4/5 Grouping Of Crisp Sequences In A Pleasing Programmer.
  by Rsoonsa (Lake Isabella, California)
Produced by actor Grant Withers, this is the initial entry of a Frankie Darro starring series for Monogram Pictures during which this foremost exponent of the Boyish Enthusiasm genre plays as a hotel bellhop and "Amateur Detective" (the movie's title in England), and it is also the first of six works for which Darro is cast along with comic actor Mantan Moreland as his foil who wishes to exercise no part of crime solving, a chronic habit and avocation of Darro's characters, "Buzzy O'Brien" in this archetypal instance. The short (51 min.) film begins in brisk fashion and continues on a smooth roll throughout with Buzzy, son of a former police detective, becoming entangled in shady goings-on at his place of employment, the Regal Hotel, including multiple murders and a theft of negotiable bonds, with the young bellboy being in the midst of it all, as the temptation to be a nonprofessional gumshoe ensures that his job, his good standing with old family friend Detective Lanahan (Dick Purcell), and his very life will be in hazard. Very popular upon its release, the film still generates approval from viewers due to excellent casting and delivery of rapid-fire and crisp dialogue by the players, with ill-starred Monogram mainstay Purcell earning the acting laurels for his effortless performance as a no-nonsense detective in charge of the many investigations at the hotel; the direction, editing and scoring are not equalled by the studio's 1944 recrafting of the story as THE ADVENTURES OF KITTY O'DAY, featuring Jean Parker.