Don't try to be impressive in that rig, my man," Miss Withers snaps when one attempts brusqueness. "You can't frighten me until you've put on your trousers."

This, and Penguin Pool Murder, are just plain fun and pleasant. Both are well written, surprisingly well photographed and edited. As I get older, I like less drama and more mystery, and more characters. Not a bad format for a TV mystery, like a light-hearted Columbo.

I did not have an appreciation of James Gleason until viewing these two. He is often a minor character actor as is Edna May Oliver (sometimes Mae). Both fare very well as lead actors. It was fun to see a younger Leo G Carroll.

These old movies give one a glimpse of early 1930's America, although perhaps an inaccurate one (it was Depression time). Murder on a Honeymoon shows Catalina Island offshore of Los Angeles in 1935 and of travel/commute by seaplane. It hasn't changed much except that the seaplanes are gone.

Murder On A Honeymoon finds Edna May Oliver on holiday to Catalina Island where on the small plane she's traveling on, a witness in a mob case from New York is poisoned. The case piques the interest of Oliver's old friend Inspector James Gleason of the NYPD for him to come out and help the Catalina PD.

In these three films Edna May is a virtual stand-in for Agatha Christie's Miss Jane Marple who is constantly making fools of the police wherever they may be. But she and Gleason have a really effective chemistry in the three films they did. Sad to say Edna May did not want to continue the series. She and Gleason would have been a great weekly series in the age of television.

Murder On A Honeymoon may have been the best of the three films because based on the other two, I thought I had the perpetrator all picked out. But I was completely wrong and I think other viewers will fall in the same trap. Two other murders occur before Gleason and Oliver finally figure it out. By the way the clue here is in how the crime was committed. And a big red herring is also served up for the audience to convince you of the perpetrator's apparent innocence.

Even on vacation it seems as though Edna May's Hildegarde Withers can't get away from murder.

This time a murder takes place on a seaplane enroute to Catalina Island and all of the passengers become suspects. Needless to say, a few red herrings are thrown into the plot but it's all eventually solved after Hildegarde Withers (Edna May Oliver) calls in detective Piper (James Gleason) to assist her in solving the case.

Another minor entry in the Hildegarde Withers series with Edna May giving her all to a plot-heavy number of names and suspects. Better just sit back and watch Oliver at work, stealing every scene with assurance and almost making us believe in the baffling proceedings. Leo G. Carroll does a nice job as a harried movie director. Lola Lane is a pleasant distraction but it's Edna May's movie all the way.

... which would be Edna May Oliver as schoolteacher Hildegarde Withers and James Gleason as NYPD detective Oscar Piper. The first film had these two on their way to get married at the conclusion, but that would have ruined the sequels, so they are just good friends and colleagues. In this installment, Hildegarde is going to Catalina on a seaplane when a fellow passenger suddenly takes ill and dies. Law enforcement on the island seems rather lax, and the coroner is just going to chalk it up to heart failure. For some reason, Hildegarde thinks it is murder. Not getting any help from the locals, she wires Oscar in New York. It turns out the man who died was hiding from the police as he was a key witness to the crimes of a big city gang and was afraid for his life. Apparently he was justified in that fear. Oscar thus flies to Catalina to do further investigation, but then the body is stolen in the middle of the night so there can't be a proper autopsy.

So everybody on the plane is a suspect, and they could have been hired by the mob in New York to do away with this guy, but none of them have obvious criminal histories. The plot thus gets rather involved as is the search for the missing body. The fact that the production code is in force blunts the banter between Hildegarde and Oscar, but they are still good together. There was something special about Oliver as Hildegard - The way she adjusted her wrap after making a point, Those eyes that sparkled, the all knowing look she would give. Unfortunately this will be her last film in this role as she switches studios from RKO to MGM where she plays in support of a number of production code era costume dramas. I don't think that movie factory MGM ever got the mileage out of her that little RKO did. But I digress. I would recommend this one, but definitely see "Penguin Pool Murder" first as it lays the groundwork for the relationship between Withers and Piper.

