A Mortalha de Seda

Despite an intriguing opening sequence referred to in the title, THE CORPSE CAME C.O.D. is simply a potboiler mystery that is too thin to be stretched into a movie almost 90 minutes. Movie star Adele Jergens receives the body of her fashion designer in a c.o.d. shipment of fabrics delivered to her home. The movie is alas an uninspired comedy-murder mystery with the aging George Brent in the lead (who was never very charismatic even in his youth as leading man to Bette Davis and other movie queens). The always dependable Joan Blondell shows up somewhat late in the proceedings (this would be the 41-year-old star's last romantic lead before moving into character parts) but she isn't able to make much out of this stale story. Adele Jergens is quite beautiful but not too interesting. One of the few bright spots is handsome tough guy Jim Bannon as a no-nonsense detective. Una O'Connor has a bit part where she does her scared screech shtick and then disappears from the rest of the movie.

The movie was based on a potboiler novel by Hollywood columnist Jimmy Starr. Covering it's bases and perhaps fearing the wrath of jealous rivals, the opening segment features cameos from virtually every such reporter working the Hollywood scene at the time including Louella Parsons and Hedda Hopper as well as Starr.

Alas, THE CORPSE CAME C.O.D. is a complete stiff as a film. The first time I attempted to watch it, I was so bored I couldn't get past 40 minutes. The next day I decided to watch the rest of it and had to go back a bit to what I'd already seen because it was so dull I forgotten much of what I had already viewed.

Warner Brothers turned out lots of these comedy/mysteries. After a while, they seem to blend into one another. This has a lot of the same elements. But it has some unique ones too. And it's not from Warner's: It's from Columbia.

George Brent looks as if he'd been filmed for "Hollywood Babylon." He is always a good actor and is fun here as a news hound. But he bears little resemblance to the leading man he played earlier that decade at Warner's. Joan Blondell is a rival newswoman. As always, she is delightful. No, she doesn't look the way she did in the Busby Berkely or earlier Cagney movies. But she always looked great. And I never saw her turn in a bad performance -- even in Hugo Haas's "Lizzie." Adele Jergens p a very glamorous movie star. Talk about perfect casting! The title corpse comes C.O.D. to her Hollywood estate. The movie is concerned with finding out why and courtesy of what evildoer.

Joan Blondell and George Brent must have felt like it was old home week and they were time warped back to the Thirties when both were contract players at Warner Brothers. This Columbia Picture has something of the look and feel of one of those Warner studio products from that era. Too bad it wasn't all that good.

Blondell and Brent play a couple of rival reporters who are trying to scoop the other concerning a murder. Adele Jergens plays a movie star who receives a shipment of bolts of cloth for some dress designs and the driver asks for it to be COD. What happens is that with the bolts of fabric is the body of the studio dress designer, The Corpse Comes COD.

As was the case in those days when the studio protects the stars from scandal, she calls a reporter friend George Brent who comes right over to Jergens home to comfort her and get a bead on the other papers. Then at his suggestion, she calls the cops and they come in the person of Detective Jim Bannon.

That gets Blondell's dander up and she's out to best Brent whatever the cost which drives Bannon up a wall.

Both Brent and Blondell are a little older and should be a little wiser fooling with an obstruction of justice charge for one or both of them. The elements of drama and comedy and mystery are not mixed very well in The Corpse Came COD. And the identity of the one behind the killing is not a surprise that is satisfactory as much as it is off the wall.

Brent and Blondell and the rest do their best, but the story just defeats them.

ADELE JERGENS is a pampered movie star who gets a crate delivery that turns out to have a body inside it--a studio costume designer she had recently argued with. She tries to persuade newspaper man GEORGE BRENT not to tell police right away, but he does and the plot gets a little more absurd after that, with JOAN BLONDELL as another newspaper reporter looking for a scoop.

The comedy aspect is anything but subtle as Blondell and Brent seem to be trying to upstage each other for laughs as the story strives for a good blend of mystery and mirth. Since it becomes obvious early on that most of the comic elements are pretty stale, you have to pin your hopes that the mystery element will be handled a lot better.

LESLIE BROOKS is attractive as a studio secretary with she and ADELE JERGENS providing the glamor appeal as stunning blondes. As fumbling reporters turning sleuth to solve the case, Blondell and Brent try hard but are less than amusing as they look for leads.

The plot thickens with the murder of a studio publicity director, but the accent still remains on comedy until the merry mix-up is solved after Brent has several run-ins with the killer.

Not too bad as these programmers go, with the final ten minutes filling in a lot of background info that's kept "in the dark" for most of the running time. Brent proves his comedy flair needed some fine tuning but Blondell is one step ahead of him in that department. GRANT WITHERS makes a good red herring in a minor role.

The title of this film pretty much says it. A box arrives at a movie star's home and the delivery man says it's cash on delivery. She pays and when they open it, the body of a Hollywood costumer is inside. She then phones a local Hollywood gossip columnist (George Brent) and asks for his help. When he comes to her home and sees the body, he calls the cops. However, despite working through proper channels, the columnist decides to investigate the case for himself. After getting bashed on the head a few times, finding ANOTHER body and nearly getting killed, he continues his silly quest instead of leaving everything to the law...the more prudent path. Along for the fun is another rival reporter (Joan Blondell).

While reporters investigating crimes makes zero sense, as do a few other plot elements, the film IS entertaining. Plus, Brent and Blondell are such professionals that they manage to take silly tripe like this and make it watchable. Plus at least this mystery film has a nice twist near the end!