"Detective Kitty O'Day" is not a great mystery (the murderer is fairly easy to spot after a point, especially when the other suspects keep getting bumped off!), but it doesn't need to be: it's the comedy that primarily carries this picture, and it carries it well. The dialogue is snappy and the pacing is breezy. More specifically, just about every line uttered by the clueless but good natured cop played by Ed Gargan is funny to very funny ("I wanted to get you out of that hot closet before you sophisticated!"). Jean Parker is absolutely adorable as the title character: beautiful, spunky, brave, and deeply devoted to her boyfriend; near the end, she's not afraid to get physical with the bad guys using her handbag as a weapon! The "official" DVD print of the movie, included in a "Poverty Row" collection with two others, has a couple of bad splices, but they don't detract much. *** out of 4.
Review of Detective Kitty O'Day
