diff --git a/liboctave/CMatrix.cc b/liboctave/CMatrix.cc
--- a/liboctave/CMatrix.cc
+++ b/liboctave/CMatrix.cc
@@ -3738,19 +3738,33 @@
 ComplexMatrix
 operator * (const ComplexMatrix& m, const Matrix& a)
 {
+  std::cerr << "complex * real: "; 
   if (m.columns () > std::min (m.rows (), a.columns ()) / 10)
-    return ComplexMatrix (real (m) * a, imag (m) * a);
-  else
-    return m * ComplexMatrix (a);
+    {
+      std::cerr << "split\n";
+      return ComplexMatrix (real (m) * a, imag (m) * a);
+    }
+  else
+    {
+      std::cerr << "convert\n";
+      return m * ComplexMatrix (a);
+    }
 }
 
 ComplexMatrix
 operator * (const Matrix& m, const ComplexMatrix& a)
 {
+  std::cerr << "real * complex: "; 
   if (a.rows () > std::min (m.rows (), a.columns ()) / 10)
-    return ComplexMatrix (m * real (a), m * imag (a));
-  else
-    return m * ComplexMatrix (a);
+    {
+      std::cerr << "split\n";
+      return ComplexMatrix (m * real (a), m * imag (a));
+    }
+  else
+    {
+      std::cerr << "convert\n";
+      return m * ComplexMatrix (a);
+    }
 }
 
 /* Simple Dot Product, Matrix-Vector and Matrix-Matrix Unit tests