Scattergood Survives a Murder (1942)

Powerful

Excellent but underrated film

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

It's murder she said in this rip-off of dozens of dark house comedy/dramas where all the relatives of dying (or already dead) rich old fogies who had a bit of the bat in the belfry, aka nuttiness. Two old eccentrics are brutally bumped off in a shocking scene, and spooky housekeeper Eily Malyon is left $50 a day to take care of the beneficiary, in this case, their spoiled black and white cat. Relatives oppose the will, leading to more murder.Playing a part obviously influenced by Gale Sondergaard's gloomy housekeepers, Malyon lacks her dark beauty. How does Guy Kibbee's wise old Scattergood fit into this? By being the town busybody, that's how! A bunch of familiar character actors fill out the eccentric clan, with Willie Best repeating his part as Scattergood's faithful sidekick. There's also John Archer as an ambitious newspaper publisher and Margaret Hayes as the city slicker newshound providing the obligatory romance. I've seen dozens of variations of this story, some simply horrible and others surprisingly inventive. This is shocking due to how it disposes of the two sweet old ladies (Margaret Seddon and Nargaret McWade), obviously influenced by the famous George S. Kaufman play running on Broadway at the time. This isn't something that will shatter the illusion of originality, but has moments of amusement and suspense that make it passable. The denouncement of the killer and the method takes forever, adding to the frustration of the often repeated plot line.

Guy Kibbee stars as Scattergood Baines in another outing, well directed by Christy Cabanne. This time it is a murder mystery: two eccentric old ladies have died, leaving their fortune to their cat, and suddenly murders begin to happen...The Scattergood Baines series, from a series of stories by Clarence Buddington Kelland, never raises its head above its B roots, but the scripts are well written -- this one is particularly good -- and contains a wealth of character actors, including Florence Lake -- best known for playing Edgar Kennedy's wife in his series of shorts for RKO -- Willie Best as Scattergood's shop assistant, and the dependable B lead and A support, Wallace Ford. There's also a nice subplot as John Archer, new owner of the weekly newspaper, tries to make a go of it and romance Margeret Hayes.It's all very pleasantly managed, and the mystery plot is well handled. Not a classic by any means, it times in at just over an hour and is a fine time-killer.