Thanks to Michael Curtiz' dynamic and stylish direction you don't notice how dull and lifeless this story is. The characters, even William Powell's detective Vance, are all so one dimensional you just can't warm to any of them. You wouldn't care if they all got murdered.
The problem with this is that it's entirely plot driven rather than character driven. For such a story, the plot needs to fascinate you, to make you desperate to know what's going on but on that respect it fails totally. It seems pointlessly complicated and annoyingly sends you down blind alleys with instantly forgettable bland characters you don't care about.
The Philo Vance stories were inexplicably popular back then - no idea why because unlike every other fictional detective I can think of, he doesn't seem to have any personality. Now if Poirot had been the detective here or even if we had got to know who all these countless people actually were it might have been half decent!
Despite the shallowness of the writing, the uninteresting story and the usual boring presence of Mary Astor, it does actually look good. So ten out of ten for Michael Curtiz but nul points for the rest of them.
The problem with this is that it's entirely plot driven rather than character driven. For such a story, the plot needs to fascinate you, to make you desperate to know what's going on but on that respect it fails totally. It seems pointlessly complicated and annoyingly sends you down blind alleys with instantly forgettable bland characters you don't care about.
The Philo Vance stories were inexplicably popular back then - no idea why because unlike every other fictional detective I can think of, he doesn't seem to have any personality. Now if Poirot had been the detective here or even if we had got to know who all these countless people actually were it might have been half decent!
Despite the shallowness of the writing, the uninteresting story and the usual boring presence of Mary Astor, it does actually look good. So ten out of ten for Michael Curtiz but nul points for the rest of them.