Forty Naughty Girls (1937)

Police Inspector Oscar Piper and Hildegared Withers attend the opening night of a Broadway play in New York City, and the show's press agent is murdered before the curtain goes up. But the ... See full summary »

Director:

Edward F. Cline

Writers:

John Grey (screen play), Stuart Palmer (story),

Stars:

James Gleason, Zasu Pitts, Marjorie Lord

Cast

Complete credited cast:
James Gleason	...	Inspector Oscar Piper
Zasu Pitts	...	Hildegarde Withers
Marjorie Lord	...	June Preston
George Shelley	...	Bert
Joan Woodbury	...	Rita Marlowe
Frank M. Thomas	...	Jeff Plummer
Tom Kennedy	...	Detective Casey
Alan Edwards	...	Ricky Rickman
Stephen Chase	...	Tommy Washburn (as Alden Chase)
Eddie Marr	...	Windy Bennett (as Edward Marr)
Ada Leonard	...	Lil
Barbara Pepper	...	Alice

Storyline

Police Inspector Oscar Piper and Hildegared Withers attend the opening night of a Broadway play in New York City, and the show's press agent is murdered before the curtain goes up. But the show must go on and while Piper is busily investigating the killing while the play goes on, the play's librettist is shot. Piper and Withers are in and out of dressing rooms, in audience cubicles belonging to the producer and press agent, and in the basement storeroom, and far stage left and right working on finding the killer before the curtain drops.

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Plot Keywords:

police | librettist | press agent | police inspector | killer | 

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Taglines:

The screen's funniest sleuth and sleuthess...on the trail of another crime!

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Crime | Mystery

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 September 1937 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mulher do Delegado

Company Credits

Production Co:

RKO Radio Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

63 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Follows Penguin Pool Murder (1932)

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Soundtracks

"Forty Naughty Girls"
(1937) (uncredited)
Composer unknown
Performed by George Shelley, Marjorie Lord and chorus in the show

User Reviews

Twenty Out of Forty

Three actresses played schoolteacher/amateur investigator Hildegarde Winters in the RKO B series based on the novels of Stuart Palmer: Helen Broderic, Zasu Pitts and Edna May Oliver. The inimitable, irascible James Gleason played her fiancé, Oscar Piper in all the movies.

All three actresses were sterling comedians, although of highly different types. In this movie we have Oscar investigating a murder backstage, while Hildegarde Winters does all the real work.

Unfortunately, neither story nor actors are well served in this particular outing. Comedy directing great Eddie Cline doesn't seem to have allowed Miss Pitts nor supporting comic Tom Kennedy the time they needed for their slow-take comedy.

Instead, we have Piper arresting people for the murders, being persuaded he was wrong, and then on to the next suspect. Perhaps Cline simply did not care. In any case, the result is unremarkable.