Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

As there are many reviews correctly praising the work of Edna Mae Oliver, James Gleason, and RKO studios set decorating department, suffice it to say that this is an outstanding opening entry into the Hildegarde Withers mystery series. Most of the action of "The Penguin Pool Murders" takes place in a recreation of the beautiful New York Aquarium, which charmed and delighted resident and tourist alike for almost half a century beginning in 1896. The Aquarium was originally located on the southern tip of Manhattan as a leisure attraction for the new immigrant residents of Lower Manhattan for whom Central Park was too far to travel. It opened in the Castle Gardens section of the Park in what was Clinton Gardens, previously Fort Clinton, named after iconic New York State Governor DeWitt Clinton. Originally an island, the land connecting it to Manhattan was later filled in, and Battery Park served as the first stopping point for New Americans before Ellis Island was developed.Although the Aquarium wasn't large by current standards (only 150 species), and its pools weren't large enough to ensure the well-being and survival of large aquatic mammals like manatees, porpoises, and dolphins, smaller ones like seals fared better. There was great controversy when New York's "master builder," Robert Moses, who had little respect for preservation and tradition, proposed a bridge from the Battery to Brooklyn. When Moses was frustrated in his efforts for the Bridge, he began preparations for what would become the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel in the 1930s. He began the demolition of the beautiful Clinton Gardens, and only its eleventh hour designation as a National, Landmark caused it to be rescued from oblivion and rebuilt as a treasured landmark..The collection of animals had been relocated, some to the Bronx Zoo and others to other zoos in the Northeast when the Aquarium closed its doors for the last time in 1941. After the War a new aquarium was constructed and reopened in 1957 in Coney Island. The new facility had over 8000 specimens and 350 species. Although it afforded its permanent residents more space and helped to revitalize the Coney Island area, many felt that it was not an aesthetically pleasing place as the old Battery Park facility, and critics claimed that its unattractiveness was the egotistical Moses' ultimate revenge on the city that denied him his bridge.Those who have seen Ric Burns' wonderful documentary miniseries "New York" realize that Moses' power made him the most influential individual official in.Big Apple history... and nobody elected him.In recreating what is one of the few visual records of this beautiful piece of New York history in essentially what was only a B-film series, the RKO set set designers deserve tremendous credit. The mystery itself is first rate with Edna Mae Oliver and James Gleason exuding great humor and personal chemistry as two enjoyably mismatched detectives in this very intriguing whodunit.

Penguin Pool Murder (1932) *** (out of 4) The first film in RKO's Hildegarde Withers series features Edna May Oliver in the role who teams up with Inspector Piper (James Gleason) to try and find the murderer of a stockbroker whose body turned up in a penguin pool. Suspects includes the man's wife (Mae Clarke), her former lover (Donald Cook) and even the aquarium owner (Clarence Wilson). Oliver was one of the most colorful supporting players from this era of Hollywood so this series, which has sadly been forgotten, at least gave people the opportunity to see her in a leading role. There's no question that a lot of the film's magic is due to her wonderful performance as she manages to be smart, fun and her dry wit is unforgettable. The film offers up a pretty good story but what makes it even better is that we're given some great characters and terrific actors who really bring them to life. Oliver is perfect as Withers but it's her chemistry with Gleason that really makes this film stand out. The two work so well off one another that you can't help but have a smile on your face from their first scene to the last. A lot of these mystery flicks show the cops to be complete idiots but that's not necessarily the case here. Yes, he overlooks a lot of key evidence and he's certainly not as smart as Withers but I think the screenplay gets several added pluses simply because the two are rather equals and this makes their chemistry even better. Fans of Clarke might be disappointed that she's only in the first ten minutes and then disappears until the end but while she's on screen she certainly packs a nice punch. The same can be said for Robert Armstrong who offers up a strong performance as her lawyer. Cook, Wilson and Edgar Kennedy all add great support and it's hard to deny the power this terrific cast of character actors give. The actual mystery of who the killer is will hold your attention until the very end when in a very clever way the secret is revealed. There are several twist and turns throughout the film and the screenplay has a fun time delivering them in sly ways. The dialogue is another major plus because the one-liners are often very funny and we even get a few pre-code jokes including one dealing with a lesbian. PENGUIN POOL MURDER isn't all that well known today, which is a real shame because it's certainly one of the better murder/mysteries out there.

***SPOILERS*** Excellent detective movie involving spinster teacher Hilderard Martha Winters, Edna May Oliver, solving a murder mystery that New York's police top detective Oscar Piper, James Gleason, couldn't even get a handle on.It's when stockbroker Gerald Parker, Guy Usher, is found dead after being dumped in the Battery Park Aquarium's penguin pool that it's the late Gerald Parker's wife's Gwen's, Mea Cark, former boyfriend Philip Seymour, Donald Cook, who's suspected in his murder. Gwen planning to leave Gerald after he slapped her was to secretly meet Seymour at the aquarium to restart their love affair until Gerald, who followed her there, unexpectedly showed up! In a scuffle Seymour knocked Gerald cold and the last thing you know he's in the penguin pool as dead as a doornail!With top cop Oscar Piper showing up at the scene of the crime he doesn't have any trouble getting a confession out of Seymour in Gerald's murder. As it turned out teacher Hildegarde Winters was taking her students on a field trip to the aquarium and being as observant as she is saw things differently. Catching a pickpocket Chicago Lew, James Hermond, in the act with her umbrella Hildegarde also was framed by the killer by using her hat-pin that he stole, during all the confusion, to do poor Mr. Parker in! That's after both Gwen & Seymour left him laying unconscious on the stairs above the penguin pool!It's Hildegard's common sense and brilliant detective work that in the end uncover Gerald Parker's murderer who's own arrogance and hubris ended up doing him in! Something that Hildegard noticed about Gerald's killer that top NY city police department cop Oscar Piper had no clue about was that he in fact had a good reason for doing Gerald in: love & money. The most despicable thing that Gerald Parker's killer did was beside trying to implicate Hildergarde in his crime in make up a cock & bull story in that she was in fact his,Gerald Parker's, secret lover back in her home town in Iowa who took revenge on him, by murdering Gerald, for leaving her.***SPOILERS***Of course the witty and on the ball Hilderguard expected this line of questioning from that low down rat and was more then ready for him with a big surprise of her own. The surprise that the killer unknowingly himself supplied for her by proving that he, not Hildegarde Seymour or Gwen, in fact murdered Mr.Parker! That in a trap that both Hildegarde and Piper set for him that he fell lock stock and barrel for!

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.