The Black Doll

Boy, is rich old Nelson Rood (C. Henry Gordon) asking for it! He is rude and imperious with everyone around him. So when he finds a black doll on his desk with a knife through it, he knows it's a genuine threat.

Who might want to harm Rood? Well….He is cruel to his sister, who lives with him and depends on his support. He scoffs at his nephew, a rebellious young man who has been forging his uncle's name on checks. He tries to chase away his daughter's fiancé. He even insults his faithful butler. And then there are the two old "business partners" from whom he has been hiding for 15 years, seemingly the only two people alive who could have known about the black doll….

Nan Grey and Donald Cook make a nice pair as the intelligent daughter and her clever fiancé. Cook is right on the job when the murder is discovered; true, it's a murder investigation, but he generally gives the impression that he is having great fun with it all. Grey exhibits charm and personality—she's smarter than your average B movie heroine here, and fully a match for Cook's exuberance. (Alas, Grey is not really given quite enough to do.)

Edgar Kennedy is strictly comic relief as the sheriff, but if you like Edgar then this film is for you. His best line: "When I'm investigating a crime, I'm not a man—I'm a bloodhound!" He's blustery, hilarious and totally inept right to the film's final shot.

The mystery plot itself is pretty standard….but it keeps you guessing. The dialog is good and the performances energetic. Lots of fun for B mystery fans.

One line that mystified me: "Get me a jar of jelly, some talcum powder, and a plate." (Donald Woods apparently preparing to take some fingerprints. All for naught, however, as one of Sheriff Kennedy's deputies eats the jelly.)

When Nelson Rood (C Henry Gordon) finds a black doll on his desk, he knows it can mean only one thing - his death. Sure enough, later that night, Rood is killed by a knife to the back. Rood was never the kindest man in the world, so he had his fair share of enemies. Rood's daughter's boyfriend, Nick Halstead (Donald Woods), fancies himself an amateur detective and sets out to investigate. But Halstead will have to stay out of the way of the local bumbling sheriff if he's to find a killer.

Based on the IMDb rating (5.9) and all the positive reviews, I know The Black Doll has some fans. I'm, however, not among them. While I enjoyed some of the mystery elements of the story and a character or two, I had a couple of big problems with the film that kept me from enjoying it. First, as my little intro suggests, boyfriend Halstead does most of the real detective work. And by that I mean he makes a series of wild guesses generally based on very little real evidence, yet somehow he's miraculously correct 100% of the time. I like the solutions to my mysteries to be more fact-based. Second, bumbling Sheriff Renick (Edgar Kennedy) is more than I can take. He's just not funny. His brand of comedy, including a pocket full of pipes he continuously smokes and then breaks, doesn't appeal to me at all. Sadly, Kennedy ruined any hope of me finding much entertainment in The Black Doll.

3/10

The Black Doll (1938)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Reporter Nick Halstead (Donald Woods) helps a rather dimwitted sheriff (Edgar Kennedy) investigate a series of murders, which are connected by a black voodoo doll that is left with the victim.

This is an entry in Universal's Crime Club series and for the most part it's an entertaining little "B" movie but at the same time there's no doubt that you'll forget about it soon after the end credits roll. This series was made on a very low budget as the studio tried to get some revenue back after their 1936 film SHOWBOAT lost so much money. With that in mind, you really don't have anything overly special here but if you enjoy these type of thrillers then you should enjoy it.

It certainly helps that you've got Woods in a fine and loose form. He certainly brings some energy to the role that helps keep the film moving at a nice pace. Kennedy plays the dimwitted by likable guy that he played throughout his career. The two of them actually have some nice chemistry and the humor works more times than not. The film also benefits from some nice direction by Otis Garrett who makes for some nice atmosphere and especially during the murder scenes.

THE BLACK DOLL runs just 66 minutes so it's not deep or filled with anything great but it does get its job done.

This B-movie was the second entry in Universal's long-forgotten Crime Club series, based on a popular run of mystery books of the time. A few of the entries are well above-average, thanks mainly to strong source material (Jonathan Latimer wrote several of the originals) and fine, resourceful low-budget direction by the obscure Otis Garrett (who died just as his career was getting established). This one concerns a skein of murders presaged by a native doll, a revenge plot revolving around the discovery of a rich mine many years before.

This was Garrett's first directorial foray (he had edited the previous entry), and he shows plenty of enthusiasm early on with some clever camera setups (the first murder, by tossed knife, is seen reflected in a mirror). Comedy relief was de rigueur in the genre at the time, and unfortunately, Edgar Kennedy's low-humor bumbling cop is given far to much prominence, totally undermining the creepy atmosphere established before his appearance. Also, the always-nasty C Henry Gordon gets killed off early on in the proceedings. The plot never really gels, and it all ends with one of those Charlie-Chan-style all-the-suspects-in-one-room scenes, which is handled in a disappointingly pedestrian manner. In the leads, Nan Grey is very fetching and Donald Woods affable. Stanley Cortez, still trapped in B-land, was co-cinematographer. Unless you're a completist, you can give this one a miss and try the strikingly-edited "Lady in the Morgue" instead.

There is a liberal dose of humor in this movie where Edgar Kennedy, master of the slow burn, plays a sheriff investigating a murder in a small town. The point of the plot is the Black Doll of the title and a harbinger of death which appears and disappears through out the proceedings. Kennedy is "aided" by a newspaper reporter who manages to put the whole thing together.

Its a breezy 65 minutes that fly by almost as an after thought. The mystery is clever but it seems stretched out to fill the required running time. The cast is quite good and the whole thing has the feel of something from a lazy Sunday.

Its so breezy as to be utterly forgettable. I recently found this on one of my video tapes and was totally baffled by what it was. I know that I had watched this previously since I removed the commercials at some earlier time, but I can't for the life of me remember ever seeing it other than when I just popped it into the VCR last night. Now some twelve hours later I find the film rapidly disappearing from my mind.

If you want to see a film you'll enjoy for its running time but which will leave no trace on you consciousness, this is the movie for you.