Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

hwg1957-102-265704 A good mystery story based on the novel by Stuart Palmer and directed by George Archainbaud. A school teacher and a police inspector join forces to discover the murder of a man found dead in a penguin pool at an aquarium. It moves at a good pace with salty dialogue and able acting leading to the final courtroom revelation. Only seventy minutes but worth every minute.Playing the school teacher turned detective Hildegarde Withers for the first time (two further films followed with her in the lead) Edna May Oliver is perfectly cast. Not quite the prim school teacher she appears to be, Oliver gives the character depth and feeling. Supporting her as the police inspector is James Gleason, irascible at first but grows in admiration for Miss Withers. The beautiful Mae Clarke is wasted as the wife of the murder victim. In minor but effective roles are Edgar Kennedy, Rochelle Hudson and Gustav von Seyffertitz. (Great name!)There were six Hildegarde Withers films in the thirties and one TV film in the seventies. Hopefully the other films are as good as this.

csteidler Schoolteacher Edna May Oliver brings her class to the aquarium. A dead man tumbles into the penguin tank before their eyes. The kids vanish, and Oliver spends the rest of the picture teaming up with police detective James Gleason to solve the murder. It's a quick and sometimes hilarious case.Gleason locks up about half of the cast over the course of the film; eventually he's positive he's got the right man and vows to turn in his badge if he's wrong, to which Oliver responds: "If you turned in a badge every time you suspected the wrong person in this case, the department would have to have a special trophy room for them." Gleason is not discouraged ("Don't mind the badge situation, I can take care of that") but he has gradually come to value her ideas and ingenuity.It's a lively partnership between two gruffly charming characters—the two stars are excellent, and are both at their best when on the screen together.A fun supporting cast includes Robert Armstrong as a lawyer who appears somewhat mysteriously; Mae Clark and Donald Cook as attractive young suspects who may or may not fall (or be) in love; the wonderful Clarence Wilson, he of the bald head, mustache, and eternal twitch, as aquarium manager Bertram B. Hemingway; and the great Edgar Kennedy as—naturally—a bewildered cop. (Officer Kennedy is completely bald in this one rather than just on the dome. Odd.) The final minute of the picture is priceless, with Oliver and Gleason watching an exonerated pair of suspects emerge from jail into the courtyard below his office window, and then discussing what's next in their careers. A couple of sequels, thank you!

bkoganbing When Edna May Oliver took her class on a field trip to the aquarium she and the kids did not realize that they would wind up in the middle of a murder mystery. When young Sidney Miller and Oliver both notice a body in the penguin pool, the game's afoot.The body is that of the late Guy Usher and as in the case of most murder mysteries a lot of people who would like him dead happen to be in the aquarium. Edna has the presence of mind to call the cops and lock the doors so we also have a closed set of suspects.Usher was a stockbroker who lost the money that aquarium director Clarence Wilson took from the budget to play the market with. Usher's wife Mae Clarke and her boyfriend Donald Cook are also there as well as a smooth lawyer in Robert Armstrong and a notorious pickpocket Joe Hannon who is a deaf mute. That does not stop Hannon from making a lucrative living as a dip.The Penguin Pool Murder's biggest asset is the chemistry between polar opposites aristocratic Edna May Oliver and the plebeian police inspector James Gleason who investigates the homicide. As this is the first time these two met, Edna's a suspect briefly as well because her hat pin was part of the crime. But we know it couldn't be here.In fact with the Penguin Pool Murder the guilty party is a rather obvious one. That party is like Clifton Webb in Laura busy trying to pin the crime on Vincent Price. That kind of let's out all the suspense.Still fans of Oliver and Gleason and I do love both will be pleased with Penguin Pool Murder.

sijoe22 Funny lines abound, in this timeless, low budget classic, though I'm afraid only us New Yorkers will get some of the tag lines:For instance, when a very obvious Jewish schoolboy (Isadore Katz) finds a wallet at the aquarium, and spends too much time staring at it, his teacher (Miss Withers), says, "Isadore, you're not LENDING money!" Or when secretary/floozy tells Miss Withers about a phone call she received, she explained, "It's not likely a WOMAN would call me 'baby'," Withers says, "No, not as far downtown as this", she's referring to the lesbians of Greenwich Village, further uptown on the West side (I guess the Village has been home to fruitcakes longer than I thought!) since the murder was committed downtown, in Battery Park, this would have been under the jurisdiction of the NYPD's 1st Precinct, at South Street and Old Slip (It's still there; now the Police museum.) Two things I didn't like were when the murdered man (I'd say he was about 6'2", over 200 pounds) is knocked unconscious by a 5' 7," skinny pipsqueak, using the weakest, flimsiest punch in movie history. Yeah, I know, B-movies have small budgets, but would it have killed the director to yell "cut" once in a while? Check this "punch" out next time you see it, and tell me I'm wrong.And secondly, though this movie is supposed to take place in New York, virtually every character (except Inspector Piper) has some hokey Midwesternaccent; even uniformed, NYPD patrol cops sound like they're from Kansas, for goodness sake!How about some authenticity, Mr. casting director?Still, an enjoyable old-time classic. Ending caught me COMPLETELY by surprise, and I'm usually pretty good at figuring these things out, long before most of audience does. I still can't figure out where in the movie the real villain is "outed". Any help? I found this on a DVD on ebay, and I even bought the original paperback from 1931 online as well ($35.00). Highly recommended, but definitely not for everybody. Easily best Hildegarde Withers movie- no other one even comes close. I'm done.