A priceless Cellini silver cup is stolen from a local museum with both Hildegarde and Oscar on the case.A priceless Cellini silver cup is stolen from a local museum with both Hildegarde and Oscar on the case.A priceless Cellini silver cup is stolen from a local museum with both Hildegarde and Oscar on the case.
Alyce Ardell
- Josephine, Hildegarde's Maid
- (uncredited)
John T. Bambury
- Midget
- (uncredited)
Billy Dooley
- Gas Station Attendant
- (uncredited)
Frank Fanning
- Detective Fanning
- (uncredited)
Mary Gordon
- Woman with Bag
- (uncredited)
Reed Howes
- Museum Guard in Egyptian Room
- (uncredited)
John Indrisano
- Man in Line for Inspection
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaPitts replaced scheduled star because of illness.
- GoofsThe Italian couple that Officer Cassidy talks to near the beginning of the movie say "good night" to him in Spanish.
- Quotes
Hildegarde Withers: Now don't behave more stupid than is natural, Oscar.
- ConnectionsFollowed by Forty Naughty Girls (1937)
- SoundtracksPretty Baby
Music by Egbert Van Alstyne and Tony Jackson
Lyrics by Gus Kahn
Played by the organ grinder in the park
Featured review
Fun "B" Movie With Some Good Twists
Plot Thickens, The (1936)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
The fifth film in the Hildegarde Withers series is the first to have Zasu Pitts in the lead. This time out a man involved in a possible love triangle is murdered and there are countless suspects. Withers must assist Detective Oscar Piper (James Gleason) in tracking down the murder but soon more twists and turns begin to happen. THE PLOT THICKENS is the perfect title for this movie because it seems every ten-minutes or so another twist is happening and the film goes off into a new direction. It starts off as a love triangle mixed with murder but then more bodies begin to pile up and soon the witnesses are changing their stories and then we even get a heist subplot thrown in. At just 67-minutes this movie doesn't have a slow bone in its body because it goes so fast that at first you have to almost backtrack to try and figure out what's going on in the opening murder sequence. We get to see so many characters so quickly that I think the film hurts itself because by the time you figure out what's going on you're already onto the next murder and plot twist. The story should be given quite a bit of credit because even though this was just a "B" series, RKO went all out and really delivered a smart screenplay. It also doesn't hurt that Gleason and Pitts work so well together. No one will take the place of Edna May Oliver but Pitts is really good here. She plays the straight parts fine but she also has a very good comic timing that works perfectly well with Gleason. As for Gleason, he was always good in the series and he too turns in a fine performance. None of the supporting players really stand out but they're all decent enough. The final ten-minutes features a couple plot twists that her perfectly done including one pre-Scooby Doo sequence that really works tremendously well. THE PLOT THICKENS will certainly entertain fans of the series but it also makes you scratch your head wondering how the next film in the series (FORTY NAUGHTY GIRLS) could turn out so bad.
** 1/2 (out of 4)
The fifth film in the Hildegarde Withers series is the first to have Zasu Pitts in the lead. This time out a man involved in a possible love triangle is murdered and there are countless suspects. Withers must assist Detective Oscar Piper (James Gleason) in tracking down the murder but soon more twists and turns begin to happen. THE PLOT THICKENS is the perfect title for this movie because it seems every ten-minutes or so another twist is happening and the film goes off into a new direction. It starts off as a love triangle mixed with murder but then more bodies begin to pile up and soon the witnesses are changing their stories and then we even get a heist subplot thrown in. At just 67-minutes this movie doesn't have a slow bone in its body because it goes so fast that at first you have to almost backtrack to try and figure out what's going on in the opening murder sequence. We get to see so many characters so quickly that I think the film hurts itself because by the time you figure out what's going on you're already onto the next murder and plot twist. The story should be given quite a bit of credit because even though this was just a "B" series, RKO went all out and really delivered a smart screenplay. It also doesn't hurt that Gleason and Pitts work so well together. No one will take the place of Edna May Oliver but Pitts is really good here. She plays the straight parts fine but she also has a very good comic timing that works perfectly well with Gleason. As for Gleason, he was always good in the series and he too turns in a fine performance. None of the supporting players really stand out but they're all decent enough. The final ten-minutes features a couple plot twists that her perfectly done including one pre-Scooby Doo sequence that really works tremendously well. THE PLOT THICKENS will certainly entertain fans of the series but it also makes you scratch your head wondering how the next film in the series (FORTY NAUGHTY GIRLS) could turn out so bad.
helpful•33
- Michael_Elliott
- Nov 7, 2011
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- The Riddle of the Dangling Pearl
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 9 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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