By Richard Harland Smith
The Plot Thickens
Brief Synopsis
Schoolteacher Hildegarde Withers suspects a deadly link between two seemingly unrelated murders.
Cast & Crew
Read More
Ben Holmes
Director
James Gleason
Oscar Piper
Zasu Pitts
Hildegarde Withers
Owen Davis Jr.
Robert Wilkins
Louise Latimer
Alice Stevens
Arthur Aylesworth
Kendall
Film Details
Also Known As
The Riddle of the Dangling Pearl
Genre
Comedy
Release Date
Dec
11,
1936
Premiere Information
New York opening: week of 8 Dec 1936
Production Company
RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the short story "The Riddle of the Dangling Pearl" by Stuart Palmer in Mystery (Nov 1933).
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 7m
Film Length
7 reels
Synopsis
Late one night, following a series of arguments, wealthy John Carter is murdered in his car in a New York park. After Carter's body is found in his study by Kendall, the butler, police inspector Oscar Piper is assigned to the case. Soon, Oscar's girl friend, Hildegarde Withers, a schoolteacher and clever amateur sleuth, also joins the investigation. Oscar's first suspect is pretty Alice Stevens, who was with Carter seconds before he was murdered, and her boyfriend, Robert Wilkins, whose jealous tirade against Carter had been witnessed by a policeman. While inspecting Carter's house, however, Hildegarde discovers a mysterious jewel case containing a large emerald and learns from a jeweler that the gem is the famous Sultan emerald, which had been stolen years before from the Louvre. Under pressure from Oscar, Robert admits that, to protect Alice, he had returned Carter's corpse to his garage but not to the study. After learning from Kendall that Carter had argued with a French-accented stranger, Hildegarde tells Oscar, a reluctant listener, about the jewel. Oscar and Hildegarde then return to Carter's to question Joe, the chauffeur, and while looking at photographs of a decorative cup in the study, Hildegarde is knocked out by a masked thief, who steals a cup from a safe that resembles the one in the photographs. Sure that her jewel theory is correct, Hildegarde determines that the cup is the valuable Cellini Cup, which is housed in the city's Cosmopolitan Museum. While Hildegarde is at the museum, a guard is murdered and the cup is stolen. After an exhaustive search for both the cup and its fake, as well as rounds of questioning of suspects, Oscar and Hildegarde deduce that a gang of thieves connected to Carter, which includes Joe, a sculptress and a midget, committed the robberies and that Joe murdered Carter.
Director
Ben Holmes
Director
Cast
James Gleason
Oscar Piper
Zasu Pitts
Hildegarde Withers
Owen Davis Jr.
Robert Wilkins
Louise Latimer
Alice Stevens
Arthur Aylesworth
Kendall
Paul Fix
Joe
Richard Tucker
John Carter
Barbara Barondess
Marie
James Donlan
Jim
Agnes Anderson
Dagmar
Oscar Apfel
[H. G.] Robbins
Crew
Samuel J. Briskin
Executive Producer
George D. Ellis
Recording
Feild Gray
Art Director Associate
Charles Kaufman
Contr to Screenplay const
John Lockert
Editing
Nick Musuraca
Photography
Van Nest Polglase
Art Director
Darrell Silvera
Set Dresser
William Sistrom
Associate Producer
Edward Stevenson
Gowns
Jack Townley
Screenwriter
Clarence Upson Young
Screenwriter
Film Details
Also Known As
The Riddle of the Dangling Pearl
Genre
Comedy
Release Date
Dec
11,
1936
Premiere Information
New York opening: week of 8 Dec 1936
Production Company
RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
RKO Radio Pictures, Inc.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the short story "The Riddle of the Dangling Pearl" by Stuart Palmer in Mystery (Nov 1933).
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 7m
Film Length
7 reels
Articles
The Plot Thickens
Based on the popular mystery novels of Stuart Palmer, RKO Radio Pictures' series of Hildegarde Withers whodunits ran to six features produced over the course of five years. Born to play the part of Palmer's spinster sleuth was 49 year-old actress Edna Mae Oliver, who remained with the franchise for three films, beginning with Penguin Pool Murder (1932) and ending with Murder on a Honeymoon (1935). When Oliver quit RKO for a more attractive contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (and plumier parts in the studio's literary adaptations David Copperfield [1935] and Romeo and Juliet [1937]), the role of the indefatigably exacting amateur detective passed to Helen Broderick (mother of Broderick), with series costar James Gleason continuing in his sidekick function as Miss Withers' partner in crime-solving, frequently frazzled homicide dick Oscar Piper. For the last two series entries, RKO brought in former silent film actress ZaSu Pitts, who contributed a unique interpretation of the character, supplanting Oliver's sobersided certainty with a fluttery comic diffidence. Based on Palmer's 1933 novel The Case of the Dangling Pearl, The Plot Thickens (1936) finds Hildegarde again tagging along to the scene of a crime and unmasking a gang of jewel thieves at play among Manhattan high society. Pitts returned to the role in the Broadway-set Forty Naughty Girls (1937) before RKO let its option lapse on any further adventures for Hildegarde Withers and Oscar Piper.
By Richard Harland Smith
By Richard Harland Smith
The Plot Thickens
Based on the popular mystery novels of Stuart Palmer, RKO Radio Pictures' series of Hildegarde Withers whodunits ran to six features produced over the course of five years. Born to play the part of Palmer's spinster sleuth was 49 year-old actress Edna Mae Oliver, who remained with the franchise for three films, beginning with Penguin Pool Murder (1932) and ending with Murder on a Honeymoon (1935). When Oliver quit RKO for a more attractive contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (and plumier parts in the studio's literary adaptations David Copperfield [1935] and Romeo and Juliet [1937]), the role of the indefatigably exacting amateur detective passed to Helen Broderick (mother of Broderick), with series costar James Gleason continuing in his sidekick function as Miss Withers' partner in crime-solving, frequently frazzled homicide dick Oscar Piper. For the last two series entries, RKO brought in former silent film actress ZaSu Pitts, who contributed a unique interpretation of the character, supplanting Oliver's sobersided certainty with a fluttery comic diffidence. Based on Palmer's 1933 novel The Case of the Dangling Pearl, The Plot Thickens (1936) finds Hildegarde again tagging along to the scene of a crime and unmasking a gang of jewel thieves at play among Manhattan high society. Pitts returned to the role in the Broadway-set Forty Naughty Girls (1937) before RKO let its option lapse on any further adventures for Hildegarde Withers and Oscar Piper.
By Richard Harland Smith
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this film, which was the fifth production in the Hildegarde Withers-Oscar Piper series and the first to star ZaSu Pitts as "Hildegarde," was The Riddle of the Dangling Pearl. Helen Broderick and Edna May Oliver each had played the role of Hildegarde before Pitts. According to modern sources, Hildegarde's character and mannerisms were changed by the writers to accommodate Pitts's "fluttery" acting style. Motion Picture Herald's "In the Cutting Room" includes Spencer Charters, George Sorel, Bodil Rosing and John Miltern as cast members, but their participation in the final film has not been confirmed. For more information on the series, see entry above for Penguin Pool Murder and consult the Series Index.
