Murder on the Blackboard (1934)

Very disappointed :(

Truly Dreadful Film

Sadly Over-hyped

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Second entry in the Hildegarde Withers series sees teacher Withers (Edna May Oliver) discovering the body of a murdered fellow teacher in her school. After the police arrive, led by her beau Inspector Piper (James Gleason), they find the body has disappeared. So they investigate and eventually find the body in a particularly gruesome place for a 1934 movie. Now it's up to Hildegarde to ferret out the murderer.As with the last Withers film, the real treat in watching is not with the mystery itself as much as Oliver's enjoyable performance and her banter with Gleason's Piper. Oliver's actually even funnier in this one than in the first movie. I think this is my favorite of the series. It's got a quick pace and lots of funny lines. The murder mystery part is pretty good too. Love the part where Withers explains the school's fire escape to Piper. Little stuff like that fascinates me when I watch older movies. There's even a diagram with directions!

A week or so ago I watched "The Penguin Pool Murder", which was made 2 years earlier in this series. On the one hand, that film was, quite simply, a better mystery and in a more unique setting -- the New York City Aquarium. But, "Murder On The Blackboard" has characters that have been fleshed out better, and you can see an improvement in production values here (although, it appears that the soundtrack on this film has deteriorated).As with "The Penguin Pool Murder", the delight here is Edna May Oliver and her facial expressions and lovable verbal barbs, and playing off James Gleason, whose role here is much improved. The other actors and actresses are fine, but the real focus is on Oliver and Gleason.The mystery itself is decent, with a storyline that works and, at the end, the two lead characters do tie up a few loose ends. Key to a good murder mystery is developing it so that two or more characters had logical motives for the murder, and this film does that. I was never quite positive which of 3 characters did it in this film, right up until the very end.Recommended for a view, but probably not on your DVD shelf.

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.

There were many, many B-detective series films through the 1930s and 40s--ranging from Sherlock Holmes to Ellery Queen to Charlie Chan to The Falcon--and many, many more. Despite the wide variety, these film are quite similar and the plots are rather interchangeable. However, I always look forward to a Hildegarde Withers film starring Edna May Oliver, as her films, regardless of the plot, have a lot more going for them than the rest of the pack. That's because Ms. Oliver was simply a delight to watch--as her detective was given the snappiest and most sarcastic dialog and her delivery was always wonderful. While she appeared at first much like a Jessica Fletcher-style character, you soon discovered she wasn't so cuddly or sweet and was more of a "dame" in the best sense of the word.This particular film is about a dead body that is discovered but then disappears at a school. Later, the body is found in the most grisly fashion and it's up to Miss Withers and her sidekick, the Inspector (James Gleason) to solve the crime. The film isn't quite as good as their previous film, THE PENGUIN POOL MURDER and interestingly enough they actually refer back to that case--something you don't often see in these films. Watch it--it's exciting, funny and different.Sadly, despite the higher than usual quality of these films, Ms. Oliver only made three and the studio tried replacing her with Helen Broderick and Zasu Pitts--pale imitations of the original.