The Garden Murder Case

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.

S.S. Van Dine must have been a shrewd businessman in dealing with Hollywood. Most of the film series' from the studio days were usually confined to one or two studios. But apparently Van Dine must have sold his rights to each book about Philo Vance one at a time. Note that Paramount, MGM, Warner Brothers, and more all released Philo Vance films. Only Tarzan seemed to get around Hollywood more.

MGM produced the Garden Murder Case and starred Edmund Lowe as the fashionable detective. Of course MGM had the screen's original Philo under contract at the time, but Bill Powell was busy doing The Thin Man at the time and I guess Louis B. Mayer decided to concentrate him there.

Edmund Lowe is a pretty acceptable Philo Vance. Lowe had started out pretty big at the tail end of the silent era with What Price Glory and then with a string of films with Victor McLaglen with their Flagg and Quirt characters. But after McLaglen got his Oscar for The Informer, Lowe seemed to fade into the B picture market.

The Garden Murder Case involves three separate victims, Douglas Walton, Gene Lockhart, and Frieda Inescourt. The sinister atmosphere around the perpetrator kind of gives it away, the mystery is really how all the killings are connected and how they are accomplished.

I will say this though. Vance takes a very big chance in exposing the villain and the last 15 minutes are worthy of Hitchcock.

Of the ten actors who portrayed Philo Vance in the series, Edmund Lowe seemed the most personable, but in this script the audience is way ahead of the famed detective. After all, when the jockey, Douglas Walton, stares blankly in space, obviously hypnotized, and says something like "I must ride and be killed," I felt it was dumb that no one picked up on it after he does get killed. The police thought it was a suicide because he said he would do it! After hated horse owner Gene Lockhart gets shot and killed, Frieda Inescort does the same thing, saying she's going out to be killed, and then fatally jumps off a bus. I laughed when Lowe finally yells "I got it," as though it were a revelation. The guilty party, however, was cleverly concealed and there was considerable suspense generated when that party starts to hypnotize Lowe to get him to jump off a roof.

Philo Vance is back with a new face and minus that thick accent he had in the last film (ha!). This time Vance is investigating strange suicides. The best part of the movie is the return of Etienne Girardot as coroner Dr. Doremus. This wonderful actor steals every scene he's in. He was previously in two Philo Vance films in a row, The Kennel Murder Case and The Dragon Murder Case. But then he was noticeably absent in The Casino Murder Case. His part was played by a dull actor with no flair for comedy. This marks his return to the role but sadly is also the last time he'll play it. By coincidence or not, the three Vance films Girardot are in also happen to be the best three of the series.

The rest of the cast is solid. Edmund Lowe is not as well-known as William Powell or even Warren William, but he's charming and good with comedy. If you get a chance to see it, check out the underrated gem Espionage (1937) that he stars in. He's wonderful in that. The supporting cast here is pretty impressive. Great character actors Nat Pendleton, Gene Lockhart, H.B. Warner, Jessie Ralph, Henry B. Walthall, and Grant Mitchell -- nice lineup. Also beauties Virginia Bruce, Frieda Inescort, and Benita Hume, who would go on to be Mrs. Ronald Colman and then Mrs. George Sanders! This also happens to be the film debut of Kent Smith, leading man of the Cat People movies. This is a good B detective flick with a short runtime and quick pace. It's not the best of the series but it's up there. It's a shame Lowe didn't play Vance anymore. The series badly needed a steady actor in the role.

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.