Murder on the Blackboard

When talkies happened, there was a mad rush to make films of mysteries because they were enormously popular in the pulp trade. Series of published stories became movie serials as if by accident and it took nearly a whole decade for the movie industry to figure out a basic cinematic vocabulary apart from books.

So when you see something that worked during that transition, its worth figuring why. Almost always it was not because of anything in the film itself, rather the stage presence and usually humor of one or two characters.

This formula started in 1932 as one of the early talkies. It depended on the character of the nosey biddy and whatever humor could be milked from it. A cartoon cop was the foil, and a pretty effective one too.

In this, the second, his cartoonishness becomes self-referential. There are at least three major jokes in the thing where he talks about what he would do if he were a movie detective. One time, the schoolmarm treats him like he is irrelevant and he says: "What am I here, the costume designer?"

This was the same year that "The Thin Man" hit on a better, more dialog-driven comic formula that would lead to screwball. So this series flagged a bit, dragging on with different twists.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

This was the second of 3 films Edna May Oliver made at RKO starring as that indomitable school teacher/sleuth, Miss Hildegarde Withers. As always, Miss Oliver steals the show, sticks it in her handbag and walks off with it.

This time she attempts to track down a murderer right in her own New York City school. With her gimlet eye & no-nonsense manner, the killer never really stands a chance.

Miss Oliver, as always, is a joy to watch. James Gleason returns as the harried police detective Oscar Piper, now Hildegarde's boyfriend. Also on hand are Edgar Kennedy, Bruce Cabot & Tully Marshall. But, as in the other Withers films, Edna May is the real reason to watch.

Decidedly dated, early mystery starring Edna May Oliver as the irrepressible sleuth Hildergard Withers, Murder on the Blackboard is all fun. Oliver excels as the wise-cracking "Lady" teacher sleuth who finds that a young, pretty music teacher has been killed in her school - as both have stayed late working. Oliver enlists the help of detective James Gleason(an always reliable character actor) and the one-liners between the two begin to ensue as the track down the murderer. The writing in this film is witty, sharp, and rapid-fire and both Gleason and Oliver do more than justice to their respective roles. The list of suspects is limited(really only four people) but amongst them are Bruce Cabot and Tully Marshall. Because it was made in 1934 it is somewhat stagy and creaky, but the film is elevated by the two acting leads. Oliver on screen is pure magic as she is able to look oh so dour and be oh so sarcastic at every turn. A crackling whodunit in the old-fashioned sense of the word.

Murder on the Blackboard is the second of three Hildegarde Withers stories that Edna May Oliver and James Gleason were teamed for. Today the charm of these two people, two of the best character actors that movies ever saw carry this rather dated and melodramatic story.

One of the teachers at Edna's school, Barbara Fritchie, winds up very dead and she's quite the lively corpse as the perpetrator keeps moving the body in an effort to be rid of it. In fact the only way the crime is discovered is because that day Edna kept young Jackie Searle after school.

Unlike the Thin Man movies where you could have as many as ten suspects or more in a room as Nick and Nora reveal all, this is not MGM with their lavish productions. This is RKO and this studio had a limited budget for their films. We only have four suspects so your chances of guessing who did it increase quite a bit.

Edgar Kennedy as the dumb cop who gets clunked on the head and develops amnesia is his usual funny self. In fact he's the foil used to catch the murderer in the end. As for the end, I found it a bit melodramatic for my taste and let it go at that.

But for fans of the wonderful Edna May Oliver and the dependable James Gleason this film is a must.

There were many, many B-detective series films through the 1930s and 40s--ranging from Sherlock Holmes to Ellery Queen to Charlie Chan to The Falcon--and many, many more. Despite the wide variety, these film are quite similar and the plots are rather interchangeable. However, I always look forward to a Hildegarde Withers film starring Edna May Oliver, as her films, regardless of the plot, have a lot more going for them than the rest of the pack. That's because Ms. Oliver was simply a delight to watch--as her detective was given the snappiest and most sarcastic dialog and her delivery was always wonderful. While she appeared at first much like a Jessica Fletcher-style character, you soon discovered she wasn't so cuddly or sweet and was more of a "dame" in the best sense of the word.

This particular film is about a dead body that is discovered but then disappears at a school. Later, the body is found in the most grisly fashion and it's up to Miss Withers and her sidekick, the Inspector (James Gleason) to solve the crime. The film isn't quite as good as their previous film, THE PENGUIN POOL MURDER and interestingly enough they actually refer back to that case--something you don't often see in these films. Watch it--it's exciting, funny and different.

Sadly, despite the higher than usual quality of these films, Ms. Oliver only made three and the studio tried replacing her with Helen Broderick and Zasu Pitts--pale imitations of the original.