After I watched "Penguin Pool Murder" (1932) I wrote a review titled, "More of Miss Withers Please," so I can't tell you how pleased I was to see Edna May Oliver reprise her role as Hildegarde Withers, the teacher and crime solver.
In "Murder on the Blackboard," Miss Withers found a teacher named Louise Halloran (Barbara Fritchie) dead in her classroom. Miss Withers, being the perspicacious person she was, kicked into detective mode. Because she wasn't a detective by profession she called Inspector Oscar Piper (James Gleason), the inspector she solved the Penguin Pool Murder with.
The two of them would go on to chase down clues and suspects. Miss Withers was her normal nosy, yet helpful self. She is easy to like because she's comedically prim and proper, and always carries her umbrella. Her look and style was so different from many of the carbon copies they used for female leads back then. She was older, a little plain, and comical without being exaggerated or silly. I sort of put her in the category of a Marie Dressler or Alison Skipworth, except younger and thinner, but they were all atypical.
As Sade sang, "It's never as good as the first time." That's to say that "Murder on the Blackboard" wasn't as good as "Penguin Pool Murder," but don't let it stop you from enjoying Miss Withers again.
Free on YouTube.
In "Murder on the Blackboard," Miss Withers found a teacher named Louise Halloran (Barbara Fritchie) dead in her classroom. Miss Withers, being the perspicacious person she was, kicked into detective mode. Because she wasn't a detective by profession she called Inspector Oscar Piper (James Gleason), the inspector she solved the Penguin Pool Murder with.
The two of them would go on to chase down clues and suspects. Miss Withers was her normal nosy, yet helpful self. She is easy to like because she's comedically prim and proper, and always carries her umbrella. Her look and style was so different from many of the carbon copies they used for female leads back then. She was older, a little plain, and comical without being exaggerated or silly. I sort of put her in the category of a Marie Dressler or Alison Skipworth, except younger and thinner, but they were all atypical.
As Sade sang, "It's never as good as the first time." That's to say that "Murder on the Blackboard" wasn't as good as "Penguin Pool Murder," but don't let it stop you from enjoying Miss Withers again.
Free on YouTube.