Penguin Pool Murder (1932) *** (out of 4) The first film in RKO's Hildegarde Withers series features Edna May Oliver in the role who teams up with Inspector Piper (James Gleason) to try and find the murderer of a stockbroker whose body turned up in a penguin pool. Suspects includes the man's wife (Mae Clarke), her former lover (Donald Cook) and even the aquarium owner (Clarence Wilson). Oliver was one of the most colorful supporting players from this era of Hollywood so this series, which has sadly been forgotten, at least gave people the opportunity to see her in a leading role. There's no question that a lot of the film's magic is due to her wonderful performance as she manages to be smart, fun and her dry wit is unforgettable. The film offers up a pretty good story but what makes it even better is that we're given some great characters and terrific actors who really bring them to life. Oliver is perfect as Withers but it's her chemistry with Gleason that really makes this film stand out. The two work so well off one another that you can't help but have a smile on your face from their first scene to the last. A lot of these mystery flicks show the cops to be complete idiots but that's not necessarily the case here. Yes, he overlooks a lot of key evidence and he's certainly not as smart as Withers but I think the screenplay gets several added pluses simply because the two are rather equals and this makes their chemistry even better. Fans of Clarke might be disappointed that she's only in the first ten minutes and then disappears until the end but while she's on screen she certainly packs a nice punch. The same can be said for Robert Armstrong who offers up a strong performance as her lawyer. Cook, Wilson and Edgar Kennedy all add great support and it's hard to deny the power this terrific cast of character actors give. The actual mystery of who the killer is will hold your attention until the very end when in a very clever way the secret is revealed. There are several twist and turns throughout the film and the screenplay has a fun time delivering them in sly ways. The dialogue is another major plus because the one-liners are often very funny and we even get a few pre-code jokes including one dealing with a lesbian. PENGUIN POOL MURDER isn't all that well known today, which is a real shame because it's certainly one of the better murder/mysteries out there.

Edna Mae Oliver is a delight and if you enjoy classic you will see several other recognizable faces. I only wish the Hildegard murder mysteries were on DVD. She made three in this series. She had a long and great career as mostly a supporting actress making seven movies in 1933 her biggest year. Some of her parts are in well known classics like Little Women and A Tale of Two Cities. Be sure to catch this rather comedic murder mystery. She plays a schoolmarm with some great lines. As Hildegarde she tries to figure out who is the murderer. This film gives a good look at the fashions of the 1930s. Fans of the Thin Man series should definitely like it.

It's really too bad that they only made a few Hildegarde Withers mysteries and that only a few of these starred Edna May Oliver. The bottom line is that in the 1930s, no woman in Hollywood was more fun to watch in colorful supporting roles than Miss Oliver, so it was a real treat to see her in a starring role--and one that allowed her cool screen persona to shine! Instead of the usual somewhat insipid detective series films, her Miss Withers was a smart-aleck and tough lady--not some pampered playboy or Chinese detective. Plus, it was a great casting decision to have her work with police detective James Gleason and give him better than usual writing for such a role. In practically every B-detective series, the police are complete morons--so much so that the films lack any suspense or chemistry at times. Usually you KNOW the cops are all idiots and the amateur sleuth knows everything, but here she is assisted by a reasonably capable cop and they work on the case together. Because of this, it was cute to see that through the course of the film, Gleason's character fell for Miss Withers--he grew to love and respect her just like the audience did throughout the film.For the genre, this is about as good a film as you'll find--plus, it has cute penguins and Edna May Oliver!! What more could you ask for in a movie?!?!

PENGUIN POOL MURDER (RKO Radio, 1932), directed by George Archainbaud, the first (and best) of six film mystery series featuring Stuart Palmer's fictional character of Hildegarde Withers, a spinster schoolteacher, who matches wits with Oscar Piper, a New York City police inspector, is a rare find these days, considering how it predates Agatha Christie's better known female sleuth of Miss Marple. In retrospect, Hildegarde becomes a detective on her own only when the police cannot solve or deduct any clues she encounters, and yet, not being on a professional level when crime solving is concerned, proves that experience is not the issue, but the powers of deduction are.The story opens with an air view of New York City's Battery Park where various characters are introduced: Gwen (Mae Clarke), a young woman married to Gerald Parker (Guy Usher), a middle-aged businessman, having secret rendezvous with her lover, Philip Seymour (Donald Cook) at an aquarium. Obviously, she wants a divorce but Parker won't grant her one. After receiving an anonymous telephone tip about his wife, Parker heads over to the aquarium where he catches Gwen and Phil together. At the same time, Hildegarde Withers (Edna May Oliver), a spinster schoolteacher, enters the scene with her students on a field trip. Aside from her encounter with a purse snatcher who happens to be the deaf and dumb Chicago Lew (Joe Hernando), a body of a dead man is discovered floating in one of the penguin pool tanks. The man in question happens to be Gerald Parker. Police Inspector Oscar Piper (James Gleason) is called into the case. He suspects Parker's wife to be the killer, however, her lover, Seymour, confesses to the crime and is arrested. Hildegarde, however, has her suspicions, and as she takes notes, comes to the conclusion that Seymour couldn't have possibly killed him. Regardless, Seymour is placed under arrest and put under suspicion. After learning that Parker was murdered with the use of her own hat pin found plunged into his right ear drum to the brain, Hildegarde decides to take matters into her own hands by becoming a crime solver herself, much to the dismay of Inspector Oscar Piper.The success to the initial pairing of Edna May Oliver and James Gleason lead to several sequels, all featuring Gleason, two more starring Oliver, including MURDER ON THE BLACKBOARD (1934) and MURDER ON A HONEYMOON (1935), one with Helen Broderick in MURDER ON THE BRIDLE PATH (1936), and two featuring ZaSu Pitts in THE PLOT THICKENS (1936) and FORTY NAUGHTY GIRLS (1937). While Broderick physically was a satisfactory substitute for Oliver, though no where as good as Oliver, the series actually fell apart once it acquired Pitts services, which brought an end to what might have become a long running film series.Supporting cast consists of Edgar Kennedy as Donovan; Robert Armstrong as Barry Costello, the attorney; Gustav Von Seyffertitz as Max Von Donnen, the lab expert; Clarence Wilson as the aquarium director; Sidney Miller as the typical know-it-all student; and Rochelle Hudson as the Switchboard Girl. Edgar Kennedy, famous for his "slow-burn" characterizations in numerous features and comedy shorts, is completely bald in this installment, mainly due to the fact that he was playing Daddy Warbucks in LITTLE ORPHAN ANNIE (1932) with Mitzi Green, about the same time he was working in PENGUIN POOL MURDER.Never distributed to video or DVD, and at one time a late night show favorite on commercial TV channels, and formerly shown on cable television's American Movie Classics from the 1980s to 1998, at then on Turner Classic Movies where it had once been presented some years ago as part of viewer's request night.In spite of its age, PENGUIN POOL MURDER surprisingly holds up well, thanks to the perfect casting of the horse-faced Edna May Oliver and New York sounding James Gleason in the leads, a well written and occasionally witty screenplay by Willis Goldbeck, and although viewers might guess whom the killer might be before it is all over, it's certainly fun to sit through this one to see through Hildegarde's power of deduction how she gets to trick the killer into reveal him or herself. While not in the same league as an Alfred Hitchcock movie suspensor or Agatha Christie mystery story, but themes such as this have been an inspiration for many mystery writers, film directors or TV writers in later years, for that mysteries such as this continue to delight audiences even today. (**1/2)