Jean Parker is fast-talking Kitty O'Day, a spunky secretary who sets out to solve a murder. Peter Cookson tries to keep up as Johnny Jones, the boyfriend who assists in her investigation. Together they track a murderer….but they have a couple of problems: 1) more dead bodies keep turning up, and 2) the cops think they did it.Tim Ryan, who co-wrote the script, has many of the funniest lines as wise-cracking police detective Clancy. (Finding Kitty and Johnny in a room with yet another dead body: ""The butler! Every time I see you with somebody, they're dead.") Edward Gargan is also fun as the usual dumb assistant cop who goes through the picture saying "Yes, Chief." B movie regulars Douglas Fowley and Veda Ann Borg are also along for the ride.The plot isn't much, and the situations are all pretty familiar….hiding behind apartment furniture, sneaking out on a window ledge, stumbling over dead bodies in the dark—all the usual dangers and dilemmas are here.However, it's all done in such good humor! It looks like they slapped together a few sets, glanced through the script, and shot it with no rehearsal, just kind of seeing how it would turn out—and having a great time. It's sloppy and goofy—but somehow it clicks in a way few of these B comedies manage to do.The enthusiastic cast is apparently the key. Led by Parker, the whole gang roar through the proceedings with great gusto. It won't make you think, but it's lots of fun.

I agree with a previous reviewer when he said he loves the old Monogram programmers. I do too. In fact, I took the time to track down and visit the address of the studio at the wrong end of Sunset Blvd some years ago. (The studio is now a PBS station and the offices are a take out chicken joint). But this attempt at putting together yet another amateur detective couple fizzled badly. Cross Torchy Blaine with The Mad Miss Manton, cut the budget in half, and give it to Bill "One Shot" Beaudine to direct, and there you are. The story isn't bad, but there are endless scenes of the the two sleuths creeping around dark rooms, tripping over furniture, and arguing with the dummy cops. We've seen it all before, and we've seen it done better.

"Detective Kitty O'Day" is not a great mystery (the murderer is fairly easy to spot after a point, especially when the other suspects keep getting bumped off!), but it doesn't need to be: it's the comedy that primarily carries this picture, and it carries it well. The dialogue is snappy and the pacing is breezy. More specifically, just about every line uttered by the clueless but good natured cop played by Ed Gargan is funny to very funny ("I wanted to get you out of that hot closet before you sophisticated!"). Jean Parker is absolutely adorable as the title character: beautiful, spunky, brave, and deeply devoted to her boyfriend; near the end, she's not afraid to get physical with the bad guys using her handbag as a weapon! The "official" DVD print of the movie, included in a "Poverty Row" collection with two others, has a couple of bad splices, but they don't detract much. *** out of 4.

I love seeing Monogram movies. They don't have a pristine look. They look down and dirty -- which they were.It seems as if someone must have said, "Get me Jean Arthur!" and it was misunderstood. Parker plays a flighty girl along the lines of many an Arthur role. She also resembles the sublime Gracie Allen at times.But Parker was a fine actress in her own right. She shoulders this picture and carries it to great success.Veda Ann Borg is also on-hand for some cheesecake. But it's Parker's movie all the way.(The sequel, "The Adventures of Kitty O'Dea," is a retread of the same movie. It's pleasant enough but breaks not ground at all.)