The Garden Murder Case (1936)

Director:

Edwin L. Marin

Writers:

Bertram Millhauser (screenplay)
S.S. Van Dine (book)

Release Date:

21 February 1936 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery

Plot:

Someone has shot and killed Lowe Hammle and everyone at his 22 room apartment is a suspect. The reasons are as varied as the number of people there...

Plot Keywords:

Horse | Murder | Nurse | Steeplechase | Python

Cast

Edmund Lowe	...	Philo Vance
Virginia Bruce	...	Zalia Graem
Benita Hume	...	Nurse Gladys Beeton
Douglas Walton	...	Floyd Garden
Nat Pendleton	...	Sergeant Ernest Heath
Gene Lockhart	...	Edgar Lowe Hammle
H.B. Warner	...	Major Fenwicke-Ralston
Kent Smith	...	Woode Swift
Grant Mitchell	...	District Attorney Markham
Frieda Inescort	...	Mrs. Madge Fenwicke-Ralston
Henry B. Walthall	...	Dr. Garden
Jessie Ralph	...	Mrs. Hammle
Charles Trowbridge	...	Inspector Colby
Etienne Girardot	...	Dr. Doremus (coroner)

Runtime:

61 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #1956) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | Finland:K-16

Filming Locations:

Santa Anita Race Track, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

Fred Warren as "Ah Fooey" is in studio records/casting call lists as a cast member, but he did not appear in the movie. Hollywood Reporter production charts included Robert McWade and Leonard Carey in the cast, but neither of them appeared in the movie.

Movie Connections:

Followed by Philo Vance's Secret Mission (1947)

Soundtrack:

(The Man on) The Flying Trapeze

Good Murder Mystery

Edmund Lowe plays the role as Philo Vance a detective who tries to solve a series of murders in the Hammle Family who live in a 22 room apartment in NYC. The first member of the family is murdered, Edgar Lowe Hammle,(Gene Lockhart) and then Zalia Graem, (Virginia Bruce) appears on the scene and is accused of being a murderer when a woman falls to her death from a double decker bus. Zalia Graem and Philo Vance gave an outstanding performance together and there is a spark of romance between the two of them as Philo tries to help prove her innocence in the murder case. This is a low budget B film from 1936 but has a great story with even hypnoses being utilized. Enjoy.