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Murder on a Honeymoon

1935 film by Lloyd Corrigan

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionFeb 20, 2026
Entity authorityQ6938124 ↗
Source-derived summary

Murder on a Honeymoon is a 1935 American mystery film starring Edna May Oliver and James Gleason. This was the third and last time Oliver portrayed astute schoolteacher Hildegarde Withers; the two previous films were The Penguin Pool Murder (1932) and Murder on the Blackboard (1934). The film was directed by Lloyd Corrigan from a screenplay by Seton I. Miller and Robert Benchley based on the 1933 novel The Puzzle of the Pepper Tree by Stuart Palmer. Palmer's novel, however, did not include Inspector Piper, and has Withers doing the investigating on her own.

Plot

On a short flight to Catalina Island off the California coast, Roswell T. Forrest gets sick. When he is found dead upon landing, it appears to be murder to fellow passenger Hildegarde Withers, but she has a tough time convincing local police chief Britt and coroner Dr. O'Rourke.

When she contacts her friend, Police Inspector Oscar Piper, for more information about the deceased, he recognizes the name: the man was a vital witness in a case against a crime syndicate and had a price on his head of $10,000. He flies from New York to assist her in investigating the case and protect her from mob retribution.

When he arrives, the pair argue over which of the people aboard the plane is the killer:

Joseph B. Tate, a famous Hollywood director,

struggling actress Phyllis La Font, who is angling for a part in Tate's next movie,

honeymooners Kay and Marvin Deving,

Captain Beegle, a retired, self-confessed former rum runner, and

pilots Dick French and Madden.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Murder on a Honeymoon” is 1935 film by Lloyd Corrigan. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Murder, Honeymoon and film, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA useful identification and reception guide that helps separate the work itself from editions, performances, ownership and later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1935, 1932, 1934, 1933—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1935-01-01. For this dossier, Murder, Honeymoon and film is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “1935 film by Lloyd Corrigan” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6938124. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1935, 1932, 1934 and 1933.

Critical limits

Titles can refer to several editions, objects or performances, making precise identification essential before interpretation. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Murder on a Honeymoon”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Murder on a Honeymoon primary sources, Murder on a Honeymoon archive and Murder research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Murder on a Honeymoon”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Murder on a Honeymoon” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.