The Garden Murder Case

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.

EDMUND LOWE (who reminds me somewhat of Warren William), heads the nice cast of an interesting little mystery that moves at a brisk pace and runs just a little over an hour.

Douglas Walton plays the unlucky jockey who appears to be intent on his own demise (hypnotism, anyone?), and the suspects include a good number of the supporting cast--everyone from Virginia Bruce, Kent Smith, Frieda Inescourt, Gene Lockhart, Jessie Ralph, Benita Hume, Rosalind Ivan and H.B. Warner. As an added bonus, there's Nat Pendleton as a dimwit detective--and furthermore, get a load of that art deco set decoration for the fancy interiors of a wealthy home. Must have been a set that was used in many a subsequent film.

On the plus side, the mystery is not so complicated that anyone can follow the plot with reasonable assurance of not being too baffled. It's all suddenly clear to detective Philo Vance--and then he has a final confrontation with the murderer that gives the film a nifty five minutes of unmitigated suspense.

Nicely done and passes the time in an entertaining manner.

When Philo Vance (Edmund Lowe) is standing precariously on the edge of a balcony high above the city, apparently hypnotized and just about to step to his death,it immediately reminded me of a nearly identical scene in another film made nine years later, "The Woman in Green" in which Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone)is similarly about to hurl himself into space while being hypnotized.

Happily, both Philo Vance and Sherlock Holmes survive these attempts at murder by unscrupulous criminals. Exciting cinematic suspense in both these scenes. When will they learn you can't cloud the minds of great fictional detectives ?

While there were not that many filmed Philo Vance mysteries, THE GARDEN MURDER CASE is a standout in the series and, perhaps, a close second to the KENNEL MURDER CASE starring William Powell.

This is an elaborate murder mystery with dapper Edmond Lowe doing the honors as the master detective. The only debit; Lowe did not continue the series, which needed a debonair gent, and he definitely fit the bill. Beautiful Virginia Bruce plays the lady in distress, naturally suspected of murder and the object of Lowe's affection. They make a sleek couple. This screenplay is extremely clever, dealing with hypnotism, and is similar to THE WOMAN IN GREEN, a Sherlock Holmes entry, starring Basil Rathbone (and yes, he too played Philo Vance!). Makes us armchair detectives wonder if the writers at Universal may have "borrowed" a few ideas from this screenplay to keep their famous detective in business? Bertram Millhauser wrote both stories, known for his work with Cecil B. DeMille.

Another interesting footnote, Nat Pendleton was cast as the long arm of the law, quite the same type of role he played in the original THIN MAN. Those casting directors were a smart bunch.

Whatever the case, this fine whodunit will keep your attention through and through, campy at times, and guessing the murderer is worth the wait.

Virginia Bruce would next co-star in THE GREAT ZIEGFELD.

Always on dvd and thanks to TCM for running this golden oldie.

Edmund Lowe plays Philo Vance(making him now the fifth actor after William Powell, Basil Rathbone, Warren William, and Paul Lukas)to assay the role of the urbane detective. His characterization is okay but he doesn't really seem to have the wit of most of his previous precursors. The mystery here too is somewhat thin and when added with Lowe comes out a bit weak. This time around a jockey gets killed after saying he must go out and ride and be killed as does a woman getting on a bus. Vance makes friends with a young woman who hates her rich uncle(the sparring between Lockhart and Bruce might just be the best part of this film). Vance meets a strange nurse and H. B. Warner affecting a British accent trying to make sense out of the third murder - that of Lockhart. The film is loaded with some great character actors like H. B. Warner, Henry Walthall, and Gene Lockhart to help make things go smoothly yet the film meanders here and there, and some scenes just look incredibly cheesy as the bus scene does. The ending with Vance confronting the killer was convincing though. The female lead and future Vance bed-mate is played by Virginia Bruce and she does a nice turn with a somewhat complicated role. This Vance is an acceptable mystery but a definite notch below those that came before it.