Murder on the Blackboard (1934)

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

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!

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 is good old-fashioned fun with Edna May Oliver, my favorite character actress of the '30s, sleuthing in Nancy Drew manner with James Gleason at her side as a crusty detective. This time the amateur sleuth helps solve a case involving a murdered music teacher and gets herself into deep trouble with the killer who means business when he tries to throw an axe at her in a dark basement cellar. Edna May's brisk, no nonsense manner fits the character of Hildegarde Withers to perfection and she's never at a loss for a quick retort when Gleason becomes a bit overbearing. Their game of one-up-man-ship is what keeps the story moving briskly to a satisfying conclusion.The fact that it's terribly dated in dialogue and situations is what gives this little mystery a quaint sort of charm. One of the better in a series of Hildegarde Withers murder mysteries.

This is the first of three films that had the great pairing of Edna Mae Oliver and James Gleason in the roles of Hildegarde Withers and Oscar Piper. These three films are much better than the last three that starred James Gleason first with Helen Broderick and then with Zasu Pitts. It may be dated, but it still holds up as good entertainment even after all these years.