Another fun Hildegarde Withers mystery starring the great Edna May Oliver. This is the third and final Withers film starring Oliver. She would be replaced by two other actresses in the other films. Those don't match up to the Oliver entries in the series but are watchable. The plot here is about Hildy flying on a plane when one of the passengers is mysteriously killed. When the plane lands Hildy wastes no time starting her investigation. She contacts Inspector Piper (James Gleason), who quickly comes to help. Oliver and Gleason are terrific, as always. Their banter and chemistry is the primary reason to watch these movies. Nice cast includes Leo G. Carroll and the lovely Lola Lane. Willie Best also appears in one of his stereotypical parts that will make some modern viewers uncomfortable.

Edna Mae Oliver and James Gleason are a perfect team. Their exchanges are hilarious.

The supporting cast are also first rate and the murder mystery storyline is done well.

Murder on a Honeymoon is directed by Lloyd Corrigan and adapted to screenplay by Robert Benchley and Seton I. Miller from the novel The Puzzle of the Pepper Tree written by Stuart Palmer. It stars Edna May Oliver, James Gleason, Lola Lane and George Meeker. Music is by Alberto Colombo and cinematography by Nick Musuraca.

During a flight to Catalina Island a passenger falls sick and dies. Hildegard Withers (Oliver) smells a rat but has trouble convincing the authorities that murder is evident. Help is on the way, though, in the shape of Hildegard's side-kick, Inspector Oscar Piper (Gleason).

The third and last outing for Oliver as fun crime solver Hildegard Withers, Murder on a Honeymoon gets in and does a grand job for entertainment purpose. The by-play between Oliver and Gleason is very precious, harking back to a cinematic time when actors attacked their roles with brio, and here the actors are helped by having humourist Benchley at the writing table. The mystery element is strong, and this even though we only have a small group of suspects, while the big reveal is a genuine surprise as the plot twists into crafty avenues.

Phsyical froth meets murder mystery shenanigans. Nice. 7/10

Edna May Oliver returns as the indomitable schoolteacher/sleuth Hildegarde Withers. Even while on vacation in California she has no trouble in finding murders to solve.

Miss Edna May is again quite wonderful to watch. This was her third & final outing as Withers - she would soon be leaving RKO for MGM and other memorable roles there. James Gleason is back as her New York City detective boyfriend. Comic relief is provided by Willie Best.

The movie is enhanced considerably by location filming at Avalon, on Santa Catalina Island. The huge Casino, which dominates the Avalon waterfront, provides a spooky scene or two.

The always-delightful Edna May Oliver stars as old maid schoolteacher Hildegarde Withers in Murder on a Honeymoon, also starring James Gleason, Leo G. Carroll, and Lola Lane.

In this series entry, Hildegarde is on a seaplane en route to Catalina when there's a murder. Naturally all of the passengers are suspect.

It's kind of convoluted, but no one cares. Oliver (who is only 52 at the time of this filming) is her usual scene-stealing self as she tries to solve the mystery and trades some snappy dialogue with Detective Piper (James Gleason).

I love seeing the planes in these old films.

This was — I believe — the third of the series and the last with this woman. I like these because James Gleason does a ratatat detective, cigar-chomping, who always gets things wrong. The original idea was that a schoolmarm bests him, but her position as a teacher seems to have been forgotten after the first two.

In the first one, they actually fall in love. In the second, she establishes a new pattern as the pushy friend who seems to muddle through before the officials do. It was Gleason that makes these work. He's something of a genius.

In this one, two things are changed. The mystery goes from a pre-noir template to an Agatha Christie one: murder on a small airplane. That means you have only so many suspects and we have seen them all moving about and bumping each other, each doing something suspicious. So its mildly more engaging as a mystery than any of the others.

But something else changes here. There's much, much more physical humor. She tumbles about ungracefully as if that were a hoot. Gleason's inspector gets whacked by every door he gets close to.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

This second follow-up to THE PENGUIN POOL MURDER sees amateur sleuth Hildegarde Withers tackling a poisoning on a small plane where any one of the travellers could be the murderer. It's a short and snappy affair, notably more comedic than mysterious, and adding in plenty of unexpected slapstick comedy into the mix. Miss Withers is knocked about, kidnapped and undergoes all manner of hair-raising adventures as she attempts to solve the crime.

