Miss Pinkerton

This is a typical "old house" film.....a black-clad figure that throws gigantic shadows on the walls, a secret entrance, all the characters "creeping around", a creepy butler, and all the rest!

It's interesting that they use some of the same sets for that other fantastic "old house" film, Dr. X. (Most notably, the upstairs hall & the kitchen).

Some people would say this film is "slow moving", but that is done deliberately to increase the creepy "something-is-about- to-happen" feeling.

As an aside, it's remarkable that the actress who plays the sick old lady looks really OLD in this film, but in Bob Hope's "Cat & the Canary" (filmed almost 10 years later, as the Aunt) looks MUCH younger! She had one heck of a make-up job in THIS film!

If you love "old house" films, don't miss it!

This is an early entry in the comic/romantic mystery genre. Joan Blondell is bemoaning the boring existence of a hospital nurse when wham! She is commandeered by detective George Brent to help solve a murder case. It is he who, at her request gives her a title. The title is Miss Pinkerton.

It's an old mansion with creepy servants and the whole deal. A young man has died. Suicide, it's thought; but we know better. The plot is a trifle complicated but not too far-fetched. And Blondell is as (almost) always a real joy.

Brent is in it blessedly little and the supporting players all do what the need to do.

Another classic mystery that I watched right after I finished reading the book it was based on, so this review will be more about the comparison of the two and not another one about the story and the actors (that others has done a great job of already).

This one was probably the most faitful of these lesser known mysteries that I watched after reading the books: basically there are only two significant changes and none of those is directly related to the story itself. One of them is right in the beginning: here our heroine is a bored and somewhat ill-tempered hospital nurse who, out-of-the blue, is called to help a police investigation, while in the book she is a professional private nurse who has already worked with the police several times before (actually Miss Pinkerton was Rinehart's second book about the Ms Adams character... published 18 years after the first one, 1914's The Buckled Bag). And the second one is the quite suddenly erupting romance between her and the police detective. This part is completely missing from the book and there it is only hinted at the very end that the detective likes Ms Adams quite one bit.

But other than these minor changes (that does not really add or take anything) the story follows the book rather faithfully... which could be a god thing, but actually it turns out to be the film's only shortcoming. The book itself is a charming little one, well written, featuring loveble characters, but honestly, its story is not its strongest part. It was written in a time when mystery writers already struggled to come up with new twists and ideas and in this case it resulted is an overcomplicated story about a race after an old lady's heritage. The character's motives are not really clear even in the book and when the story is squeezed into the film's hour long running time, it becomes even more messy. The book spent some time introducing everyone, while here, besides the leads, hardly anyone has enough screentime to realy explore the charachters.

But even with its shortcomings, the movie is an entertaining little quicky, Blondell, while seems miscast at first, eventually does a good job and C. Henry Gordon is also a delight to watch. Switch your brains off, do not try to follow the story, just go along with the flow and you will be in for an hour worth of fun.

Love mystery. Love thriller, though this is more of a mystery with splashes of comedy. Also appreciate a lot of comedy, though some styles are more to my taste than others it has to be admitted. It is always interesting when they are combined together and a lot of films do it very well indeed. Have loved a lot the work of Joan Blondell, here in a role she played very well, and Lloyd Bacon (best known for the film that transformed the musical genre '42nd Street') had a lot of talent. George Brent was more hit and miss for me.

'Miss Pinkerton' was from personal opinion one of those above average but not particularly mind-blowing kind of films, not too bad a position to be in but there was potential for it to have been much better. A lot of good things, wonderful in the case of Blondell, the production values and Bacon's direction. But also some big drawbacks, such as the over-stuffed and over-complicated plotting and lack of chemistry between Blondell and Brent (who is not at his best here in 'Miss Pinkerton').

Will start with what was good. 'Miss Pinkerton' looks great. Especially the inventive camera angles and the truly haunting use of shadow. Blondell also wears her beautiful costumes well. Bacon's direction at its best is quite masterly, what he does with the visuals is extraordinary, the film isn't dull and he does allow for some genuinely suspenseful moments. The type of role Blondell has here really suits her and she is immensely engaging in it, playing the part with keen humour, intensity, charm and easy charisma.

John Wray and Elizabeth Patterson have fun too in their roles, Bacon's direction also shines in his direction of Patterson. The script is witty and intriguing and enough of the story compels and never feels too obvious.

Did feel though that the story was problematic though. With such a lot going in a film with a quite short length, 'Miss Pinkerton' for my tastes did feel over-stuffed and with not a lot of breathing space it felt rushed and more complicated than it needed to be. The ending is abrupt and convoluted, even if it was also surprising.

Brent also felt rather dull in his not particularly meaty part and some witty banter aside his chemistry with Blondell never fully fleshes out.

Overall, above average but not great. 6/10

...specifically between Joan Blondell and George Brent. These are two players whose performances and films I generally enjoy immensely, but here the two just seem to be acting at each other rather than with each other. It's hard to describe unless you actually see it.

Blondell plays a nurse in a hospital - Nurse Adams - who is bored with hospital routine. One night she gets picked by the head nurse to be private nurse for the night to an old woman who has had a terrible shock - the old woman found the body of her nephew shortly after he had been shot with his own gun. Was it suicide? Was it murder? If it was murder, what was the motive? These are the questions surrounding the mystery of the unnatural death of Herbert Wynn. There is also the complication of Herbert Wynn's life being insured for one hundred thousand dollars payable to his aunt, and that his family - once wealthy - is now on the verge of bankruptcy and ruin. So, there is just as much a motive for making the suicide look accidental - or like a murder - as there is reason for making any murder that has occurred look like a suicide or accident. Life insurance doesn't pay out for suicide.

Enter George Brent, a police detective on the case that takes an immediate liking to Nurse Adams and dubs her "Miss Pinkerton". I could never really figure that one out, unless it has something to do with the famous Scottish detective whose name is often a pseudonym for detective. This is really an old dark house tale mixed in with elements of the Thin Man. From the old dark house side of things we have a creepy mansion with creepier inhabitants and mysterious locked rooms. From the Thin Man tradition of mysteries - which actually wasn't made for two years after this film - we have everybody shooting darting and knowing glances at everyone else and looking guilty and somewhat conspiratorial.

The rather complex plot will keep you interested, but you'll likely be disappointed with the romance and partnership end of things between Blondell and Brent. They were both capable of having tremendous chemistry with other leading ladies and men, just not with each other and certainly not in this film. Recommended, but with reservations.