Redundant and unnecessary.

The acting in this movie is really good.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Sheer farce with Marjorie Main and her usual wise-cracks teaming up with small time lawyer, but big-time gambler James Whitmore to solve a double murder on a train, when Whitmore's former client, an embezzler, and his girlfriend wind up deceased.Main and Whitmore definitely do have some chemistry, but the film falls apart with it becoming dead bodies on the train and a defiant Fred Clark arresting them both for the murders.Main is an old western fixture having won a contest and going to N.Y. when she meets up with the Whitmore character.Ann Dvorak is good as the embezzler's ex-wife and Dorothy Malone appears as his southern girlfriend.

... that could have benefited from the leads having more chemistry, as did the mismatched crime-solving pair of the thirties, Hildegard Withers and Oscar Piper of the Penguin Pool Murder series. Mrs. O'Malley (Marjorie Main) owns/runs a boarding house in Montana and wins a radio contest by recognizing an obscure song, one her late drunken husband apparently sang after he jumped off a roof believing he could fly - thus his status as deceased. Part of her prize is a trip to New York.Meanwhile, John Malone (James Whitmore) is a big city lawyer that makes good money but whose dissolute lifestyle has his business on the ropes. He gambles, drinks, and womanizes with wild abandon and only with his long-unpaid secretary getting ready to walk and the lights about to be turned off does he suddenly pay attention to his financial house. He thinks he's found a solution though. Steve Keppler, a man jailed for embezzlement whose parole Malone negotiated is getting out of jail and Malone is expecting a 10K fee from him. Also note that Steve Keppler has never given up the 100K that he stole, that he has supposedly hidden the money from his other partner(s) in the heist, and that he has a greedy ex-wife. Keppler skips town without paying off Malone or anybody else, supposedly with the 100K in tow. The police know Keppler's taken a train to New York, and they're aboard as is everyone else who's looking for him. Did I fail to mention Mrs. O'Malley is on this train too, in the compartment next to Mr. Malone? What follows is a murder on board the train with Malone looking like he's been framed and Mrs. O'Malley helping Malone try to solve the mystery before the police can nail him for the crime. Ms. Main holds up her end marvelously with her famous brand of rough verbal and physical comedy, and Mr. Whitmore does well too but for one annoying habit. His character ogles and sophomorically hits on every attractive woman he sees often before the last woman he hit on is two feet away. Mr. Malone needs more Bogart in his routine with women and less Harpo Marx, who is frankly who he reminds me of during these particular scenes.Overall, this film is more humor than it is mystery, and it is pretty fast-paced. The introductory musical score sounds like something from 50's TV, which is what B features like this were competing with in 1950 with the "attack of the small screens" already eating into studio profits. I recommend this one for an amusing 70 minutes or so of fun.

Marjorie Main and James Whitmore are a delightfully offbeat team in this often riotous farce about a radio-contest winner who travels by train from Montana to New York as part of her prize, getting involved in a murder while riding the rails and attempting to solve it with help from a rumpled lawyer. Some of Main's exasperated one-liners are a hoot, and Whitmore's quick-witted panache provides the perfect counterbalance to Marjorie's brashness. They both shine, even though the plot itself isn't much and it does run a little long. Still, the slapstick is amusing, as are Main's caustic jibes. Worth finding. **1/2 from ****

Thanks to the recommendation of critic/friend I caught this obscure gem on Showtime in the mid-1980s and have cherished my tape ever since. Boisterous Marjorie Main and blustery James Whitmore are as inspired a detective-team mismatch ever to grace the screen. Set in a cross-country sleeping-car train ride, "Mrs. O'Malley and Mr. Malone" is blessed with expert direction, a crackling script (based on a story by the wondrous Craig Rice, whose novel "Home Sweet Homicide" was the basis of another classic comedy/thriller), MGM's high-gloss production values, and, besides the endearing leads, a first-rate supporting cast (the luminous Ann Dvorak, lovely Phyllis Kirk, etc.) A swift, alternately hilarious and genuinely suspenseful 69 minutes, this forgotten treasure was intended to be the first of a series. A pity that no sequels were ever made. But TCM occasionally shows this gem, and don't miss it. And, amidst the laughter and chills, just try and guess whodunnit!