El loro negro

This Warner B mystery begins aboard ship. Paul Vantine is shipping back to America a forged version of the Boule Cabinet. The Boule is a Louis XIV style antique housed in Paris. He's an admirer of the forger known as the Black Parrot. With him is his niece (Maris Wrixon) and her new beau (William Lundigan). Inspecting the cabinet in his stateroom, Vantine is outraged to find that he has the original Boule, as he is so intent of having the Black Parrot copy. During a faked alarm call when all passengers have to report to the ship's lifeboats, the stateroom gets broken into and the cabinet opened. Somebody is after something the cabinet secretly contains. Later there are murders and various people have an interest in the Boule. I think vintage mystery fans will like this one.

...not great. The premise of a stolen antique is somewhat different for this low budget war-era mystery. Could have been better, but the leading man is too stiff and the murders come too late despite the fast pace. Worth it only to see some ingenious means of death by furniture and to learn why the name of the criminal is the Black Parrot.

Lacklustre whodunit from Warners. Plot concerns a valuable antique cabinet being brought back from France to US. The furniture item appears a mysterious piece of work that may or may not be a copy of the real thing. Reporter Moore (Lundigan) and ditzy photographer Tripod (Foy Jr.) get involved with the cabinet and an exotic someone calling himself The Black Parrot. Soon a series of mysterious deaths occur surrounding the furniture piece. Is the Parrot responsible and just who is he really.

It's a typical amateur sleuth programmer from that period. Unfortunately, the results are dimmer than most. Only the unknown method of killing registers as imaginative. Otherwise, the acting, visuals, and script are pedestrian, at best. Moreover, I don't recall a single scene not taking place on a set. It's a real cheapo for the otherwise respectable Warner Bros. I suspect the project was mainly to showcase pretty boy Lundigan-- who parades through his part-- in hopes of advancing his career. If so, I doubt that it worked for him any better than it does for the audience.

A stylish programmer. William Lundigan is always appealing and Maris Wrixon is generally fun to have around, if only for her name (though here she is quite good.)

The plot is elaborate and somewhat preposterous. And I guessed the mystery within the first few moments. But it's chic and nicely turned out for a cheapie.

Fast-paced mystery programmer that times in at exactly one hour, this one doesn't give you any time to grow bored, as a piece of forged Chinese furniture turns out to be real. Eddie Foy Jr. is great as the fast-talking sidekick and the plot veers in unexpected direction. William Lundigan is earnest and stiff as always, but even the butler speaks fast in this one.