Charles Herold (cherold) Super-Sleuth stars Jack Oakie as a detective-playing actor who taunts the police for failing to catch a criminal that then targets him. This isn't a mystery - we know who the killer is early on. The only real mystery of the movie is the killer's motive, but don't expect an answer to that.Oakie is an amusing guy who plays his idiocy well, breezing down the street with - to quote a t-shirt - all the confidence of a mediocre white man.Edgar Kennedy does his usual schtick well, and Ann Sothern is likable even though she and Oakie have absolutely no degree of chemistry.The worst thing in the movie is a black servant who is a particularly egregious example of the way Hollywood turned African Americans into idiot children. It is painful to watch.I wouldn't go so far as to recommend this film, but Oakie does make it watchable.

beachy-38431 I usually find movies of this era poorly written, over-acted, and the comedies not funny. This one is funny thanks to Jack Oakie. Ann Southern and the other actors did over-act, see.

mark.waltz Somebody's out to kill Jack Oakie, a movie detective who seems intent on breaking into real life detective work. Other than the obvious critics who criticize his hamming, there's Ann Sothern, a studio employee who reluctantly ends up in most of his schemes, the cowardly Willie Best (cast again in a racial stereotype) and the sinister looking Eduardo Ciannelli, a spooky professor. There's really little amusement in this, that is until the ending confrontation in a haunted house where trapped doors and secret entrances keep the characters disappearing and reappearing. Edgar Kennedy adds another slow-burning detective with little sense and lots of temper to his credits. The finale may have you in stitches, but there's little else to laugh at in this weak programmer.

dougdoepke Great chance for moon-faced comedian Jack Oakie to mug it up for an hour or so. He's a movie detective at a Hollywood studio in what's obviously a spoof of movie sleuths so popular at the time. Never mind that his Willard Martin is a 30-watt bulb in a 60-watt world. Martin has convinced himself he's the greatest actor since Barrymore, so it's fun to watch him bumble along head held high even as his rear-end sags. Still, Oakie manages the egotistical character without making him obnoxious. It's a slender exercise that has someone trying to kill Martin because they didn't like his last movie— what inspired motivation! Still, the screenplay should have made a mystery of the public-spirited culprit instead of tipping us off so early. That would have added an extra element of comical suspense. Anyway, the lovely Ann Sothern is a studio flack who has her hands full keeping the bumbler out of trouble, while trying to stay away from Prof. Herman's house of horrors. Maybe the best parts are the behind-the-scenes look at movie-making on a sound stage and on location. Paul Guilfoyle breaks from his usual wacky characters to play the no-nonsense movie director, of all things. The wind-up is a whirlwind slapstick through the professor's museum, making this a lively if slender glimpse of the bottom-of-the-bill, 1930's style.