The Kennel Murder Case (1933)

Philo Vance, accompanied by his prize-losing Scottish terrier, investigates the locked-room murder of a prominent and much-hated collector whose broken Chinese vase provides an important clue.

Director:

Michael Curtiz

Writers:

S.S. Van Dine (by), Robert N. Lee (screenplay),

Stars:

William Powell, Mary Astor, Eugene Pallette

Cast

Complete credited cast:
William Powell	...	Philo Vance
Mary Astor	...	Hilda Lake
Eugene Pallette	...	Detective Heath
Ralph Morgan	...	Raymond Wrede - the Secretary
Robert McWade	...	District Attorney Markham
Robert Barrat	...	Archer Coe
Frank Conroy	...	Brisbane Coe
Etienne Girardot	...	Dr. Doremus
James Lee	...	Liang - the Cook
Paul Cavanagh	...	Sir Thomas MacDonald (as Paul Cavanaugh)
Arthur Hohl	...	Gamble - the Butler
Helen Vinson	...	Doris Delafield
Jack La Rue	...	Eduardo Grassi (as Jack LaRue)

Storyline

Archer Coe has been found dead in his locked bedroom. The cops consider it suicide, but Philo believes otherwise. When the Coroner shows up, he finds that Archer had been hit with a blunt object, stabbed and shot - making suicide unlikely. When the evidence points to his brother, Brisbane is found stabbed to death in the closet. Archer had a number of enemies, any one of which would have been glad to knock him off, but which one did and how did the murder occur in a room looked from the inside. Only one man, the keen, fascinating, debonair detective Philo Vance, would be able to figure out who is the killer.

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Plot Keywords:

murder | philo vance | kennel club | brother | killer | 

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Taglines:

GREATEST OF ALL THE PHILO VANCE MYSTERIES!

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Genres:

Mystery

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 October 1933 (USA)

Also Known As:

Il pugnale cinese

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros

Technical Specs

Runtime:

73 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Dr Doremus' repeated line "I'm a Doctor not a..." was later used as the catchphrase of DeForest Kelley's character Dr Leonard "Bones" McCoy on the sci-series Star Trek.

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Goofs

About twelve minutes into the film, you can see the boom mic reflected in a mirror in Miss Delafield's apartment.

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Quotes

Philo Vance: Say, Markham, I just heard about Arthur Coe.
Dist. Atty. Markham: Yes. Too bad he had to bump himself off like that.
Philo Vance: Hmm, that's why I called you. You sure that he did bump himself off?
Dist. Atty. Markham: Well, his butler tells us he's sitting in a locked room with a revolver in his hand and a bullet in his head. I don't know what else you'd call it.

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Connections

Followed by The Greene Murder Case (1937)

User Reviews

Entertaining, Fast-Paced Mystery

William Powell, Michael Curtiz, and a good murder mystery make "The Kennel Murder case" an entertaining film. Philo Vance (Powell) does some of his most difficult deducting, and Curtiz's direction keeps things moving quickly.

When rich, obnoxious Archer Coe is murdered, the case causes lots of difficulty for the police. It's bad enough that Coe's meanness gave a good reason for murder to pretty much anyone who ever knew him, but it's even worse that the clues are so complicated that he could have been killed in at least two completely different ways. Only Vance can figure it all out, and after some good twists, there is an interesting and creative solution.

Though basically filmed as a routine whodunit, there are several good features besides the story itself. Powell is as lively as Vance as he was later as Nick Charles in the "Thin Man" films. Most of the rest of the cast is good, too, especially Mary Astor as one of the suspects and Eugene Pallette as the earnest but not very bright sergeant in charge of the case. Everything moves along quickly with many good touches of humor.

Most mystery fans will find this movie entertaining and enjoyable.