The Benson Murder Case

The third Philo Vance movie starring William Powell. It's adapted from the first Vance novel, itself based on the real life "locked room" murder of famous bridge player Joseph Bowne Elwell. The mystery here has a neat resolution. Powell is always aces and he has fun support from Eugene Pallette. Paul Lukas gives a nervous turn that gets a little grating. Lukas would later play Vance himself. The only real downsides are the usual complaint about early talkies, namely the pacing and that they have a lot of stiff joints. I'm an avid fan of classic films so it doesn't bother me much. But your mileage may vary.

Philo Vance (William Powell) is back for a third time solving murders of his choosing. This time he had to be involved because the murder occurred while he was present at the scene of the crime.

The victim, Tony Benson (Richard Tucker), was a broker who owned a brokerage firm. When the stock market crashed in 1929 he had to "sell out" many of his clients. Undoubtedly, after such a huge crash, many people would be furious with their stock brokers. In other words, many people had a motive to kill Tony. In this case, only a handful of people with motives had the second element of a murder: opportunity.

At Tony Benson's property, uninvited, were Fanny Del Roy (Natalie Moorhead), Mrs. Paula Banning (May Beatty), Adolph Mohler (Paul Lukas), and Albert Brecker (Mischa Auer). The only one there by invitation was Harry Gray (William 'Stage' Boyd). Dropping by also were District Attorney Markham (E. H. Calvert) and Philo Vance.

Fanny wanted a pearl case in Tony's possession. Adolph had to settle a debt with Benson. Paula was chasing down her husband Adolph, trying her best to keep him though she was now broke. And Adolph Brecker came by to bring a bag to Harry Gray.

Tony Benson was murdered in a full house. A shot was heard then he toppled downstairs. Downstairs at the time were Philo Vance, Harry Gray, and Markham. So, then, who was the murderer?

"The Benson Murder Case" was a bit more elaborate than I would've liked. All good murder mysteries have a little bit of misdirection and multiple suspects. "The Benson Murder Case" was no different, it's just that once we found our answer and how it was done, I wasn't too enthused.

Still, I like William Powell as a part time detective rather than a "Ladies Man" and "Man of the World."

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1930's "The Benson Murder Case" marked William Powell's third outing as debonair Philo Vance, following "The Canary Murder Case" and "The Greene Murder Case," with E. H. Calvert's District Attorney Markham, and Eugene Palette's Sgt. Ernest Heath also returning. The target for murder is ruthless stockbroker Anthony Benson (Richard Tucker), and it's certainly a happy coincidence that all of his jilted victims conveniently turn up in time for that fatal shot, his lifeless body tumbling down the steps. This time Vance is already present, challenged to solve this case by Harry Gray (William 'Stage' Boyd), who believes that no truly clever murderer would ever be caught by Vance. The paucity of suspects reduce the story from a 'whodunit' to a 'howdunit,' with future Philo Vance Paul Lukas and his Hungarian accent particularly difficult to decipher, playing a spineless, charisma-free gigolo. It's nice to find Powell's future "Thin Man" co-star (as Julia Wolf) Natalie Moorhead, playing a distinctively pre-code independent woman. Palette is again a delight, and Powell himself has even more to do than before, his meticulous recreation of the crime finally wearing down his devious foe. This was Paramount's final Philo Vance feature, following the release of MGM's "The Bishop Murder Case," which headlined another former villain, Basil Rathbone, in the title role. It would be three years before Vance would return to the screen, played for a fourth and last time by Powell, again joined (this time at Warners) by Eugene Palette, with Robert McWade playing Markham.

This is a fast-paced, standard mystery from the Philo Vance catalog. I just picked up the first three with William Powell and this was probably just slightly the best of that original trio. 'The Canary Murder Case was mostly of interest due to the presence of Louise Brooks, who was so poorly dubbed, one can only treasure some nice shots of her beautiful face. The Greene Murder Case was nearly as static, but had more atmosphere than Canary or even this one. The problem with those two more than their innate stiffness, is that the mysteries are so poor and immediately predictable that they may be the worst mysteries I have seen from early Hollywood.

The Benson Murder Case has similar faults, but by 1930 the sound technology had improved enough that it moves much better than the previous two. The mystery is more of a challenge for Philo Vance and he proves that he is not only up to the challenge, but he hammers it all home in a satisfying finale. Frank Tuttle, a veteran of the previous two, directed this one and does a competent, but unremarkable job. It has less atmosphere than Greene, but thankfully is a more interesting mystery. Also, Distict Attorney Markham is strangely very angry for most of this film. Eugene Palette is his usual, boisterous self as Sergeant Heath.

Paramount stopped making Vance movies after this one, but had prepared S.S. Van Dine's "The Scarab Murder Case" for William Powell. They even created an advance poster for this film that was sadly not made. Had Powell not made another Vance film after this, his legacy as a great screen detective would remain intact, but he came back one more time to play Vance in Warner's The Kennel Murder Case in 1933, which would easily trump all his previous efforts, and ultimately be the best Philo Vance film. But, if you crave William Powell as a screen detective, add this rarity to your list - It's a solid, workman-like picture, lacking in style, but ample in entertainment for the classic mystery fan.

A ruthless, crooked stockbroker Tony Benson (Richard Tucker) to "sell out" many of his clients after the stock market crashed in 1929 is murdered at his luxurious country estate, and detective Philo Vance just happens to be there, and murder takes place virtually in front of Philo Vance's eyes which, for all intents and purposes, should mean that even Sergeant Heath could solve it and Philo can go back home.

But that's far from the case as neither can Philo Vance figure out the mystery for a long period of time. But he has a fair share of suspects: Fanny Del Roy (Natalie Moorhead), Mrs. Paula Banning (May Beatty), Adolph Mohler (Paul Lukas), and Albert Brecker (Mischa Auer), and Harry Gray (William 'Stage' Boyd). They all had motives to do away with the stockbroker.

The Benson Murder Case is a rather standard mystery story and a little stilted at times, but still enjoyable, mainly due to William Powell as Philo Vance - how the murder was done was ingenious, though a little farfetched. I think Kennel Murder Case is a better Philo Vance entry, but this is watchable enough.