These films work on the strength of the characters and Miss Withers is as delightful as she was previously. Edna May Oliver has a great chemistry with James Gleason, who plays the bumbling Inspector Piper, and watching the two sharing screen time is great fun. The mystery plot is fairly predictable in an Agatha Christie way, with lots of suspects and hidden motivations which come to the fore. Look out for Leo G. Carroll, actually looking young here which is a rarity in itself.

Amateur sleuth Hildegarde Withers flies to Catalina for a holiday, but on reaching the island one of the passengers is found to have been murdered. She wires Inspector Piper in New York for assistance and together they attempt to solve the mystery.

Edna May Oliver is excellent as Hildegarde Withers, a sort of a Miss Marple, except she's quite biting with her sarcastic remarks. She's a great character, sharp-minded and it's needed as the mystery here is quite challenging, and a little convoluted. It was hard to keep up with so many twists/revelations. The killer comes as a surprise. James Gleason ably supports Oliver, and they make a grand team- love their one liners. Quite a good balance between humour and mystery, each complimenting one another.

Edna May Oliver is flying out to Catalina when one of her fellow passengers falls ill and dies. The police don't think it's anything but natural. Miss Oliver disagrees. She reaches out to James Gleason in New York City, who soon discovers the dead man is a wanted criminal. He joins Miss Oliver on Catalina to figure out which of the passengers is a murderer.

It's the third and final pairing of the two leads in RKO's series of movies about Stuart Palmer's amateur detective Hildegard Withers and the bumbling Inspector Piper. The exchanges are sharp, Miss Oliver has it all in over Gleason, and this clearly made money; RKO continued the series for two more episodes. So why did Miss Oliver not appear in them? After a lifetime as a stage actress, playing the same role wasn't an issue. I believe that she simply became too expensive for RKO. The year this movie came out, Miss Oliver signed a contract with MGM. RKO simply could not afford to pay MGM's rates to borrow the actress.

So we have to enjoy this and the earlier two entries in the series. RKO certainly did her proud, hiring Robert Benchley to co-write the screenplay, and surrounding her with a capable cast that included Lola Lane, George Meeker, Dorothy Libaire, and Leo G. Carroll.

Imagine what other fascinating whodunits would have emerged had Edna May Oliver continued the Hildegard Withers series? The series was short and sweet, culminating with MURDER ON A HONEYMOON, perhaps the best of the lot. RKO put slightly more money in the budget and carted the cast and crew off to scenic Catalina island.

There are two reasons for Edna May Oliver's departure. The first concerns her health, and she reportedly fell ill after production and was replaced in the next entry (MURDER ON THE BRIDLE PATH) by Helen Broderick. That seems more like a convenient excuse. Oliver at the time had become and overnight star in DAVID COPPERFIELD opposite WC Fields and may have simply jumped ship as MGM was throwing big money her way. She was immediately cast in the classic of classics A TALE OF TWO CITIES. Oliver subsequently bought a home in Beverly Hills and even helped finance the Hollywood Bowl! Also RKO was cheap, and cut her salary in the second entry. Can't blame her.

Whatever the case, this is one outstanding mystery from start to finish, with a host of suspects and the scenery is beautiful. Guessing the diabolical killer is not easy. More over, Oliver and cigar-chomping James Gleason (as Inspector Piper) continue their terrific screen relationship of insults, the witty dialogue supplied by Oscar winning humorist, screenwriter and actor Robert Benchley.

This co-stars pretty Lola Lane (one of the famous Lane sisters) playing Phyllis, looking for love in all the wrong places. You really feel sorry for her. On the other side, there's recently married Dorothy Libaire as Kay -- whose new husband gets shot.

Also popular actor Brooks Benedict plays the first victim, who apparently smoked poison cigarettes on the same plane flying into Catalina with Hildegard. Leo G. Carroll plays a fussy and suspicious movie director and Willie Best plays a porter, as usual, with a fun scene with Edna May Oliver.

The biggest mystery of all is whatever happened to actress Dorothy Libaire, who had an excellent role here. Not too long after this film she completely disappeared from Hollywood, although records show she was briefly married to director Marion Gering, a director at Paramount in the 30s. Some records says she lived past 100, but where?

