Miss Pinkerton

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.

Nurse Joan Blondell is bored with the humdrum goings-on at the hospital where she works. So when offered a little excitement by helping the police with a murder investigation, she jumps at the chance. Pleasant old dark house mystery with a little bit of comedy added to the mix. Joan's wonderful, as she always was in the '30s. Pretty, funny, immensely likable. Very fetching in that nurse uniform. She's one of the most underrated stars of her era. She's got nice support here from George Brent in an early role and many fine character actors like Holmes Herbert and C. Henry Gordon. Also Elizabeth Patterson (Miss Trumbull from I Love Lucy) plays the old lady Blondell is assigned to take care of. Well-directed by Lloyd Bacon with some nicely-framed shots and some spooky use of wind and shadows. The film ends in such a way one might think this was the first of a series. Unfortunately, that's not the case and there were no sequels.

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.

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!

As far as I know, "Miss Pinkerton" is the only old-dark-house whodunit that Joan Blondell ever made (though she has played the amateur detective, as she does here, several times) (and maybe you could count "Topper Returns"). She's a joy, as always. The film employs nearly all the genre cliches (only a thunderstorm is missing), and has so many sinister characters that, as Blondell herself says to inspector George Brent, "You have arrested everyone in this cast except me!". There is so much plot to be covered in 65 minutes that you cannot afford not to pay attention or you'll be lost. If they had made another "Miss Pinkerton" film with the team of Blondell and Brent, I would watch it. **1/2 out of 4.