Mr. and Mrs. North (1942) User Reviews

Surprising in several ways

[gridoon2024 · 7/10 · 23 July 2012]

Surprise #1: I thought this was going to be primarily a Gracie Allen vehicle with a little mystery thrown in for good measure, but it's actually primarily a (solid) mystery with Gracie Allen thrown in for good measure. Gracie doesn't own the film like she does "The Gracie Allen Murder Case", nor is she as utterly crazy as usual, but she does have some very funny lines ("You didn't know the murdered man? But he was in your closet!" - "So what? We put all sorts of things in our closet!")

Surprise #2: The mystery is an intricate one, and after 2 viewings I'm still not sure about certain details (how DID that gold compact end up in Norths' apartment?).

Surprise #3: The outcome. I guessed incorrectly.

Surprise #4: The serious, dark themes underneath the surface. Unhappy couples, extramarital affairs, suggested spousal abuse (on both sides!) - oh, and a character subtly but fairly clearly implied to be homosexual because of his love for cooking and cleanliness!

If you like a) murder mysteries and b) Gracie Allen, you will like this film. If you don't....why would you be watching it in the first place? *** out of 4.

Gracie on the Case? Should've Let George Do It

[dtb · 7/10 · 24 April 2009]

I usually love THIN MAN-style husband-and-wife detective stories and the great Gracie Allen's scatterbrain schtick, so I looked forward to seeing Gracie play Pam North in MR. AND MRS. NORTH (M&MN), adapted from Frances and Richard Lockridge's novels as well as Owen Davis's Broadway play. Great cast, too, with Gracie being supported by such solid players as Paul Kelly, Jerome Cowan, Virginia Grey, Tom Conway, Fortunio Bonanova, Keye Luke, and THIN MAN alumnus Porter Hall. But I'm not sure this fast-paced, witty mystery quite fits in with Gracie's style. She's always fun to watch and listen to as she rambles on in her hilarious, almost surreal stream-of-consciousness style. However, her ditz routine works much better when her husband and comedic partner George Burns plays her foil in his cool, wry way. As Gerry North, William Post Jr. seems an affable romantic lead who can do the occasional funny slow burn or nigh-girlish frightened screech when necessary. When Gracie is in the spotlight, though, she steamrolls over everyone in her persistent yet endearing way. I must confess there were times when M&MN got on my nerves as certain recurring gags recurred well past the point of being funny, becoming grating instead. Take Felix Bressart as the long-suffering door-to-door salesman who keeps trying to give his statement at the police station, only to keep making the mistake of introducing himself as the "Fowler Brush Man" and getting himself kicked out. After he got kicked out 3 times, I found myself growling, "All right already, stop telling them you're a Fowler Brush Man!" Then there's dear Gracie, always talking too much about the wrong things in her charming yet maddening blatherings. Fond as I am of her, even I eventually wanted her to shut up and let somebody coherent get a word in edgewise. If you adore Gracie Allen and have a high tolerance for aggressively zany misunderstandings, however, M&MN is worth a look next time it pops up on TCM.

Definitive Proof of George Burns' Greatness

[Qanqor · 6/10 · 14 November 2015]

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.

You Gotta' Love Gracie

[misctidsandbits · 14 October 2011]

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.

An enjoyable murder mystery. More Gracie Allen than Mrs. North

[Peter22060 · 7/10 · 5 December 2001]

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.

not entirely successful

[blanche-2 · 6/10 · 29 December 2011]

Gracie Allen and William Post, Jr. are the Norths in "Mr. and Mrs. North," based on the characters created by Francis and Richard Lockridge. Actually, all the studio did was take the names and attempt to make them into Thin Man ripoffs. I read a lot of Mr. and Mrs. North books, and all I remember is that they drank like fish and had a college-age son.

This is a fun mystery, with Gracie being Gracie, but William Post, Jr. is not quite right for her. Of course her ideal partner was George Burns, who looked upon her antics with wry humor. Post kind of sighs and gives up. Also given the way he acts, it's kind of hard to figure out why they got married.

