Penguin Pool Murder (1932)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Really Surprised!

One of my all time favorites.

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

A good mystery story based on the novel by Stuart Palmer and directed by George Archainbaud. A school teacher and a police inspector join forces to discover the murder of a man found dead in a penguin pool at an aquarium. It moves at a good pace with salty dialogue and able acting leading to the final courtroom revelation. Only seventy minutes but worth every minute.Playing the school teacher turned detective Hildegarde Withers for the first time (two further films followed with her in the lead) Edna May Oliver is perfectly cast. Not quite the prim school teacher she appears to be, Oliver gives the character depth and feeling. Supporting her as the police inspector is James Gleason, irascible at first but grows in admiration for Miss Withers. The beautiful Mae Clarke is wasted as the wife of the murder victim. In minor but effective roles are Edgar Kennedy, Rochelle Hudson and Gustav von Seyffertitz. (Great name!)There were six Hildegarde Withers films in the thirties and one TV film in the seventies. Hopefully the other films are as good as this.

Whatever its other virtues (or flaws) may be, "The Penguin Pool Murder" is historically significant for introducing into the cinematic world what is quite possibly the first ever female - amateur, in this case - sleuth (if there is an earlier one, please name it; Torchy Blane came a few years later). She is a middle-aged school teacher, not exactly attractive, but sharp-tongued and sensibly-minded. The plot is sufficiently unpredictable and carefully pieced together as a puzzle. However, the film gets too slow at times. Mae Clarke appears in a very sexy, slinky dress in her first scene, but she's covered up the rest of the time. If you like this film, I especially recommend any of the 4 Margaret Rutherford Marple films made in the 1960s - and vice versa. **1/2 out of 4.

"I'm a schoolteacher and I might have done wonders for you if I'd caught you early enough!!!" so starts the witty repartee between Hildegarde Withers and Inspector Piper, and a great movie partner- ship was born.This was the first film in a far too short series. Stuart Palmer created the character of Hildegarde Withers (Edna May Oliver) and the very exasperated Police Inspector Piper (James Gleason). With Oliver's barbed wit and dry one liners and the fact that Gleeson knows he can't solve the case without her, it is a match made in heaven. Oliver made 3 Hildegarde Withers films - "The Penguin Pool Murder", "Murder on a Blackboard" (1934) and "Murder on a Honeymoon" (1935). After that Helen Broderick took over. She was a great character actress ("Top Hat", "Swing Time") and managed to keep the standard set by Oliver high. However when Zasu Pitts took over it was hard to imagine her as a rational and witty schoolteacher, who would never miss a clue. Even the title "40 Naughty Girls" shows how low the series had sunk."hmmm, a pickpocket ", "the man's a born detective!!!"Gwen (Mae Clarke) is having a fling with Phillip Seymour (Donald Cook). She is married to stuffy Gerald Parker, the director of the Aquarium, but is planning to divorce him. When he surprises them in a secret meeting, Phillip punches him and he falls down the stairs. He later turns up dead at the bottom of the penguin pool.Piper gathers the suspects together. Hemingway (Clarence Wilson) who has just been sacked because he has been playing the stock market with Aquarium funds, lawyer Barry Costello (Robert Armstrong), Seymour because he has confessed and Gwen because she is acting suspiciously. Rochelle Hudson makes an appearance as a sassy receptionist. Both Gwen and Phillip are arrested hoping to bring the real murderer out of hiding. Costello, who secretly loves Gwen provides enough evidence to prove that only a man could have killed Parker thus exonerating Gwen. You will not believe the ending (it is really good!!!)"It takes a certain type to be a detective - yes I've noticed that!!!"Recommended.

Edna May Oliver is probably second only to Marie Dressler as the most famous character actress of the 1930's and Miss Dressler was a star whereas Miss Oliver tended to play mostly second leads. THE PENGUIN POOL MURDER is one of about a dozen starring features for Edna May and it an absolute treat, probably the funniest comedy-mystery ever made. The first of three films for Oliver as novelist Stuart Palmer's fiftyish caustic, snoopy schoolteacher Miss Withers, the movie was a major hit in 1932 and one can see why even today, the duologue is hilarious, the setting quite novel, and the cast is fine, especially Oliver and James Gleason who have such a superb team chemistry together is near tragic they only made three films together (Oliver left RKO-Radio Pictures in 1935 and the studio unwisely decided to carry on the series with different actresses much to moviegoers - and author Stuart Palmer's - displeasure.) The plot has been dealt with by other posters so I won't go in to it but even if murder mysteries are not your thing, if you love a good comedy you'll will thoroughly enjoy this picture as Oliver gets off some delicious zingers, mostly at the semi-incompetent Inspector Piper (Gleason)'s expense. As a mystery, it works very fine as well although I think most people might be able to pick out the murderer well before either Withers or Piper. The movie boasts two cultish 1930's leading ladies in support cast quite against character, Mae Clarke in an unusually glamorous role for her as one of the suspects and most surprising, Rochelle Hudson, best known for her ultra-wholesome ingénues, painted up like a back street hooker as a floozy of a telephone operator who has a hilarious run-in with Miss Withers. Every time I watch one of the three Oliver Miss Withers pictures I regret there are not more of them out there. At least there are a dozen or so Miss Withers novels by Stuart Palmer ( many still in print including THE PENGUIN POOL MURDER) for us to cast her again in our minds eye again in the role. I believe Hildegarde Withers is the greatest of all the old lady snoops in mystery novels and films - and that includes Miss Marple and Jessica Fletcher.