gridoon2018 As far as I know, "Miss Pinkerton" is the only old-dark-house whodunit that Joan Blondell ever made (though she has played the amateur detective, as she does here, several times) (and maybe you could count "Topper Returns"). She's a joy, as always. The film employs nearly all the genre cliches (only a thunderstorm is missing), and has so many sinister characters that, as Blondell herself says to inspector George Brent, "You have arrested everyone in this cast except me!". There is so much plot to be covered in 65 minutes that you cannot afford not to pay attention or you'll be lost. If they had made another "Miss Pinkerton" film with the team of Blondell and Brent, I would watch it. **1/2 out of 4.

Richard Chatten Early on in this pre-Code murder mystery the gorgeous Joan Blondell laments the monotony of her existence as a nurse and asks how it can be relieved; promptly answering her own question as far as the audience is concerned by immediately shedding her uniform and slipping down to her scanties.But she soon gets enough excitement to last her a lifetime when sent to tend to a wealthy woman whose nephew has just been shot dead under suspicious circumstances (we see a remarkably realistic-looking police photograph of the corpse at one point). Based on a novel by Mary Roberts Rinehart, there's an awful lot of talk, and new characters keep showing up making the story harder to follow without making things any more interesting (the final denouement was so complicated and so laboriously explained verbally that I've already forgotten whodunit despite having seen it only a couple of hours ago).Director Lloyd Bacon and cameraman Barney McGill go out of their way to compensate for the general lack of action by including a lot of creeping about in the shadows and by smothering Jack Okey's magnificent Old Dark House set in eye-boggling compositions juggling weird camera angles and deep focus. John Wray as Hugo the butler is so relentlessly photographed on the tilt throughout the film to make him look sinister (not to mention constantly exchanging shifty glances with housekeeper Blanche Friderici) that we know he can't possibly be guilty; while Elizabeth Patterson as the matriarch on her deathbed looks dramatically different from anything else I've ever seen her in. The most remarkable single shot in the entire film is probably one of Blondell and George Brent sliding out of focus and into darkness as seen from the point of view of a character whose life is slipping away; although throughout the whole film the frequent close ups of Blondell are always more than enough to revive interest if things start to flag.

JohnHowardReid Most of the action takes place in an old, Victorian style mansion which art director Jack Okey excels in recreating here. In fact, his sets are one of the film's major assets. Yet another plus is the extraordinary direction by Lloyd Bacon. In fact, all the scenes in which Elizabeth Patterson appears are handled in a most unusual – at least for Lloyd Bacon – manner, using tilted camera angles, mirror shots, close close-ups and weird lighting effects. Indeed the most stunning effect of all occurs right at the character's death. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie is handled in a far less dramatic manner. Another minus is that there is no music score to help the mood. This lack also forces viewers to focus on the dialogue which seems a trifle stagey and is certainly overplayed by some of the actors, particularly John Wray. Fortunately, sound effects and McGill's fine photography help cover up some of the worst lapses.

MartinHafer With Joan Blondell and George Brent, this should have been a lot better and I think it's very skipable. The film starts with a totally outlandish premise. A nurse (Blondell) is a bit bored by her routine, so to help her get a bit of excitement, her boss assigns her to work with the police as a "special agent". It seems that a man was murdered and they want Blondell to look after his aunt--as she might know something about the killing. Now think about it--there is a murder and the police recruit a civilian to get in the middle of it!! Considering there's a decent chance she, too, will be killed! There's certainly more to the film than this premise, but overall it's pretty dull and wastes good actors. Heck, you don't even see Blondell and Brent interact much until towards the end of the film. Perhaps this was because both were relatively early in their careers. Regardless, there are many, many more murder mystery films with more interesting material and dialog. Worth watching if you are an old movie buff, but probably not for most tastes.