The White Cockatoo (1935)

The White Cockatoo (1935). The White Cockatoo: Directed by Alan Crosland. With Jean Muir, Ricardo Cortez, Ruth Donnelly, Minna Gombell. Sue Tally waits for a brother she hasn't seen in twenty years to meet her in a French hotel. By proving her identity, she'll share in a $2,000,000 inheritance. But others are anxious to get a share of the money too, and won't stop at committing a murder or two.

“Thereu0026#39;s a comforting familiarity about small mystery thrillers from the 1930s, such as this one. It has a lot of the usual plot elements: mysterious tavern setting in an isolated part of the country (in this case France), a girl (Muir) waiting there to inherit a fortune, shots in the dark, a body found, the usual red herring suspects (almost everyone in the cast) and the police inspecting the case who are every bit as hopeless at solving a crime in France as they are in American set thrillers of the same nature.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis Warner Brothers affair is directed with efficiency by old pro Alan Crosland, the film further benefiting from some wonderful tavern sets (probably left over from some bigger budgeted productions but every bit as effective here), all beautifully photographed.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnd the cast is an engaging one. Ricardo Cortez, second billed, is really the lead in this film, as an American tourist who becomes involved in the mysterious tavern happenings, and largely takes over as amateur detective in trying to crack the case (since itu0026#39;s apparent the police here will never be able to do so). And Cortez is solid in his part, as well as showing some smooth charm, which was his trademark.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI happened to find the book of that title by Mignon Eberhart – a great mystery writer of the 30u0026#39;s and 40u0026#39;s – in a used bookstore. The film pretty much adheres to the story.”