Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Angry stockbroker confronts his wife (Mae Clarke) and her former boyfriend (Donald Cook) at an aquarium. Also at the aquarium is teacher Hildegarde Withers (Edna May Oliver) with her class on a field trip. As Withers is looking into a penguin pool, the stockbroker's corpse comes floating by. Soon, police Inspector Oscar Piper (James Gleason) is on the case. Throughout the movie Withers helps Piper with his case and the two banter back and forth. Oliver and Gleason are delightful to watch. They have great comedic chemistry. Fun start to a brief detective series featuring the character of Hildegarde Withers and her beau Inspector Piper. There were only six films in the series, with Oliver playing the part of Withers in the first three films. Gleason would play Piper in all six. They were all generally fun films with doses of comedy mixed in with the murder mysteries. But the Oliver ones were the best.

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.

Whatever its other virtues (or flaws) may be, "The Penguin Pool Murder" is historically significant for introducing into the cinematic world what is quite possibly the first ever female - amateur, in this case - sleuth (if there is an earlier one, please name it; Torchy Blane came a few years later). She is a middle-aged school teacher, not exactly attractive, but sharp-tongued and sensibly-minded. The plot is sufficiently unpredictable and carefully pieced together as a puzzle. However, the film gets too slow at times. Mae Clarke appears in a very sexy, slinky dress in her first scene, but she's covered up the rest of the time. If you like this film, I especially recommend any of the 4 Margaret Rutherford Marple films made in the 1960s - and vice versa. **1/2 out of 4.

It's really too bad that they only made a few Hildegarde Withers mysteries and that only a few of these starred Edna May Oliver. The bottom line is that in the 1930s, no woman in Hollywood was more fun to watch in colorful supporting roles than Miss Oliver, so it was a real treat to see her in a starring role--and one that allowed her cool screen persona to shine! Instead of the usual somewhat insipid detective series films, her Miss Withers was a smart-aleck and tough lady--not some pampered playboy or Chinese detective. Plus, it was a great casting decision to have her work with police detective James Gleason and give him better than usual writing for such a role. In practically every B-detective series, the police are complete morons--so much so that the films lack any suspense or chemistry at times. Usually you KNOW the cops are all idiots and the amateur sleuth knows everything, but here she is assisted by a reasonably capable cop and they work on the case together. Because of this, it was cute to see that through the course of the film, Gleason's character fell for Miss Withers--he grew to love and respect her just like the audience did throughout the film.For the genre, this is about as good a film as you'll find--plus, it has cute penguins and Edna May Oliver!! What more could you ask for in a movie?!?!