Felix Bressart is a riot as the Fowler Brush Man who is summoned to the D.A.'s office and keeps introducing himself as "The Fowler Brush Man" and getting thrown out of every office. Great to see a young Virginia Grey, too, and Jerome Cowan, Tom Conway, Fortunio Bonanova as the landlord, and Paul Kelly as the detective on the murder case. He cringes every time he hears the name "Mrs. North." You might too, so watch at your own risk.

Gracie without George B.

[ksf-2 · 7/10 · 30 November 2020]

Gracie Allen! we know it's going to be a comedy. or at least silly. in this one, Bill Post is her husband Gerald. in the same serious, sensible manner that George Burns did all those years. Not sure why Burns didn't get the husband's role... he and Gracie had already made a bunch of films by this time. so... "something" happened in their apartment while they were both supposedly gone. then the body turns up! and Pam (Allen) complicates things by keeping facts from the police. Co-stars Paul Kelly and Tom Conway. and it's 1941, so there's a reference to supplies being scarce. and a funny scene where Gracie stands up for her husband while he's being questioned, and says even when you DO tell the truth, the police won't believe you anyway. brutal honesty, and only seems to get away with it since only the husband is under suspicion. there's a dry humor under the serious murder investigation. and one wonders how much of the clever word play from Gracie was her own creation. Based on the stories by Richard and Frances Lockridge, originally in the New Yorker. directed by Bob Sinclair, made twelve films, then moved into television. it's pretty good!

Allen without Burns is not good

[Dave Banks · 5/10 · 21 January 2002]

I recall, as a young lad, listening to Mr. & Mrs. North on the radio. The show was, basically, a clone of "The Thin Man" with the North's engaging in amusing banter and solving murders a la Nick & Nora (but with no Asta). However, when MGM decided to make a motion picture about the North's, they went for the broad laughs by casting Gracie Allen as Pam North. This obvious miscasting simply did not work.

Gracie Allen was an attractive woman who, for many years, played a lovable, scatterbrained character on Radio, Television, and in a few movies. She did this to perfection. But, the common denominator in her career was the presence of her husband, the talented and much loved George Burns. Burns was perfect at playing the straight man and comic foil for Gracie and her outrageous ramblings. But, Burns wasn't in this movie and the resulting mediocre effort shows it. Instead of being funny, Gracie was simply annoying and, at times, obnoxious in her role. This movie would have been so much better with a different actress playing the part of Pam North.

From my standpoint, one very pleasant surprise was the casting of Fortunio Bonanova as the North's landlord. He was only in a couple of early scenes but, his presence in any movie is always a treat for me. His rich, Italian accented voice is superb, whether he is speaking or singing.

All in all, this is a decent little comedy-mystery but, it sure could have, and would have been better without Gracie Allen.

Whatever Preconceptions You Have, This was Still a Good Film

[tr-83495 · 8/10 · 12 April 2019]

With someone as well known and as popular as Gracie Allen, who by this time had spent ten years on national radio (and was to spend ten years on national television in 1950-1959) steps into a role, preconceptions abound.

If they can be left aside, Gracie Allen does an admirable job, in her own inimitable way, of playing the part of Mrs. North. William Post also does a good job. If you're looking for George Burns, you won't find him. But it's unfair to judge Post by comic Burns' standards. Post was playing a part and did so very well.

In fact, he handled Allen with the grace of a bewildered husband, but did it in a different way than Burns. So what? Post's dignity and style were all his own and he handled his part well. You might ask why did he marry someone as crazy as Gracie Allen? You could ask the same thing of George Burns. But, you're forgetting this is a movie -- a film. It is played for laughs, and Allen and Post fit into this mold well.

The movie has charm and carries your interest throughout. It has several funny gags, too, that work well in this film. This is a really good comedic mystery, just as it's supposed to be.

Both Gracie Allen and William Post deliver fine performances in their roles of Mr. and Mrs. North.

But where's George?!

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 29 March 2010]

Mr. and Mrs. North discover a body and the rest of the film consists of them trying to convince others they had nothing to do with it as well as to help discover the murderer. During this time, Mrs. North (Gracie Allen) acts like an annoying dingbat.

