The White Cockatoo

Routine whodunit, more complex than most. Seems Sue (Muir) travels to a French village to meet her long lost brother, so that once their identities are confirmed, they'll share a big inheritance. Trouble is people start turning up dead at their hotel, while Sue seemingly overcomes physics by appearing in more than one place at the same time. So what's going on.

Unlike the Hollywood custom of the day, there's no amateur sleuth operating here. Instead guest Sundean (Cortez) stumbles around along with the French cops. Reviewer GManfred is right: the narrative lacks suspense. I think it's mainly because there are too many angles at play at the same time. In short, too many subplots detract from needed whodunnit focus. Instead, there's dark Gothic atmosphere, along with a single wind recording that blows throughout. Anyway, Muir looks pretty, Donnelly acts ditzy, while the Cockatoo qualifies for SAG membership. But anything memorable, it's not.

Jean muir, john eldredge, ricardo cortez. Sue talley is waiting for her brother to arrive at a hotel en france; when a dead body appears, they send for the gendarmes. Lots of talking, and walking around the hotel. Then more bodies! Great, scary atmosphere.... the wind is howling and whistling the whole time. The accusations fly, lots of walking and talking, no-one can leave. But we don't find out what really happened until the very end. It's pretty good. Those hoping for early clues as to the murderer's identity will probably be disappointed. Ruth donnelly, who plays mrs. Byng, was in so many HUGE films from the 1930s and 1940s. Directed by alan crosland. He had directed al jolson in jazz singer. This film based on the book by mignon eberhart. One of the "clue club" mysteries from warner brothers in the 1930s.

The White Cockatoo is a well-paced and well-plotted old dark house mystery starring Ricardo Cortez (very good as usual) and pretty Jean Muir, an all-but-forgotten actress who bore a striking resemblance to Gloria Stuart. Set in a remote French hotel (on the Warner's back lot), and utilizing several authentically French actors in minor roles, the story involves an attempted kidnapping, a stolen inheritance, several impersonations and a couple of murders. Though typical of the second feature crime dramas of the era, it's a much-better-than-average version of that genre and makes for an enjoyable 73 minutes of intrigue, with hidden rooms, stolen papers, long-lost siblings and some genuine surprises.

The main attraction here is the strong supporting cast of Warner's stalwarts: Addison Richards, Ruth Donnelly, Minna Gombell (more glamorous than usual), Walter Kingsford, John Eldredge and Gordon Westcott. Oh, and there's also a nice little performance by Poochie, the titular white cockatoo. They all manage to bring some dimension to the characters, a quality which--along with a well-constructed story and better pacing than the average film of this ilk--elevates the picture to what I would call a B+. Highly recommended for fans of the genre.

American engineer Ricardo Cortez has been working in Russia. Now he's on his way back to the US. First, though, he's stopping at a French chateau-turned-hotel, where the wind always whistles and the manager and his wife have a pet bird to justify the movie's title. There are several other guests, including Jean Muir, who is set to inherit a million dollars, Ruth Donnelly, who is wasted in a nothing role, Gordon Westcott, a grumpy doctor, and several others. Their numbers drop when one of them is killed. In all there will be three murders.

There was a shake-out of actors in Warner's stocl company about this time. While the Irish Mafia (Cagney, O'Brien, McHugh, etc) mostly survived, the carnage among other players was considerable, and resulted in a general loss of quality for everything except the A movies. This one looks like management trying to get some value for their money out of people whose contracts would not be renewed. As a result, while the mystery from a Mignon Eberhart story is intact, the short length of this movie doesn't leave time for the niceties of character exposition. "Efficient" is the nicest thing I can say about this movie, and a good mystery. With Minna Gombell, Walter Kingsford, and Pauline Garon.

There's a comforting familiarity about small mystery thrillers from the 1930s, such as this one. It has a lot of the usual plot elements: mysterious tavern setting in an isolated part of the country (in this case France), a girl (Muir) waiting there to inherit a fortune, shots in the dark, a body found, the usual red herring suspects (almost everyone in the cast) and the police inspecting the case who are every bit as hopeless at solving a crime in France as they are in American set thrillers of the same nature.

This Warner Brothers affair is directed with efficiency by old pro Alan Crosland, the film further benefiting from some wonderful tavern sets (probably left over from some bigger budgeted productions but every bit as effective here), all beautifully photographed.

And the cast is an engaging one. Ricardo Cortez, second billed, is really the lead in this film, as an American tourist who becomes involved in the mysterious tavern happenings, and largely takes over as amateur detective in trying to crack the case (since it's apparent the police here will never be able to do so). And Cortez is solid in his part, as well as showing some smooth charm, which was his trademark.

I happened to find the book of that title by Mignon Eberhart - a great mystery writer of the 30's and 40's - in a used bookstore. The film pretty much adheres to the story.