Murder on the Blackboard

Decidedly dated, early mystery starring Edna May Oliver as the irrepressible sleuth Hildergard Withers, Murder on the Blackboard is all fun. Oliver excels as the wise-cracking "Lady" teacher sleuth who finds that a young, pretty music teacher has been killed in her school - as both have stayed late working. Oliver enlists the help of detective James Gleason(an always reliable character actor) and the one-liners between the two begin to ensue as the track down the murderer. The writing in this film is witty, sharp, and rapid-fire and both Gleason and Oliver do more than justice to their respective roles. The list of suspects is limited(really only four people) but amongst them are Bruce Cabot and Tully Marshall. Because it was made in 1934 it is somewhat stagy and creaky, but the film is elevated by the two acting leads. Oliver on screen is pure magic as she is able to look oh so dour and be oh so sarcastic at every turn. A crackling whodunit in the old-fashioned sense of the word.

Murder on the Blackboard (1934)

*** (out of 4)

The second of six films in RKO's Hildegarde Withers (Edna May Oliver) series has the wannabe detective working at a school when a music teacher is shot dead. Inspector Oscar Piper (James Gleason) is soon helping on the case, which features the usual suspects including one played by Bruce Cabot. I've got the first film in the series, Penguin Pool Murder, recorded but haven't watched it yet so this is the first film from the series that I've actually watched. There's nothing overly special about this film but it does stand apart from the countless other mystery films of the decade. For one, Edna May Oliver plays her role pretty well and while it's somewhat over the top she never goes way past that line to where the character becomes obnoxious. She manages to bring a few laughs to the film and keeps the film going throughout. The actual mystery is also done pretty well with some nice atmosphere trapped in the small school.

When talkies happened, there was a mad rush to make films of mysteries because they were enormously popular in the pulp trade. Series of published stories became movie serials as if by accident and it took nearly a whole decade for the movie industry to figure out a basic cinematic vocabulary apart from books.

So when you see something that worked during that transition, its worth figuring why. Almost always it was not because of anything in the film itself, rather the stage presence and usually humor of one or two characters.

This formula started in 1932 as one of the early talkies. It depended on the character of the nosey biddy and whatever humor could be milked from it. A cartoon cop was the foil, and a pretty effective one too.

In this, the second, his cartoonishness becomes self-referential. There are at least three major jokes in the thing where he talks about what he would do if he were a movie detective. One time, the schoolmarm treats him like he is irrelevant and he says: "What am I here, the costume designer?"

This was the same year that "The Thin Man" hit on a better, more dialog-driven comic formula that would lead to screwball. So this series flagged a bit, dragging on with different twists.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

Edna May Oliver, (Hildegarde Withers) was a fantastic actress and her supporting actor was also a great actor, James Gleason, (Inspector Oscar Piper). In this film Hildegarde investigates a murder in a New York City School which involved a very pretty young teacher who was involved in some very dark secrets. There is a blackboard that plays a very important role in this murder mystery which was musical notes placed on a C staff which reveal an important clue to the person who committed this murder. Edna May Oliver and James Gleason give an outstanding performance with very quick wit of words between each other and it is also very comical and funny to watch two great veterans doing what just comes very natural for both of them. Don't miss this great film Classic from 1934.

Murder on the Blackboard is the second of three Hildegarde Withers stories that Edna May Oliver and James Gleason were teamed for. Today the charm of these two people, two of the best character actors that movies ever saw carry this rather dated and melodramatic story.

One of the teachers at Edna's school, Barbara Fritchie, winds up very dead and she's quite the lively corpse as the perpetrator keeps moving the body in an effort to be rid of it. In fact the only way the crime is discovered is because that day Edna kept young Jackie Searle after school.

Unlike the Thin Man movies where you could have as many as ten suspects or more in a room as Nick and Nora reveal all, this is not MGM with their lavish productions. This is RKO and this studio had a limited budget for their films. We only have four suspects so your chances of guessing who did it increase quite a bit.

Edgar Kennedy as the dumb cop who gets clunked on the head and develops amnesia is his usual funny self. In fact he's the foil used to catch the murderer in the end. As for the end, I found it a bit melodramatic for my taste and let it go at that.

But for fans of the wonderful Edna May Oliver and the dependable James Gleason this film is a must.