Forty Naughty Girls: A theater mystery that's mostly just curtains

Is it worth the time?

If you have a soft spot for 1930s detective fluff, you’ll probably get a kick out of Forty Naughty Girls. It’s light, breezy, and moves fast enough that you don't have to think too hard about the gaps in the logic. If you need your mysteries to be gritty or actually make sense, stay far away.

Honestly, watching Zasu Pitts and James Gleason bounce off each other is the only reason this thing works. Their chemistry isn't exactly high art, but it's comfy.

The theater setting

The movie is set in a bustling Broadway theater, which usually provides a great backdrop for a whodunit. Here, it mostly feels like they reused the same three hallways until I started to wonder if the characters were just walking in circles.

The murder that happens right on stage is a highlight. It’s got that classic stage-play drama where everyone is frozen in place, looking confused. It feels a bit like a scene you might see in Spellbound, but without any of the actual tension.

Oddly specific observations

• The "forty" naughty girls mentioned in the title are barely in the movie. It’s mostly just a few actors looking annoyed in the background.
• There’s a moment where a character is clearly reading their lines off a cue card just out of frame. I had to rewind it twice because it was so distracting.
• The lighting in the dressing room scenes is weirdly aggressive. Everyone looks like they’re being interrogated by a desk lamp.

The whole thing feels like a quick paycheck for everyone involved. It’s not trying to be the next Torchy Comes Through, and maybe that’s for the best. It's just a very standard procedural.

I found myself getting distracted by the costumes more than the plot. Some of those hats are genuinely distracting. 👒

The ending comes out of nowhere. It’s like the writers just decided they were hungry for lunch and wrapped the whole mystery up in about three sentences of dialogue. You can almost see the actors rushing toward the exit sign. It’s not great cinema, but it’s an okay way to kill an hour if you’re folding laundry.