The Greene Murder Case

Philo Vance (William Powell) is back in action solving murders. He, D. A. John Markham (E. H. Calvert), and the rotund Sgt. Ernest Heath (Eugene Pallette) were delivered a doozy of a murder mystery. Several members of the Greene family were killed at different intervals.

First, Chester Greene (Lowell Drew) was shot to death while Ada Greene (Jean Arthur) was wounded by a gunshot. A week later Rex Greene (Morgan Farley) was killed. By the time it was all said and done three members of the Greene clan were murdered and with it at least two early suspects.

I didn't know who the murderer was from the start, but I certainly knew who I wanted to be the murderer(s): Ada (Jean Arthur) and Sibella Greene (Florence Eldridge). Both of them were annoying characters that I didn't care for at all. Ada because she was so posh and delicate. In a way she wasn't any different from a lot of the women on screen in that era, but I still don't like it. She was the proper type who breathed heavily and fainted at the slightest displeasing news. Sibella because she was a smug flippant woman who didn't place importance on anything.

Also of note as far as suspects were Dr. Arthur Von Blon (Ullrich Haupt),the family doctor and Sibella's lover, Sproot (Brandon Hurst), the head servant, Mrs. Gertrude Mannheim (Augusta Burmeister), another servant, and Hemming (Marcia Harris), also a servant.

As you can tell by the many servants the Greenes were a wealthy family, so naturally anyone of them could've had a motive especially since so much was at stake. The deceased patriarch, Tobias Greene, had all of them in the will contingent upon certain conditions.

Unlike "The Canary Murder Case," this one was not as obvious to me. I had my suspicions, but you gotta let Philo figure it out

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The wealthy and dysfunctional Greene family are forced to gather annually to fulfil the stipulations of the late patriarch's will - the family is ruled by the resentful and ailing Mrs Tobias Greene (Gertrude Norman), who holds little affection for her children, Rex (Morgan Farley), Chester (Lowell Drew), and daughter Sibella (Florence Eldridge). The children despise each other, while adopted daughter Ada (Jean Arthur) is excluded from the inheritance due to her non-blood relation.

The tension within the household becomes palpable, with suspicions surrounding Sibella's indiscreet affair with the family's doctor, Arthur Von Blon (Ullrich Haupt Sr), and rumours that Mrs Greene's infirmity may not be as severe as it seems. The Greene family's servants, including butler Sproot (Brandon Hurst), housekeeper Gertrude Mannheim (Augusta Burmeister), and devout Hemming (Marcia Harris), also harbour their own doubts.

When members of the family start being murdered, District Attorney John Markham (EH Calvert) enlists the help of amateur detective Philo Vance (William Powell), who, alongside Sergeant Ernest Heath (Eugene Pallette), must sift through the animosity and hidden motives to unmask the killer.

Green Murder Case sees Philo Vance tackle another difficult case where two Greenes get shot, one dies and one gets injured- three minutes apart. Seen as a burglary, Vance thinks otherwise. William Powell is at the top of his game, his Vance is analytical and observant.

It's a decent mystery, the sound is primitive, but the tale is much sharper, and engaging and less stilted than the Benson Murder Case. The finale is very good - there's a nice view of the rooftops as another murder is about to take place.

