Super-Sleuth

A crime-comedy, with Jack Oakie very personable as a movie detective who is short on brains. Famous actors are getting poison pen letters, which we learn quickly are from house-of-horrors owner Eduardo Ciannelli, whose motive seems to be revenge for bad acting. Oakie gets such a letter announcing he'll be killed, so he goes to Ciannelli, his friend, and says he knows who sent it! It's the one sending all those poison pen letters. That's the level of Oakie's intelligence (and the level of the comedy in the script). Ciannelli has lots of opportunities to kill Oakie, including with a rifle with a gunsight. The comedy comes from Oakie, his servant, Willie Best (again shamefully stereotyped), and the hapless police inspector, Edgar Kennedy. Ann Sothern seems wasted as Oakie's publicity manager.

Jack Oakie stars as movie star Willard Martin and Ann Sothern plays girlfriend Mary Strand, who happens to be Willard's PR rep. Willard is played like a cartoon character, and the film is humorous and hokey, light-weight comedic fare.

The basic conceit is that Willard, who plays a formidable crime solver in the movies, confuses his role with reality. He gets into a war of words with local police authorities over a recent crime, thinking he can do everything better than they. Meanwhile, a strange little man starts sending death threats to Willard.

Mary works overtime to save Willard from his oversized ego, trying to simultaneously keep her job and keep him safe.

The two stars are a joy to watch. When Oakie mugs for the camera, it fits the cartoonish theme of the film. And it feels like a parody of other film heroes, especially those who appear in the episodic cliffhangers of the day.

I never really heard of Jack Oakie until I started old comedies.I was pleasantly surprised. He was funny. In this film He plays a guy who is oblivious to everyone and everything around him and doesn't realize it. He is really funny. He does a great job figuring out the mystery. Luckily he has Ann Sothern to care for him.

In Hollywood, Bill Martin (Jack Oakie) plays a detective on film. He gets into a feud with the real police. Studio publicist Mary Strand (Ann Sothern) isn't happy with him either although she does really like him. He starts getting creepy fan letters from "The Poison Pen". With a killer targeting him, he and Mary go to amateur sleuth Professor Herman (Eduardo Ciannelli) for help.

Bill Martin is somewhat a self-obsessed boob. I don't hate him but I don't love him either. With a bit of well placed charms, he could be a passable romantic lead. Oakie needs some work. Sothern is doing all the work in the relationship. The hair piece is the funniest gag but it's the Lieutenant. There is still some fun to be had.

Jack Oakie is a movie star, best known for a series of detective movies. He's so good in the role that he believes his own publicity and starts a feud with the police department. Then comes the anonymous threatening letter....

Oakie is his usual not-too-bright blowhard, and this RKO programmer shows him at his best, even though his leading-man status wouldn't last much longer; he would have a nice career as best man's buddy in all those brightly lit Fox musicals. With Anne Sothern, Eduardo Cianelli, Edgar Kennedy, and Willie Best, there are some good laughs in this one.