The White Cockatoo

American James Sundean (Ricardo Cortez) signs into a wind-swept hotel in France. Sue Talley (Jean Muir) is waiting to prove her identity to receive a significant share of a large inheritance. Soon, shots are fired and somebody gets killed.

The best part of this movie may be the constant wind noise. It gives a very specific moody atmosphere. The shooting starts almost right away. They probably need to introduce the characters more before then although the movie is only seventy minutes or so. It's a whodunnit with a limited number of suspects. I learned that it's called a Cozy Mystery. I like this until the cops leave with only Sundean. Surely, everybody is a suspect and they wouldn't leave so soon with only one man in custody. The sword was always rather silly. Stupid police is often an indication of poor writing and I can't explain these cops away.

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.

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.

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.

In the 1930s and 40s, Hollywood made approximately 400,038,823 films similar to "The White Cockatoo". Murder mystery/whodunnits were a dime a dozen back then and because of this, I wasn't too interested in watching this film though I did because I usually enjoy Richardo Cortez films. Fortunately, it's better than I expected.

The film is set in a bizarro version of a French hotel. In other words, practically no one (other than the police who show up later) speaks with the least hint of a French accent! This isn't really a major problem...and it's common during this era of film making. Sue (Jean Muir) has come here from the States to meet her step-brother to settle their father's estate and they've never met each other. Jim (Cortez) is another American who just happens to be there and gets pulled into the murders...yes, murders. When the first body appears, the French police tell everyone that they must remain in the hotel until the case is solved. However, when more bodies start appearing you wonder who is going to buy the farm next and who is behind it all.

Overall, despite being talky (very common to all these sort of films), this one is well acted, well made and has a genuinely interesting story. Well worth seeing and among the better whodunnits I have seen.