There are some great shots of the famous Catalina Island casino, which still looks about the same some 90 years later! Also some spooky stuff in and around the casino late at night. Wait for the ending. Note the gag wanted criminal poster which displays a picture of actor Richard Dix? Well directed by Lloyd Corrigan, also an actor for many years.

Get the remastered dvd box set by Warner Brothers. What a treat.

Another appearance of miss prim and proper Edna Oliver, as Hildegard Withers, who solves crimes without meaning to. The usual sidekick, I mean police inspector Piper (james Gleason). Opens with a map of catalina, island off the california coast, honeymoon getaway for many years. Wrigley family used to own the whole thing. Wild animals roaming about. And we see some of those exotic animals in the film! When one of the airplane passengers turns up dead, they question the other passengers. You'll recognize Leo Carroll from North by Northwest. Here, he's a film director, making a movie. A young George Meeker is Kelsey, here with his bride. It seems most of it was filmed right on the waterfront by the famous, round casino hall. A fair amount of suspense, as Hilde and Piper try to figure out where to go next. And before too many more bodies start piling up. Willie Best is listed as Sleep n Eat in the opening credits. Directed by Lloyd Corrigan. Story from the novel by Stuart Palmer. This one is fun.. a good mix of humor, adventure, and good-natured competition between Hilde and Piper.

Eda Mae and James Gleason are hilarious in this as they team up to solve multiple murders on Catalina Island. This movie is so 1935, I love the characters, all of which have plenty of one word zingers. Enjoy this movie, this is a classic.

Hildegarde Withers (Edna May Oliver) is scared to be traveling on a seaplane. One of the passengers end up dead. Hildegarde is certain that it's a murder, but the incompetent local police on Catalina is unconvinced. She recruits Inspector Oscar Piper (James Gleason) for help.

It's the third of the Hildgarde mystery series and the last time Edna May Oliver plays the role. She does have some fun early on the plane but it's not as good as the previous two movies. Pulling in Piper feels manufactured. I wouldn't mind if Hildegarde solves the case by herself. On a minor complaint, Willie has not aged well. The whole Sleep 'n' Eat comedic gimmick looks terrible in the modern world. This is the least of the series up to this point.

Interesting casting; a dowdy British matron teams up with a wisecracking New York City detective to solve a mystery. Turns out it was a great idea, and you wish they could have made a whole series, like the Charlie Chans, instead of just three of them. And that is our loss.

Edna May Oliver is entertaining in anything she appeared in and the same goes for James Gleason. Together they are great fun and play well off each other, with neither giving any ground and holding their own as verbal sparring partners. "Murder On A Honeymoon" was even co-scripted by Robert Benchley and directed by Lloyd Corrigan - not too shabby on the credits.

The plot is a good one and you will be hard-put to guess the murderer. There is some plot contrivance toward the end of the picture, but if you're like me you'll just go with it. It's like that with many good movies that hold your interest throughout, a trademark of the way Hollywood used to make movies.

In the 1930s, Edna May Oliver made three Hildegarde Withers mysteries. The first two ("Penguin Pool Murder" and "Murder on the Blackboard") were terrific--great B-movie examples of how to do a murder mystery right! In particular, Oliver created a terrific character. Sadly, after making "Murder on a Honeymoon", the studio replaced her with two other actresses and they just didn't have Oliver's great screen presence.

This film begins on a seaplane. Hildegarde hates flying though soon she seems to forget and begins socializing with the other passengers. When they land, however, one of the passengers is found dead--and he appears to have been murdered. Naturally, Hildegarde investigates and soon her friend, Inspector Piper (James Gleason) arrives to lend his support. Now here's the weird part--the body soon disappears and for much of the film they're just trying to find it--not just who did it. What it's all about and who's responsible you'll have to find out for yourself--but I liked seeing Gleason deck the murderer! This is another excellent Hildegarde Withers film. Great characters, a decent mystery and fun--all the necessary ingredients for a good time.

At the 25 minute mark, there is a scene with a heel with the letter K in it. IMDb says this is a goof and it was the wrong direction. I specifically looked for this and the letter appeared to be the correct direction--and there is no mistake.

By the way, Willie Best (as his alter-ego 'Sleep 'n Eat') plays his usual VERY stereotypical black character that is bound to offend modern sensibilities. It's a shame, but this sort of character was very popular back in the 1930s.