The Case of the Black Parrot

Reporter William Lundigan and his sidekick photographer Eddie Foy,Jr. meet up with Maris Wrixson and her uncle on an ocean liner away from war torn Europe.. She's traveling with the uncle and an antique cabinet. After the cabinet is master forger the Black Parrot. Known by said name for his skill at copying stuff.

After the uncle's murder and several false leads the reporters actually capture the notorious crook. I have to say I had it figured out and I think you will too.

Routine mystery from the Warner Brothers B unit.

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.

Wow, that William Lundigan was cute! Here he stars in 1941's The Case of the Black Parrot, directed by Noel M. Smith. This is a rare lead for Lundigan at Warners.

Lundigan is Jim Moore, on board ship returning from Europe. He's met a young woman, Sandy Vantine (Maris Wrixon) traveling with her uncle, and they've fallen in love.

The Vantines are bringing home an antique cabinet, supposedly forged by the Black Parrot, an expert forger. An inspector, Colonel Piggott (Paul Cavanagh) is also aboard and after the Black Parrot. The cabinet appears to be the real thing, not a forgery. And it appears the Parrot is after it.

Back home, Jim has proposed to Sandy and meets her family and friends. They discover a maid, Julia, is trying to find love letters in the cabinet written by her boss, Madame de Charierre, to whom the cabinet actually belongs. Then Sandy's uncle and another guest are killed. Jim contacts Colonel Piggott. Everyone is a suspect.

There is a second compartment in the cabinet that holds diamonds. Obviously someone is after them - perhaps the Parrot himself.

It won't take anyone long to figure this one out.

Nothing special about it, and for me a little confusing as my concentration wandered.

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.

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.