Murder on the Blackboard Reviews

Another in the "Hildegarde Withers" series features Oliver as the snoopy school teacher, who is a thorn in the side of Detective Gleason. Oliver has an ill-behaved student stay after school and discovers the corpse of the school's music teacher. But the body disappears and in comes the inspector. Kennedy, who appeared with almost every major comedian during the 1930s and 1940s, is a comedy cop assigned to the case as well. Eventually Oliver discovers that assistant principal Cabot is the killer through the clever device of deciphering seemingly meaningless music notes the late teacher scrawled on the blackboard before she died. Though the mystery is routine, the chemistry between Gleason and Oliver is what makes this film worth a look. They play well off each other, with some clever dialog. Though this is a murder mystery, the laughs are natural and never uneasy. The good direction holds a nice balance between comedy and suspense.