User Reviews

In this episode of the William J. Burns series, a wealthy man is poisoned and stabbed; his nephew is convicted and faces the death penalty. Can the girl reporter figure out what actually happened?

It's a nice idea, and would be a fine little short subject, were it not for the fact that none of the performers can speak a line convincingly.

William J. Burns was the owner/operator of a famous detective agency from 1909 through his death in 1932. Along the way, he was involved in strikebreaking and found guilty of jury intimidation in the Teapot Dome Scandal (it was overturned at the Supreme Court). He was also the head of what would become the Federal Bureau of Investigation under his immediate successor, J. Edgar Hoover.

William J. Burns was the first director of what was to become the FBI and also made a name for himself through his private investigation business. From 1931-32, Educational Pictures made a series of shorts introduced by Burns and "The Black Widow" is one of them.

The story is about a guy who is convicted of murdering his uncle. However, Miss Clark hires a private investigator to prove that the poison was not given to the man deliberately.

"The Black Widow" is an unfortunate film in that the story is pretty interesting but the acting is simply awful. Again and again, several of the actors (particularly the one playing Miss Clark as well as the Governor) simply couldn't deliver their lines convincingly.

By the way, this film is very likely NOT based on a real case, as Black Widow deaths are very, very rare. Far less than 1% of bites are fatal...and we're expected to believe two folks were killed by a spider in this film! Additionally, the way you react when you are bitten is very different from the way they portray the second victim dying.