Die Stimme aus dem Jenseits

First Philo Vance film starring William Powell in the lead and a dubbed Louise Brooks in a small role. It's an early talkie so from a technical standpoint it creaks and groans as you might expect. But it's still an enjoyable picture with a good turn from Powell. Watch other movies from this year and you'll be doubly impressed by Powell's acting. His style is years ahead of most of his contemporaries who tended to overact. This series would get much better and Powell would certainly go on to do more memorable work, but this isn't a bad start at all. It's not a terribly exciting watch but it never bored me. If you like classic detective stories from this period it's worth a look.

In what turns out to be his second talking picture William Powell introduces to the screen the character of debonair detective Philo Vance. Like his later Nick Charles, Powell as Vance likes to live the high life though he's not as big a drinker.

He gets called in by an old friend Charles Lane (not the acerbic character actor we all know from TV and films) but an older gentlemen who is concerned about the continuing involvement of his son James Hall with nightclub singer Louise Brooks known only as The Canary. This girl is a much cruder version of Lorelei Lee who is determined to marry wealthy and insure a steady income for her pleasures. Hall is engaged to good girl Jean Arthur, but can't keep away from Brooks.

She's got a whole gang of other men on the string as well and she also has an ex-husband so when Brooks turns up dead there are no lack of suspects for Powell to work through. The police however with dumb as a brick Eugene Palette as Sergeant Heath seem to zero in on Hall.

For those who like the vivacious Jean Arthur in the classic films she was yet to do you won't find her here. She's pretty wasted as a typical good girl part. One player who will be a revelation is Ned Sparks as Brooks's ex-husband who claims he's not an ex. He's not the lovable sourpuss we later saw in many films, but a rather vicious animal. Totally a surprise.

William Powell's perfect diction and stage training make The Canary Murder Case hold up well even today. Unlike so many of his contemporaries at this time, Powell seem to know instinctively how to play for the new talking picture camera. Sound made his career.

For those who enjoy nice detective stories with a closed ring of suspects, you can't go wrong with The Canary Murder Case.

This film typifies the problems the studios were having adapting to sound in 1929. The characters talk and talk and talk and nothing much happens. Being a great Philo Vance fan, I had to purchase this film even though it is a pretty rough transfer to tape and is very stilted in style. The obvious post-dubbing of Louise Brooks' voice is comical since it comes out as a nasal Bronx accent. William Powell, just beginning to develop his persona as a sophisticate, really doesn't stand much of a chance here. However, for historical value, it is worth a try. It is the last film that Brooks made before she went to Germany and her greatest triumphs(Pandora's Box, Diary of a Lost Girl); thus the voice dubbing. The film started out as a silent and was converted to sound....by that time she was in Germany and refused to return to dub her own voice. If you are a Philo Vance buff and can't work your way through this film, see "The Kennel Murder Case" instead.

Unfortunately, I had to make do with a rather poor copy of THE CANARY MURDER CASE, full of scratches and tiny breaks - not to mention the crackling recording, which I had to take as sportingly as I could, knowing that by 1929 the movie industry was only in its earliest forays into sound.

Those drawbacks aside, I found the joint direction by Tuttle and St Clair very competent and even imaginative, with most of the shooting done in dark interiors. Of course, to achieve that quality level the directors had to rely on a strong script - and that they had, courtesy of SS Van Dine and adaptation by the suggestively named Albert Le Vino (thankfully, there is far less drinking here than poor William Powell would have to endure as Detective Nick Charles 5 years later).

Ultimately, though, what I take away from this picture are the following pluses: Louise Brooks' incredibly timeless beauty (I have been in love with her since watching the silent PANDORA'S BOX); William Powell's nonchalant but classy Philo Vance, helped by peerless diction that must have been the envy of just about all actors in Hollywood in 1929; the clever dialogue that draws into a whodunnit that rates far more complex than I expected from a 1929 vehicle.

Definitely a must for fans of Powell, Brooks, Arthur, and whodunnit. 8/10.

A famous "transition" film. One shot as a silent and partly re-shot for talkies. William Powell stars as Philo Vance. Jean Arthur plays a show girl. Louise Brooks is the "Canary." Of course this film is famous because Brooks refused to return from Europe to re-shoot scenes as a talkie. The studio then released news her voice would not record well. To get even more even they hired Margaret Livingston to dub Brooks' voice in a high nasal New York accent. Livingston also appears in a few long shots in a Louise Brooks hair cut.

Slow but OK murder mystery. Brooks disappears after about 15 minutes; Arthur has no real part. That leaves us with James Hall as the dupe, Eugene Palette the dumb sergeant, Charles Lane the father, Oscar Smith the desk attendant, etc. Lots of talk.

Brooks is gorgeous and in the credits you note she gets downplayed from 2nd to 4th billing. Another Paramount jab. Brooks indeed had a fine voice even though I've only seen a couple of lousy westerns she made. She was a beauty and had a good voice. But she sure was difficult. And her "Lulu in Hollywood" memoir doesn't change my mind about her. By the way: I loved her in Beggars of Life as well as Pandora's Box and Diary of a Lost Girl.