Too much of everything

Good start, but then it gets ruined

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

The first must-see film of the year.

Mr. and Mrs. North (1942) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Pamela North (Gracie Allen) and her husband Gerald (William Post, Jr.) return home and when they go to fix a drink a dead body falls out of their liquor cabinet. Lt. Weigand (Paul Kelly) shows up and suspects the couple of doing the murder but they claim their innocence and set out to find the real murderer.This MGM film was obviously done to give Allen a role that didn't have her husband George Burns attached to it. For the most part this is a fairly funny, if unoriginal, mix of mystery and comedy. If you're a fan of Allen then you'll probably enjoy this more than anyone else since obviously her style isn't going to sit well with everyone. I thought the actress was in fine form here and certainly helped raise the material and make it much better than it actually is.Allen just has a certain way of delivering her lines. That high-pitched voice and the mannerism are perfectly suited for each other and it leads to plenty of nice laughs and especially early one when Allen keeps throwing everyone with how she's constantly going from one subject to the next. Post is good in his role of the husband and has a nice chemistry with Alle. Kelly, Virginia Grey and Tom Conway are also good and you can see Keye Luke in a small bit.MR. AND MRS. NORTH certainly isn't anything ground-breaking. The story itself is your typical murder-mystery but Allen certainly bumps it up a notch due to her comic timing.

After having just finished watching this picture, I came and read all the reviews here on IMDb. And it delights me to no end to discover that my own opinion is universally shared: George Burns should have been cast as Mr. North. I'm usually the contrarian and it is rare indeed when my opinion puts me in the majority. But I'm delighted to be in the majority here. Usually Gracie gets all the praise when it comes to Burns & Allen, it is really nice to see George get his due. Because, yes, this movie sorely needed George Burns. I'm truly glad it's so obvious to everyone.Now I've never encountered the "real" 'Mr. and Mrs. North', whether that be on the printed page or the television screen. But I get the gist of what was going on here. The idea was clearly to take a known comic star and bring her own brand of comedy to an already existing property, and to hell with the fact that she's nothing like the original character. It reminds me very much of the Marx Brothers doing 'Room Service'. And in this case, it wasn't a horrible idea; Gracie carries it off pretty well. But if you're going to do it, *do* it! Go all the way, and bring in George as well. He probably didn't fit their idea of Mr. North, but so what? If Gracie didn't match the original concept of Mrs. North, then it should be no problem if George didn't match the original Mr. North. OK, so the movie would have been more 'Mr. and Mrs. Burns' than 'Mr. and Mrs. North'. But so what? It would have been a better, funnier film. And as it was, it was really 'Mrs. Burns and Mr. North'.But other than that casting blunder, my only other real complaint with the film is that the story is almost impossible to follow. A big part of the problem is that there are a *lot* of characters, and yet very little exposition. It is really, really hard to keep track of just who all the characters *are*, let alone how they might fit into the murder. The director needed to do something about this.But beyond these complaints, I thought it was a fun little movie. If you don't go in with expectations too high, it is a quite pleasant diversion. No masterpiece, to be sure, but quite enjoyable. With George, it could have been great. Pity.

I guess if you were exposed to a lot of Gracie Allen, with or without hubby George Burns, you would have a different perspective. While I've seen Gracie with George a time or two, can't say I'm overexposed with her. She came across very attractive and interesting in this. She's refreshing if you haven't had your fill of her elsewhere. I didn't miss George especially - hey, they were doing something different here, likely attempting to trade on her popularity. But, it took a little while getting used to her with hubby, Post, seeming too young and precocious himself. Mr. Burns, being much the dry, straight man, is a perfect foil. However, this Post is an attractive fellow, who did fine. It's not a tight spy thriller, after all. I really liked Gracie talking through the credits at the end. That was a very funny touch. I don't know what most expect from this type of thing, but for what it was, a mystery comedy on the lower budget order, it was good. You had the usual improbable hijinks going on, the usual sort of fairly inept coppers and the usual suspects. Though there were some good actors in this, it was Gracie's show, shared mainly with Post, her husband, who, again, I thought did a good job.

Although Gracie Allen outdid herself in the Gracie Allen Murder Case, this film has Gracie solving the mystery in her own inimitable fashion. Her conclusions, as only she can reach them.