This is a decent little mystery film in the same tradition as the Thin Man films and the writing is pretty good, However, I am amazed by the odd casting job and wish IMDb could clue us in to why this was done. For the one and only time, Gracie Allen appears without her husband George Burns. Instead, some no-name actor (William Post Jr.) plays her husband and Gracie essentially plays the same character she played with George. This is pretty weird and the chemistry doesn't quite work because of this. You just keep expecting George to come stepping onto the screen.

Overall, it's an odd little curio that's a decent time-passer but not a lot more.

May Not Capture the Lockridge "North" Spirit, But Emulates the Successful Radio Series

[grantch · 8/10 · 6 July 2014]

I can but conclude that complaints that Pam North is more Gracie Allen than the Lockridge character, were not originated by fans of the long-running radio show in which zany Pam, played so strongly by the delightful Alice Frost, over rode any interference by husband Jerry, admirably portrayed as good-natured and long suffering by Joseph Curtin, and the NYPD to solve the weekly murder(s) Mr. and Mrs. North encountered regularly. Today such a series would be laughed off the air, but back in the '40's and early '50's everyone turned on their radio to see if they could beat Pam to the solution of the crime.

Compared to the colorful and humorous radio show, the subsequent TV adaption with Barbara Britton and Richard Denning was OK, but not nearly as much fun.

If you don't take the Lockridge characters too seriously, you'll love Gracie Allen and William Post Jr. in this 1942 adaptation of a Broadway play.

Mr. & Mrs. North Goes Southward Rapidly *

[edwagreen · 1/10 · 27 April 2009]

Very poor film starring Gracie Allen without her beloved George Burns. With Burns not in this nonsensical film, the film was destined to be a complete flop.

How could a suave savvy Mr. North ever be married to the ridiculous Allen? Her antics with Burns always worked because the two had that comic flair. William Post, Jr., who plays North, is the direct opposite of a Burns and it shows rapidly in this film.

The plot is utterly confusing. Is Gracie actually helping a married woman having an affair?

Millard Mitchell plays a comical detective here and there is a funny stint by Felix Bressart, a Fuller-Brush salesman, who tries to give information to the police but is literally brushed aside.

Someone needed to do a real thorough cleaning of this utter mess.

Begins wretchedly

[cherold · 3/10 · 3 December 2014]

After tracking down and watching the wonderfully entertaining Gracie Allen Murder Case I learned that Gracie had starred in yet another comedy mystery, so I tracked that down as well. 20 minutes in, I stopped watching. 20 minutes isn't that long (although it seemed it) but the movie is only a little over an hour, so it seems long enough to comment on.

Everything about that 20 minutes was awful. While The Gracie Allen Murder Case was simply Gracie doing her shtick with a mystery around the edges, this movie attempts to make her an actual character whose actions relate to the story. This means she can't be quite as goofy and has to spend more time on practical dialogue. So she's not as funny.

She is, however, as stupid, and that, combined with a complete lack of chemistry with the actor playing her husband, is a huge problem, because you can't figure out why he would marry her, or why he wouldn't have divorced her since. George Burns always managed to walk that fine line between annoyance and bemusement, but this guy can't do it. If they weren't going to use Burns (which they should have) then they needed a comedic actor on Gracie's level rather than some B-movie stiff.

The direction is awful. Pacing and performances are inert. The script is also quite poor, with weak dialogue. I have read in other user reviews here that the mystery itself might be interesting, but I don't see how it could be enough to make up for the movie's flawed presentation.

Movie without George

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 13 October 2014]

I well remember the Mr.&Mrs. North series as a lad during the early days of television. It was a poor man's Thin Man with Richard Denning and Barbara Britton a stylish married couple solving crimes once a week during the early and middle Fifties.

I'm always a fan of Gracie Allen so it was with interest that I finally got to see this film she did without her husband George Burns. That was a mistake. Gracie should have done the film Mr.&Mrs. North with George instead of William Post, Jr. Post was no comic actor and George Burns would have handled Gracie's scatterbrained antics with ease and aplomb.

