The Kennel Murder Case

One of the better Vance films succeeds more on interesting plot and artful direction by none other than Michael Curtiz. This time around a generally hated financier is found dead - shot in the head - in his locked and bolted bedroom on the upper floor. Philo Vance, hearing of the situation while about to set off for Italy, decides to end his vacation and try to solve what he thinks is a murder and what everyone else is considering a suicide. William Powell is as affable a Philo Vance as you will find. He never seems to press and is always very smooth in what he says and does. Powell is aided by a host of very talented actors - some first-rate character actors and actresses like Mary Astor as a niece that hated her uncle, Ralph Morgan as the dead man's secretary, Paul Cavanaugh as a rival dog fancier, Arthur Hohl as a mysterious butler, Helen Vinson as the next door kept blonde, and two really good performances by James Lee as the Chinese cook and portly Eugene Palette as a wise-cracking police detective. Add into the mix a wonderfully comedic turn by Etienne Girardot as a public coroner always missing his meal. It is this depth of suspects and a story that has many plots twists and turns that make The Kennel Murder Case a fast-moving, fun mystery.

The Kennel Murder Case (1933)

A precursor to the Thin Man series, starring William Powell as a detective (but without the very supplementary Myrna Loy). And this is directed by none other than Michael Curtiz ("Casablanca" and "Mildred Pierce"), and you can often tell, scenes characteristically complex with lots of people and foreground/background. As a whole the movie races along, to the point that the huge cast (all introduced with visual vignettes at the start) is confusing. But hang in there. because a third of the way through Powell kicks in full time.

There are few actors like William Powell in the history of American film. He is peculiar in charming ways, and makes no bones about it. He lacks any sense of what we might think of as cool or hardness--there's no Bogart in him, no Cary Grant of course, nothing but what a character actor might have. And he made it a virtue, visible even here. The rest of the cast is good or very good, with a few other recognizable faces, and it gels increasingly as you go until a series of dramatic whodunnit style conclusions wraps it all up.

Powell's detective, Philo Vance, was a snobby socialite, and the plots have a quality of private detective vs. police (which gets used in a lot of these kinds of series, of course). There are four movies with Powell playing the part (and many others with other actors in the role. This is the fourth, and best of them, the first going back to the dawn of sound, 1929. It's not as slick or warm (or sophisticated) as "The Thin Man" series, which is a high water mark of the effete detective, but it's terrific in its own way, and really well constructed. I'd not miss it.

Suicide or Murder? When the much hated Archer Coe turns up dead and is believed to be a suicide, Philo Vance and Detective Heath steps into the scene to find out why a rich man would consider suicide as an option. Things become a bit stranger when Archer Coe's brother, Brisbane, turns up dead in a closet. Vance and Heath enlist the help of poor Dr. Doremus who never seems to get a chance to eat while this investigation is going on. It must be murder - but who and why?!

A film I really enjoyed watching! It's a mystery film that is peppered quite a bit with comedy. Detective Heath is the funniest - and has an outstanding speaking voice! Dr. Doremus is very funny as well! Two of my favorite characters in the entire film.

8.5/10

In the 1920s and 1930s Philo Vance became a household name with publication of the wildly popular S.S. Van Dine (alias for Willard Huntington Wright) novels featuring the patrician amateur detective.

Though Kennel is one of the better Philo Vance novels, this adaptation of the eponymous book represents the rare case where a film is better than the original story (which would not film well if precisely represented on screen because of (1) the psychological issues which would be hard to depict, and (2) the novel's culminating violent scene, which the film modifies).

The genius in taking one of the lesser of the canonical Philo Vance novels and making it into a classic is, of course, Michael Curtiz's direction; Curtiz being an exceptionally talented director who has, perhaps, the misfortune of being eclipsed by the fame of his films (e.g., Casablanca, Mildred Pierce, and The Adventures of Robin Hood) because of lack of a distinctive style.

This film is also a successful example of an early talkie: the sound is fairly good except in some scenes where the boom is obviously too far away, and in one shot (between Robert Barrat and Helen Vinson) we actually see the microphone! Some of the actors are clearly still making the silent-to-sound transition, but the performances are uniformly good. The key scene stealer is Etienne Giradot, who plays the Coroner, Dr. Doremus. Indeed, his performance is so endearing he reprised the role in other Philo Vance films.

While it becomes fairly easy to guess the culprit, the film doesn't suffer for this because of the excellent direction, good sets and wardrobe (check out Mary Astor's chic outfits!), and fine performances. (Though primarily loved for his work as Nick Charles in the Thin Man films, William Powell gives one of the best (and most subtle) performances of his career in Kennel.) Besides its status as a Hollywood classic, Kennel is an outstanding example of successful story adaptation and early sound film-making. (One can also see some noir hints later fulfilled in Curtiz's Mildred Pierce.) Highly recommended.

The first thing I liked about this mystery movie is that the early minutes of it are packed tightly with lots of storyline. And this is a somewhat complex story, particularly for a time (1933) when such movies tended to be rather light. Pay attention here or be lost! It's also nice to have a different setting...a kennel club (at least early on in the film)! Novel! Philo Vance (played wonderfully by William Powell) isn't as smooth and sophisticated as Nick Charles, and there's not the witty banter between man and wife you find in the Thin Man series, but this is a good character. And, you'll see lots of character actors you'll recognize (although probably not by name). Of particular note is the gravel-voiced Eugene Palette (and if you want to read an interesting bio, Google him). Also look for Ralph Morgan, lesser-known brother of actor Frank Morgan; you'll see the resemblance.

I won't recount the plot. It's almost too complex to do so, but I'll just repeat that this is a sophisticated mystery for 1933! Recommended!