[6]

Joan Blondell (The Public Enemy, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn) stars as a bored nurse who gets recruited by a police detective to infiltrate a rich family’s mansion and help him solve a suicide case that looks suspiciously like murder. Blondell is bubbly and irreverent in the role, screaming when director Lloyd Bacon (Marked Woman, 42nd Street) brings out the expressionistic long shadows and then laughing about herself afterwards. She and co-star George Brent (as the detective) are the best part of the movie. I love their unspoken sexual attraction, especially the way they smile at each other during clandestine rendezvous to compare notes.  Miss Pinkerton, written by Agatha Christie predecessor Mary Roberts Rinehart, is an old fashioned, light-hearted murder mystery full of stock supporting characters and convenient clues, but it’s the subdued rom-com component with which Blondell and Brent are flirting that distinguish it.