Miss Pinkerton (1932)

IMDb meta-data is runtime of 1 hour and 6 minutes, rated 6.1 by 406 cinematizens

Genre: ODH

Verdict: Whoosh!

C Henry Gordon

Firecracker Joan Blondell plays a nurse in an Old Dark House inhabited by odd balls from the hunchback butler to the squinting, sinister maid, and the suspicious looking doctor (C. Henry Gordon who always looks dyspeptic). The Nurse’s Secret (1941) was a re-make almost word for word, and is discussed elsewhere on this blog.

Blondell gets top billing and dominates the camera, as usual, as she gathers the pieces of the puzzle. The plot is…., wait, what plot?  Nor is much made of the ODH, more is the pity.  While there are plenty of menacing shadows to rouse a scream, there are no sliding panels, hidden chambers, eyes moving on portraits, ejection seats, or any of that good stuff.  Instead we have repeated shots of those shadows.  Oh hum. 

Indeed, it is a vehicle for the winning ways of Miss Pinkerton, as she is nicknamed.   

A prize goes to the viewer who can infer what the dying statement of the mother revealed, because it is not revealed in the film, though much is made of it.