Memorable, crazy movie

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Early on in this pre-Code murder mystery the gorgeous Joan Blondell laments the monotony of her existence as a nurse and asks how it can be relieved; promptly answering her own question as far as the audience is concerned by immediately shedding her uniform and slipping down to her scanties.But she soon gets enough excitement to last her a lifetime when sent to tend to a wealthy woman whose nephew has just been shot dead under suspicious circumstances (we see a remarkably realistic-looking police photograph of the corpse at one point). Based on a novel by Mary Roberts Rinehart, there's an awful lot of talk, and new characters keep showing up making the story harder to follow without making things any more interesting (the final denouement was so complicated and so laboriously explained verbally that I've already forgotten whodunit despite having seen it only a couple of hours ago).Director Lloyd Bacon and cameraman Barney McGill go out of their way to compensate for the general lack of action by including a lot of creeping about in the shadows and by smothering Jack Okey's magnificent Old Dark House set in eye-boggling compositions juggling weird camera angles and deep focus. John Wray as Hugo the butler is so relentlessly photographed on the tilt throughout the film to make him look sinister (not to mention constantly exchanging shifty glances with housekeeper Blanche Friderici) that we know he can't possibly be guilty; while Elizabeth Patterson as the matriarch on her deathbed looks dramatically different from anything else I've ever seen her in. The most remarkable single shot in the entire film is probably one of Blondell and George Brent sliding out of focus and into darkness as seen from the point of view of a character whose life is slipping away; although throughout the whole film the frequent close ups of Blondell are always more than enough to revive interest if things start to flag.

Most of the action takes place in an old, Victorian style mansion which art director Jack Okey excels in recreating here. In fact, his sets are one of the film's major assets. Yet another plus is the extraordinary direction by Lloyd Bacon. In fact, all the scenes in which Elizabeth Patterson appears are handled in a most unusual – at least for Lloyd Bacon – manner, using tilted camera angles, mirror shots, close close-ups and weird lighting effects. Indeed the most stunning effect of all occurs right at the character's death. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie is handled in a far less dramatic manner. Another minus is that there is no music score to help the mood. This lack also forces viewers to focus on the dialogue which seems a trifle stagey and is certainly overplayed by some of the actors, particularly John Wray. Fortunately, sound effects and McGill's fine photography help cover up some of the worst lapses.

This era in filmmaking is fascinating. The evolution of the medium was in a phase of punctuation where everything was up for grabs and narrative conventions we now take for granted were formed. Watching these is like exploring the Burgess Shale, to see elements that lasted, and many that didn't.The story here nominally has a young nurse planted in a house to solve a murder. This is a typical spooky large house, with a bedridden cranky old person. Not every suspect is locked in the house, living there, but they all are presented within the building. Some of them are caught sneaking about, but are seen from a window. There are relatives, lovers, the doctor and lawyer. Newspapermen sometimes hover. The nurse is a blond who wants excitement and finds it in a romance with the detective. As this is pre-code, we are introduced to her character as she is getting ready for bed.Along the way are numerous narrative devices that are hard to even notice today. It just seems off, but that is because what we are watching for is different. One of these is Blondell getting grabbed in the dark by a menacing silhouette. She screams persistently, long enough for doors to be battered down. This happens three time. The plot is so complicated, it by three different men. There seems to be no reason for her to be grabbed so, other than to reference common fears of the women in the audience — and fantasy of the men? The solution to the mystery is revealed to a gathering of the suspects. It is more complicated than usual, so much so that it does not tie up all the ends, nor completely explain what we have seen.Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

By the time MISS PINKERTON was made, Hollywood was starting to repeat themselves in their treatments of Mary Roberts Rinehart (first purveyor of the "little old lady detective" that Agatha Christie would perfect with her Miss Marple and Angela Lansbury would do to a fare thee well in her Jessica Fletcher character) and the stage based sets for their "old dark house" mysteries. From the very first shots of MISS PINKERTON, with long shadows cast on the facade of the house in question where murder is to be done (and done again?), we're back in the territory of THE BAT (aka The Spiral Staircase), Ms. Rinehart's most successful stage and film excursion.As before, we have Ms. Rinehart's feisty "little old lady," Elizabeth Patterson as Juliet Mitchell, accompanied by a comic companion (in this case Nurse Adams played by Joan Blondell) and a host of potential suspects in her mysterious (and enormous) old house, but as film making technique has progressed in only a few years of sound (and Ms. Rinehart knew when to vary a successful template), this time we have a fun twist in casting the young comedienne as the lead and assistant to the fresh faced detective (George Brent as Inspector Patten on his "first case"), and the old lady as one of the potential suspects, thought to pass off a suicide as murder for the insurance money . . . or was it murder after all?Blondell is at her youthful best, and the studio cast is crammed full of first class talent on their way up from C. Henry Gordon as Dr. Stuart to the briefest of shots of a young Walter Brennan as a Police Dispatcher at the beginning.Modern action buffs may sniff that the atmospheric tale seems at times to be more about the enormous, detailed sets than the mystery itself, with unidentified characters sneaking in and up long back staircases, women screaming and the odd comic set piece (is the dog a clue?), but director Lloyd Bacon (the silent film actor turned director who had shepherded Cole Porter's 50 MILLION FRENCHMAN to the screen the year before with members of the Broadway cast but without Porter's songs and would mount the classic 42ND STREET *with* songs the next year, continuing to work into the 1950's!) keeps the action spinning for the barely hour (six minutes over) running time.Bask in the details of life in the early depression era (before the details of life outside got too depressing) and have the good time this nicely layered film offers, seeing if you can keep the suspects and motivations straight even when murder is committed right in front of your eyes - and remember "it ain't over 'till it's over," and that isn't when it first appears!