About a hundred of the Polish films of the thirties have turned up on U-Tube suggesting an active commercial cinema full of military heroes and cabaret acts. MISS BRINX' SECRET is one of the small number to have (English) sub titles, giving it a possibly undue prominence.
The opening features fearful blonde Lena Zelichowska catching a train, where she meets actress Alma Kar striking up an acquaintance which has them sharing a suite in the Tyrolean styled tourist hotel at Zacopane in the Tatras. The pair go mountain climbing together and Zelichowska falls and cannot be found, throwing suspicion on Kar, when the missing girl's stack of money and her passport are found in Kar's room.
This suggests a crime & suspense film but we are abruptly in a Casino where madcap heiress Grossówna borrows money from suave Aleksander Zabczynski and wins big by accident, to spend the rest of the film trying to return her stake.
Meanwhile Kar flees to the support of family friend Detective Junosza-Stepowski who puts a couple of comic private eyes on the case while a couple more are trying to get her into a straight jacket as Zabczynski appears and the couple fall for one another. Going punting on the river with flowers in the foreground is a sure sign of this in movies.
The plot strands come together in a night club where Grossówna joins the entertainment and all is explained in a rushed anti climax.
The handling is deliberately vigorous with endless pans and tracking, and varied settings. Technique is a little rough for 1936 and the players don't make an impression in apparently the only director outing of actor (1935's Panienka z poste restante/ PANIC at the POST OFFICE) Bazyli Sikiewicz. What accomplished German film maker Phil Jutzi contributed would be interesting to learn.
The film is agreeable enough and scores points for novelty value.