One fine day a body falls out of a closet in the North house. It is that of Rose Hobart's husband and they're North friends. In fact a whole slew of friends and business acquaintances fall under suspicion. But in her own scatterbrained fashion Gracie seems bound and determined to pin it on her husband. She exasperates detectives Paul Kelly and Millard Mitchell to no end.

A fine list of character players are in this cast most of whom fall under suspicion. One who doesn't is the mild Fowler Brush salesman who keeps trying to give information but no one wants to talk to him when they hear what he does for a living. Felix Bressart is very funny in that role, almost as funny as Gracie.

But this film desperately needed George Burns.

Mediocre MGM Version Of Murder-Comedy

[boblipton · 5/10 · 11 April 2019]

Gracie Allen and husband William Post Jr. meet up at their apartment, where a corpse falls out of their liquor closet.

It's based on the stage play derived from a series of stories by mystery writer Richard Lockridge. While it's fun to listen to Gracie natter on, no one seems to be willing to play straight man to her; cops Paul Kelly and Millard Mitchell look exasperated. I suppose it's a reasonable reaction, but it goes to show how necessary a good straight man is for a comic A wealth of fine character actors, including Felix Bressart, Rose Hobart, and Keye Luke fail to offer anything in the way of sparkle. Only Porter Hall offers a good performance and I have no way of telling why.

Director Robert Sinclair never got out of the programmers at MGM. After directing a dozen movies with unpromising titles like JOE AND ETHEL TURP CALL ON THE PRESIDENT and THE CAPTAIN IS A LADY, he moved to directing TV. Clearly he had some ability, but perhaps it was only as a stage director; he had been in charge of the original stage production of THE PHILADELPHIA STORY. He was killed in 1970, stabbed to death by a prowler.

Allen Goes Solo

[Michael_Elliott · 6 December 2015]

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.

Gracie solves a murder through malapropism.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 31 August 2018]

She's no Nora Charles, and William Post Jr. is no Nick Charles and certainly no George Burns. Just a few years after going solo in another mystery comedy, "The Gracie Allen Murder Case", Gracie was back as an amateur sleuth in this film version of a hit play where, as a rather bored society matron housewife, she drives businessman husband crazy. I love when she asks the operator after a phone call with him, "Why am I always disconnected while on the phone with my husband?" Her chattering non-stop like a bird might have even driven Billie Burke crazy, especially with the crazy things that come out of her mouth. When a body is discovered in her and Post's lavish apartment, Gracie screams with a furor that would shatter glass, and as other guests try to worm their way out of being on the suspect list, Allen innocently reveals a reason she is aware of why they should not be. Ironically, it isn't because she thinks they might be guilty, but her honesty is just so blatant that any falsehood told by any of the guests just makes her point out their incorrect information.

While the comedy mystery (especially with amateur housewife detectives) was by 1942 as old as talkies themselves, this one has some surprisingly effective ways of establishing suspects, motives, various clues and red herrings. Another corpse is discovered by the hissing of Allen's cat, followed by Gracie's recurring scream, and of course, more clues discovered quite accidentally by Gracie herself. The supporting cast is very effective, with such pro's as Rose Hobart, Virginia Grey, Tom Conway (the Saint himself!), Jerome Cowan and Keye Luke, forced to deliver stereotypical Asian dialect ("Excuse, prease!", repeated over and over degradingly) in support. The typical MGM gloss sets this apart from others, and as funny as she is, Gracie Allen ain't no Myrna Loy, but the same can be said in reverse for the legendary Nora Charles.

Gracie ruins the movie

[swicinski · 3/10 · 23 November 2020]

Not a huge Burns and Allen person so I don't know if the Mrs North character is too much Gracie or too much Pam. Her ridiculous actions, and non-stop chattering take away completely from the film. She hides evidence from the police, lies to them, and none for any sensible reason except in her own scattered brain I guess. There's no chemistry between her and her husband.

The supporting cast is relatively strong set of character actors who do heir job quite well. The story is thin, confusing. Barnes remembers something and goes to the police? No, goes to mrs north. Th Fuller brush gag was barely funny the first time, after that it was stale and driven to ground. Just like most of the movie. One plus, Keye Luke's character was not as stereotypical of Chinese characters and servants as in most movies of the time.