I'm not overly familiar with the Hildegarde Withers mysteries, having only seen one other. In this one, "Murder on a Bridal Path," Miss Withers is played by Helen Broderick. Apparently there were three Withers: Edna May Oliver, Broderick, and Zasu Pitts. James Gleason remains as Oscar, the police detective who acts like he doesn't need or want Withers' help but she always steers him down the right path.When the body of Violet Feverel is discovered on the Central Park bridle path, it looks as if she was thrown from her horse. Hildegarde is walking her dog and, having found the horse, sees that he has blood on him. It's ultimately found to be murder.Nobody like this woman, particularly her ex-husband Don whom she's thrown in jail for back alimony. And he was released by a forged court order. Also, the manager of her stables fought with her that morning. And then there's Eddie Fry who is seeing Violet's sister to the disapproval of Violet.Oscar and Hildegarde head out to Don's home on Long Island. There they meet the cast of a horror film: the sick father, Patrick, the caretaker Chris, and his crippled son Joey.When Don's father is murdered, it brings Hildegarde closer to figuring out the identity of the killer.Mildly entertaining - even though it's short, it seems longer. It's very dark-looking, with the Long Island house looking like Bleak House. I liked Helen Broderick. She has a fun way with dialogue and nice chemistry with Gleason, though Oliver's was better.I think the Penguin Pool Murder was better. This is okay.

I was reading the review by Calvinnme and agree heartily. If the viewer never saw the previous Hildegard Withers films that starred Edna May Oliver, you might enjoy "Murder on a Bridle Path" even more. While Helen Broderick is very good in this role, Oliver was just better as Hildegard. Apparently, Oliver and the studio had a 'parting of the ways' and they unsuccessfully tried Broderick and later Zasu Pitts in Oliver's place. But, no matter how they tried, no one could match the charming crankiness of the original! The film starts with a blonde lady being disagreeable with several folks--a clear giveaway that she'll soon be murdered (it's a standard cliché in mystery films of the time). VERY soon after, she's killed while out riding her horse. Again, Calvinnme was right--this character wasn't developed enough and her death came too quickly. The police assume she died by accident but soon they notice a few clues that indicate she was NOT killed by being kicked by a horse. Around this time, Hildegarde shows up and immediately begins digging for clues. Like any murder mystery of the era, there are lots of dead ends and twists--along with a VERY florid ending involving the murderer--and it's by far the best part of the movie.This is a pretty good mystery film. Unfortunately, the snappy dialog from Withers isn't as obvious--not just due to Broderick but because the writing is a bit less snappy. Enjoyable but that's really about all.

***SPOILERS*** It's when Violet Feverel, Sheila Terry, is found trampled to death on Central Park's Bridle Path it's assumed by the police headed by the cigar chewing Inspector Piper, James Gleason, that it all was a tragic accident. Violet had taken a horse out for a morning ride and lost control of the animal with her ending up getting killed by it. It's when school teacher and part-time sleuth Hildergard Winters, Helen Broderick, shows up at the scene that the open and shut case was reopened in that Violet's death wasn't accidental but cold blooded murder.Inspector Piper with Hildegard's help uncovers a number of people who had it in for Violet and may well have gone so far as murdering her. There's Violet's estranged husband Don Gregg, Leslie Fenton, who was released from prison just a day before her death and is considered the #1 suspect in Violet's murder. There's also Violet's sister Barbara, Louise Latimer, and fiancée Eddie Fry, Owen Davis Jr, who never got along with her and can't seem to come up with an alibi in where they were at the time of her death.It's later when Don Gregg's old man Pat Gregg, John Milter, is almost found dead at the Gregg Mansion in Elmont Long Island the attention turns to his already suspected of murder son Don who's now suspected by Inspector Piper in trying to murder him and make it look like an accident! Like he's suspected of doing to his wife Violet! It's when old man Gregg is found dead in his study watching the races, with a telescope, at the Belmont Park racetrack from his third floor window that Hildegard suspect his death was not a heart attack but murder. And the murderer was someone very close to Pat Gregg who wanted him out of the way not for monetary but for very very personal reasons!***SPOILERS*** It's then that all he loose ends in this very confusing murder case all tie together and it all had to do with a horse race that the killer, by having the money he was to bet on it, was kept from betting on! A bit talky but still very entertaining murder mystery with actress Helen Broderick as armature sleuth Hildegard Withers having a hard time keeping a straight face in her scenes with stable-boy High Pockets, Willie Best, who with his laid back and Stephen Fetchet style of talking has her desperately trying to keep from cracking up in every scene she's in with him. The award for ham acting honors in the movie has to go to the murderer himself! The exposed, by Hildegard, murdered gets so caught up with his big scene in the film in his explaining why he did it, murdered Violet & old man Gregg, that he loses his footing and breaks through a second floor railing in the Gregg Mansion and falls to his death!

The underrated fourth entry in the six film series drawn from Stuart Palmer's "Hirdegarde Withers" mysteries ironically has as its greatest strength its greatest weakness: delightful lead Helen Broderick.The idea to replace the perfect Withers, the arch and tightly corseted Edna May Oliver with the sophisticated, spiritually if not literally uncorseted Broderick would seem to have been grounded in the wonderful wise cracking relationship Withers had with James Gleason's much put-upon Inspector Oscar Piper, and to that extent it works. Broderick, the beloved sophisticate of the Fred Astaire films TOP HAT and SWING TIME, gets off some good ones ("Oh, I have some influence with Inspector Piper; we used to room together in college!"), but it's hard to picture her as the prim school teacher that Palmer's Miss Withers says she is.The film has the further drawback for some modern audiences in incorporating some of the racist stereotypes of the era in Willie "High Pockets" Best's excellent performance as the slow but steadfast stable boy who may be near the center of the mystery. In 42 films from 1934 to 1947 (just to consider the ones reviewed in the New York Times - some, like HIGH SIERRA and CABIN IN THE SKY, genuine classics), Best took the work Hollywood offered and made his characters shine - whatever limitations Hollywood may have placed on the casting of black actors.MURDER ON A BRIDLE PATH has a good cast all around (among the series regulars, James Gleason's Piper, James Donlan's comic detective and Gustav Von Seyffertitz's police doctor are some of their best performances), and boasts an excellent mystery at the core. The OBSERVANT viewer even has an honest chance to beat Withers and Piper to the solution despite some delicious red herrings along the way. Radio Pictures had clearly moved the series to a back burner when Oliver left (no more "name" producers and even Max Steiner's musical contributions went uncredited this time), but at least with Broderick finding the clues and lending a major hand with the comedy, the quality stayed high. Later in the year, the studio would turn to Zasu Pitts for two final "Miss Withers" films, and while she would return the unsophisticated primness to the character and (in small doses) Pitt could be a brilliant diffident comedienne, the quality of the writing and the chemistry between Hildegarde and Oscar never regained the level it had maintained with Edna May Oliver and Helen Broderick.It's a pity, because the franchise was one of the more enjoyable creations of the 30's when the "cozy" mystery was at its peak and every studio seemed to be trying their hand at popularizing distinctive detectives from Philo Vance and Nick & Nora Charles to Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto. Miss Withers is missed.