Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Verity Robins Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

Haven Kaycee It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

MartinHafer I was reading the review by Calvinnme and agree heartily. If the viewer never saw the previous Hildegard Withers films that starred Edna May Oliver, you might enjoy "Murder on a Bridle Path" even more. While Helen Broderick is very good in this role, Oliver was just better as Hildegard. Apparently, Oliver and the studio had a 'parting of the ways' and they unsuccessfully tried Broderick and later Zasu Pitts in Oliver's place. But, no matter how they tried, no one could match the charming crankiness of the original! The film starts with a blonde lady being disagreeable with several folks--a clear giveaway that she'll soon be murdered (it's a standard cliché in mystery films of the time). VERY soon after, she's killed while out riding her horse. Again, Calvinnme was right--this character wasn't developed enough and her death came too quickly. The police assume she died by accident but soon they notice a few clues that indicate she was NOT killed by being kicked by a horse. Around this time, Hildegarde shows up and immediately begins digging for clues. Like any murder mystery of the era, there are lots of dead ends and twists--along with a VERY florid ending involving the murderer--and it's by far the best part of the movie.This is a pretty good mystery film. Unfortunately, the snappy dialog from Withers isn't as obvious--not just due to Broderick but because the writing is a bit less snappy. Enjoyable but that's really about all.

sol ***SPOILERS*** It's when Violet Feverel, Sheila Terry, is found trampled to death on Central Park's Bridle Path it's assumed by the police headed by the cigar chewing Inspector Piper, James Gleason, that it all was a tragic accident. Violet had taken a horse out for a morning ride and lost control of the animal with her ending up getting killed by it. It's when school teacher and part-time sleuth Hildergard Winters, Helen Broderick, shows up at the scene that the open and shut case was reopened in that Violet's death wasn't accidental but cold blooded murder.Inspector Piper with Hildegard's help uncovers a number of people who had it in for Violet and may well have gone so far as murdering her. There's Violet's estranged husband Don Gregg, Leslie Fenton, who was released from prison just a day before her death and is considered the #1 suspect in Violet's murder. There's also Violet's sister Barbara, Louise Latimer, and fiancée Eddie Fry, Owen Davis Jr, who never got along with her and can't seem to come up with an alibi in where they were at the time of her death.It's later when Don Gregg's old man Pat Gregg, John Milter, is almost found dead at the Gregg Mansion in Elmont Long Island the attention turns to his already suspected of murder son Don who's now suspected by Inspector Piper in trying to murder him and make it look like an accident! Like he's suspected of doing to his wife Violet! It's when old man Gregg is found dead in his study watching the races, with a telescope, at the Belmont Park racetrack from his third floor window that Hildegard suspect his death was not a heart attack but murder. And the murderer was someone very close to Pat Gregg who wanted him out of the way not for monetary but for very very personal reasons!***SPOILERS*** It's then that all he loose ends in this very confusing murder case all tie together and it all had to do with a horse race that the killer, by having the money he was to bet on it, was kept from betting on! A bit talky but still very entertaining murder mystery with actress Helen Broderick as armature sleuth Hildegard Withers having a hard time keeping a straight face in her scenes with stable-boy High Pockets, Willie Best, who with his laid back and Stephen Fetchet style of talking has her desperately trying to keep from cracking up in every scene she's in with him. The award for ham acting honors in the movie has to go to the murderer himself! The exposed, by Hildegard, murdered gets so caught up with his big scene in the film in his explaining why he did it, murdered Violet & old man Gregg, that he loses his footing and breaks through a second floor railing in the Gregg Mansion and falls to his death!

calvinnme ... you never saw its three predecessors in which Edna May Oliver played schoolteacher Hildegarde Withers, partner in sleuthing to police detective Oscar Piper (James Gleason). There was something very special about the chemistry between these two. However, Helen Broderick is a more than adequate stand-in who manages to get a few good zingers in at the expense of Piper, which was the trademark of Withers when Oliver played the part.In this entry in the series, a pretty but difficult young woman makes enemies of everyone around her, although we're told about this more than we see it - the girl barely gets more than a scene before she is murdered while riding her horse one morning. Only the homicide investigation turns up the most likely suspect - a rich ex-husband who was a husband in the first place only because the murdered woman wanted a big payoff in the form of alimony. Piper thinks he's on to something until he learns that the man in question was in jail for non payment of alimony at the time, and that the man's only close living relative, his father, who also hates the girl for what she has done to his son, is an invalid incapable of traipsing around parks early in the morning. There are other numerous less likely suspects introduced just to keep you guessing. As usual, Hildegarde out-sleuths Piper at several key junctures, but she also makes a key miscalculation that leads up to a big joke at her expense in the last scene, after the mystery is solved. The fact that this one word - applesauce - could ever have been considered a curse word of sorts may seem strange to modern audiences. Stranger still was that the production code was so sensitive at the time that the film had to make the retort to Hildegarde appear to have two meanings. This one is an above average mystery and well acted, just don't expect the magic of the ones with both Gleason and Oliver starring.

Arthur Hausner This fourth movie in the Hildegarde Withers-Oscar Piper series has Helen Broderick replacing Edna May Oliver in the Withers role. She's the most sophisticated of the three who played the role (the other was ZaSu Pitts) but I still enjoyed the banter she has with James Gleason, who played Piper in the entire series. The plot is a bit hard to follow (I watched it twice to clear up some points) and it is impossible to determine or even guess who the killer is. That didn't bother me, since I had fun with lots of comedy in the film. Willie Best has his usual steroetyped negro role and James Donlan plays the more-or-less inept detective. I particularly enjoyed the red herring of the pipe, which eventually reveals how to tell if a person has false teeth.