
New York schoolmarm Hildegarde Withers assists a detective when a body of unscrupulous stockbroker Gerald Parker suddenly appears in the penguin tank at the aquarium.
Release Date: 12/9/1932
Runtime: 70 minutes
Languages: English
Director: George Archainbaud
00Companies: RKO Radio Pictures
Countries: United States of America
CinemaSerf
There is something Marple-esque about Edna May Oliver's portrayal of the meticulous, no-nonsense, schoolteacher "Miss Withers". There's also something hideous about some of the fish in the aquarium where the police discover the corpse of the pretty universally disliked "Parker". It turns out that his wife (Mae Clarke) has a boyfriend (Donald Cook), and that both were present at the time of death. Looks like a bit of a no-brainer for "Insp. Piper" (James Gleason) but his chance meeting with the razor-sharp mind of the prim and proper "Withers" soon makes him think again. Despite his initially polite disdain, he realises that she is quite an insightful assistant as this turns out to be anything but as straightforward as everyone had hoped. The mystery itself is also very much in the vein of Agatha Christie - loads of red herrings and a victim about as popular as toothache. The production is kept moving along by some pacy direction and some pithy banter between the two investigators. Will they get to the bottom or not? Never in doubt, but not really important - this is a drama about characters and Oliver and Gleason gel well and engagingly for seventy minutes of sparring, spatting and... solving.
Barry Costello

Edna May Oliver
Hildegarde Withers

James Gleason
Police Insp. Oscar Piper

Robert Armstrong
Barry Costello

Mae Clarke
Gwen Parker

Donald Cook
Philip Seymour

Edgar Kennedy
Officer Donovan

Clarence Wilson
Bertrand B. Hemingway

James Donlan
Security Guard Fink

Gustav von Seyffertitz
Von Donnen
William Le Maire
MacDonald
Joe Hermano
Chicago Lew

Guy Usher
Parker
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