The Black Doll (1938)

Ruined by the comedy, 19 December 2020

When Nelson Rood (C Henry Gordon) finds a black doll on his desk, he knows it can mean only one thing - his death.  Sure enough, later that night, Rood is killed by a knife to the back.  Rood was never the kindest man in the world, so he had his fair share of enemies.  Rood’s daughter’s boyfriend, Nick Halstead (Donald Woods), fancies himself an amateur detective and sets out to investigate.  But Halstead will have to stay out of the way of the local bumbling sheriff if he’s to find a killer.

Based on the IMDb rating (5.9) and all the positive reviews, I know The Black Doll has some fans.  I’m, however, not among them.  While I enjoyed some  of the mystery elements of the story and a character or two, I had a couple of big problems with the film that kept me from enjoying it.  First, as my little intro suggests, boyfriend Halstead does most of the real detective work.  And by that I mean he makes a series of wild guesses generally based on very little real evidence, yet somehow he’s miraculously correct 100% of the time. I like the solutions to my mysteries to be more fact-based.  Second, bumbling Sheriff Renick (Edgar Kennedy) is more than I can take.  He’s just not funny.  His brand of comedy, including a pocket full of pipes he continuously smokes and then breaks, doesn’t appeal to me at all.  Sadly, Kennedy ruined any hope of me finding much entertainment in The Black Doll.  

 

3/10