The Spanish Cape Mystery

1935's The Spanish Cape Mystery is an Ellery Queen story starring Donald Cook as Ellery and Helen Twelvetrees. Now, that's a name out of the past! She stopped working in 1939.

Ellery Queen goes on vacation to California with one Judge Macklin. They stay at a rented cabin, and before they know it, they are engulfed in murder and mystery. It all involves the Godfrey family who live on the Spanish Cape in a fabulous showplace.

Ellery, smitten with Stella (Twelvetrees) tries to stay out of it, but too many murders, and the police detective arresting a new person every day, means he must step in.

I have seen Ralph Bellamy do Ellery, and he's a warmer actor, more sarcastic, and more interesting than Cook, who nevertheless enjoyed a prolific career in film and on stage. Considering this film was probably made in a few days it's not bad. It's a little stagy, and the police detective yells at the top of his lungs through the whole movie, which is annoying.

I enjoyed the opportunity to see Helen Twelvetrees. I found Donald Cook on the bland side, but Ellery is a cerebral detective, and it's easy to see why he wouldn't register much personality.

I did like it, though not as much as some of the other Ellery Queen films.

The Spanish Cape Mystery may be formulaic and clichéd, but that's doesn't mean it's necessarily bad. In fact, I had quite a bit of fun with it. The plot is just what you've come to expect if you've seen a number of these mystery films from the 30s. Ellery Queen goes on vacation (if you're staying next to a detective on vacation, head home) when a series of murders breaks out nearby. One odd aspect of the murders is that all of the victims were found wearing their swim clothes. Once Queen (finally) starts to investigate, it's not long before a killer is unmasked.

When I say the movie is formulaic and clichéd, it's filled with things we've all seen a thousand times in movies like this: a crotchety old patriarch, a house full of relatives trying to secure their inheritance, a beautiful young daughter for our detective hero to fall for, a bumbling local sheriff who can't seem to get anything right, and suspects galore. But somehow it all works. The movie is nicely paced and at 73 minutes, events unfold quickly. The acting is overall better than I expected. Highlights for me included Helen Twelvetrees (what a revelation) as Queen's love interest, Harry Stubbs who plays a bumbling sheriff as well as anyone I've seen, and Berton Churchill as Queen's judge friend. In fact, I thought Donald Cook in the main role of Ellery Queen was the weak link. He's too bland. Decent production values for a 30s era B-quickie, nice sets, and some interesting dialogue make this one a fun, late-night film. Overall, a very strong 6/10 from me.

Since a few years already, I've been deliberately delaying my viewing of "The Spanish Cape Mystery". Not because it's old and clearly low-budgeted, but merely due to my own personal wonderment if I needed yet another franchise revolving around an all-knowing, cocky, and despotic detective. After all, there's already Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Mr. Wong, Jules Maigret, Miss Marple, etc. What possible added value could Ellery Queen bring to the table? Short answer: nothing, but it was a surprisingly amusing acquaintance nonetheless!

Much more so than I expected, this little sleuth-tale is compelling, inventive, and fast enough moving to keep you glued to the screen. The super-detective character, Ellery Queen, is clever and deductive, but he's often also called upon his arrogance by the supportive characters, and this never happens to Holmes or Poirot. The denouement of the mystery is fairly easy to predict, but well built up to for a mid-30's movie. Harry Stubbs has a terrific role as the local police Sheriff who goes around accusing random people of the murders without any tangible evidence.

PS: the answer to the riddle in the review's subject line is: twelve. Helen Twelvetrees was an exquisite starlet of cinema in the 1930s. Sadly, though, her career ended rather abruptly at the end of the decade and she passed away at the (too) young age of 49.

Wow, what fun. You might not like this if you think of detective stories as an excuse to parade a colorful detective. The guy in this case is nearly nothing at all. Flat jokes.

But what a cool mystery! Its a mystery in the old sense, where things happen and you know more than the detective does, just enough to be ahead of him. And you can easily figure it out.

A body is found by the beach at night. In wet swimming trunks not his own, wearing a woman's shawl. Its a remote house and there is inheritance involved. Very typical constraints and model of detecting. Very complex events we have to suss out. Why the trunks? Why the shawl? Another murder and trunks follows.

There isn't a character here that you'll remember. But you'll have fun if you like puzzle-stories.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

The first Ellery Queen story to hit the big screen was The Spanish Cape Mystery and it starred Donald Cook as the intellectual crime solver and mystery writer. After solving a jewel theft, Cook decides he needs a vacation and he and Judge Berton Churchill take a cottage on the California coast.

But no sooner do they get there than they get involved with a whole series of murders perpetrated against the Godfrey family who have gathered together. All the possible heirs to a fortune are there as the bodies start dropping.

Cook develops a special interest in the family, especially in regard to Helen Twelvetrees. He also as a nasty antagonistic relationship with the local sheriff Harry Stubbs who finally has come begging for Cook's help.

I have to say that Cook was all right in the part, not as bad as Eddie Quillan the following year. This film and Quillan's were made by Republic Pictures, but when the Ellery Queen series was picked up again it was by Columbia where Ralph Bellamy took over the part. Bellamy was far better in what my conception of Ellery Queen was.

Still this one is all right and competently made.