The reviews printed here are all over the place subject-wise. It's unfortunate that some of these were written by contemporary viewers with apparently little or no appreciation for the age of a motion picture, the date of its making, or the public's taste at the time. Myself, I usually find early-talkies of much interest, having been produced when sound was new (as opposed to film shows with live musicians providing the score), and revealing the maker's lack of creativity, or, conversely, creativity of a high order, still impressive today. "The Greene Murder Case" (Paramount; 1929) is rather an amalgam of both. Mysteries at the time were often very atmospheric; this seemed to be part and parcel of the attempts at sound recording. And Frank Tuttle, who directed this effort, was a fine craftsman who went on to direct motion pictures now regarded as classics. Some shots were done silently so as to free up the camera (a scene where it quickly ascends a staircase comes to mind), but most impressively, a cable was strung well over the exterior of the Greene mansion, itself a full-scale set, so that the attached camera could (unexpectedly) be hoisted, revealing the intimidating height of its roof garden, this serving to intensify the film's climax wherein the murderer plummets from it to certain death. In the 1928 S. S. Van Dine novel, the climactic car chase - one of the most exciting things I've ever read - was probably considered too difficult to film effectively; hence the top of the mansion serving as a similarly-exciting substitute. The sequence, as related by Van Dine, was, in effect, effectively achieved by director John Cromwell's car-chase finale to "The Mighty", a George Bancroft crime opus also made at Paramount in 1929, wherein he, Cromwell, took his mobile camera out into busy Los Angeles streets! An irony is that he had been a successful Broadway director, brought, with others, to Hollywood because they knew how to deal with dialogue, and here he was, refusing to have his motion pictures restricted by "talkie" requirements. "The Greene Murder Case", incidentally, is one of Van Dine's finest murder-mysteries (popular author John Dickson Carr, no less, selected it in the Forties as being one of the very finest of all such fare!); but, unfortunately, moviemakers of the day could not have done cinematic justice to its elaborate, yet brilliantly subtle, writing.

• Ray Cabana, Jr.

...and how far his film persona has traveled since 1928's Forgotten Faces! In the silent era, Powell had played a heavy. But that distinguished sounding voice may not have been what the audience expected, but it was what they wanted once they heard it. So parts arrived for him that matched that distinguished voice.

This film opens with the dysfunctional Greene family going over the terms of the late Mr. Greene's will that says the family must live in the estate for 15 years before anything more than living expenses is awarded to any of the heirs. All share equally, and if any die or decide to live somewhere else, their share is distributed to the others. They are 10 years into the 15 years, so New Year's Eve 1934 gives them all their money and their freedom. And none of them likes the other. Mrs. Tobias Greene is bedridden because she cannot walk. Ada (Jean Arthur) dotes on her, and Ada is always being taunted by Sibella Greene (Florence Eldridge) as an outsider since she is adopted. Sibella has some secret between herself and her mother's doctor.

Then, one by one the members of the Green family begin turning up dead. The police call in Philo Vance to help, and lest the audience think it strange that a civilian is helping in police matters, several references are made to "The Canary Murder Case" in which Vance solved the crime. Vance keeps emphasizing that these things usually boil down to psychology, and that is his focus throughout the film - the psychology of the members of the Greene family, both the dead and the living. Did I mention that the servants share some in the will too and there are some very strange household servants? Eugene Palette plays Sgt. Ernest Heath of the police, and does the most interfacing with Vance. Paramount paired Powell and Palette quite a bit in the early years of sound and their contrast seemed to be very synergistic, both of them with trademark voices of a very different kind from one another.

I'll let you watch and see how this all turns out. There are quite a few surprises in the plot. I'd recommend it.

This film begins with an old and extremely ill widow by the name of "Mrs. Tobias Greene" (Gertrude Norman) lying in bed waiting for the family lawyer to discuss her late husband's will with the rest of the family. As it so happens, none of the adult children like one another and, as a result, whenever they get together there is quite a bit of acrimony amongst them. This is especially true with an adopted daughter by the name of "Ada Greene" (Jean Arthur) being especially disliked by both Mrs. Tobias Greene and her biological daughter "Sibella Greene" (Florence Eldridge). Further contributing to this mutual disdain among each of them is the fact that the will specifies that all of the money will be divided equally among all five members of the family. Things change, however, when on the very night they all meet at the family mansion, one of the adult sons named "Chester Greene" (Lowell Drew) is shot and killed in what everybody believes to be a botched burglary attempt. Everyone, that is, except for the detective in charge of the case by the name of "Philo Vance" (William Powell) who suspects that one of the members of the family is involved--and his suspicions increase as the death count within the family rises. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this turned out to be an okay mystery film which benefited by several twists and turns along the way. Admittedly, there were a couple of scenes which were a bit too unrealistic, but even so the film managed to pass the time fairly well and I have rated it accordingly. Average.