The Kennel Murder Case (1933)

Director:

Michael Curtiz

Writers:

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

Release Date:

28 October 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery

Tagline:

GREATEST OF ALL THE PHILO VANCE MYSTERIES!

Plot:

Archer Coe has been found dead in his locked bedroom. The cops consider it suicide, but Philo believes otherwise...

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Philo Vance | Sequel | Vase | Kennel Club

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)

Runtime:

73 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (certificate not issued at release) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | USA:Approved (PCA #2578-R: 24 August 1936 for re-release) | Spain:13

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Warner Brothers failed to renew this film's copyright, and as a result, it is now public domain.

Goofs:

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

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.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in La très très grande entreprise (2008)

Busy Whodunit

For those who like their murder mysteries busy, this is definitely the one to see, as it is chock full of interesting and suspicious characters, most of them wealthy Long Island socialite types. As the star detective, William Powell is alternately starchy and inspired, behaving at times as if he and his suit went to the cleaners and got pressed together. Mary Astor is very lovely here.

Powell had made a career out of playing the lead character, Philo Vance, in a series of movies made at a couple of studios over several years. In-between these films he developed into a somewhat offbeat romantic lead, at times even essaying gentleman gangster roles. Already middle-aged, he was stuck in somewhat of a career rut by the time this one came along. As with so many early talkie stars, it seemed that his time had come and gone, that he was fine for early Depression Prohibition-era films, but that with changing times he was perhaps too mature and dandyish to endure.

The Kennel Murder Case, directed by the criminally neglected Michael Curtiz, is one of the last of the "old Powells", while the next year would herald in the first of the new ones, The Thin Man, the success of which would catapult its leading players into the Hollywood stratosphere. In Kennel we can see the movies still in a somewhat stiff, ritualized pattern, as the camera does not move much, with the acting, like the presentation, tending toward the theatrical. There's no harm in this approach, though, which has its charms. It gives the movie a baroque quality.