The Benson Murder Case

Stockbroker Richard Tucker is the victim in The Benson Murder Case. In 1930 a lot of people would like to have murdered their stockbrokers. But in the Great Depression, Tucker is living high on the hog even after the Stock Market Crash.

The Benson Murder Case is not a whodunit as much as it plays like a Columbo mystery. In this film, the perpetrator is practically daring William Powell to solve this one correctly. But you do really enjoy the film when Powell actually does.

The film is a typical closed ring of suspects murder mystery as many people who would dearly like to have seen Tucker done in for calling in their stock margins before they were given a chance to make good. They all show up at Tucker's Westchester county estate, but unfortunately the District Attorney E.H. Calvert has the place next door and he's invited Philo Vance for the weekend.

The Benson Murder Case keeps up the high standard of Vance film that Powell did. S.S. Van Dine and later his estate sold the various Vance novels to many studios one at a time which is why there were so many Philo Vances out there. Powell's next Vance film would be for Warner Brothers while he had a brief sojourn there before moving to MGM and The Thin Man.

The Benson Murder Case was the last Philo Vance film that Powell did for Paramount and it was a good one.

The Benson Murder Case is the best of the three Philo Vance movies that Powell made at Paramount. That was partly because of advances in sound technology and partly because this script is more complex and the characters are more fleshed out.

Anthony Benson is a stock broker - and he does not seem to be a crooked one as the synopsis states, though he is a bit of a rogue. The day is that of the great stock market crash, October 1929. As so many brokers did, those investors that had their stocks bought on margin were sold out when they could not cover those margins, and many lost everything.

Add to this the complication of several people who have personal grudges against Benson that have nothing to do with the crash - two of which break into Benson's mansion that night - and you have a large number of suspects and a rather complex plot. Philo Vance (William Powell) comes calling on Benson that night and is having a discussion with dapper gangster Harry Gray (William Stage Boyd) about how Vance has only been able to solve the murders he has because the perpetrators were not professionals. At just about that time a shot rings out and Benson - minus the toupee he always wore if he was in the presence of anyone - rolls down the stairs, dead at Vance's feet.

So here Vance has a house full of people who are glad to see Benson dead, yet they all seem to have alibis, and you have some proof (the missing toupee) that Benson must have been alone when he died, yet he did not commit suicide! What a mystery Vance must unravel, but he does.

This one will keep you guessing as it is not quite so easy to figure out as the others. Also, there are a couple of other mysteries that Vance figures out but keeps mum about because they have nothing to do with the murder and because he is such a gentleman.

I'd say watch this one, but watch it carefully, because there is quite a bit going on. Thus the plot is good and it is another fine chance for William Powell and Eugene Palette, as Vance's police detective friend, to show off their acting abilities.

Being an avid William Powell and Philo Vance devotee, I was pleased to find that all four of Powell's forays as the effete detective are available on DVD. But beware if you are not a fan of either of the above or of early sound films since you might find this a little too static for your tastes. If you are a fan, then read on.

Powell made four Vance films which got better as they progressed. This one, made in 1930, is still a bit on the stagy side although the acting was improving as the players were becoming more adept at "talkies". It's basically a one set film, taking place in a hunting lodge where a murder takes place and all the suspects are gathered. Powell, as usual, is very debonair and unruffled and Eugene Palette returns in the role of Sergeant Heath. I miss Eteinne Girardot, who played Dr. Doremus, in the later "Kennel Murder Case". He added humor to the story which was less heavy-handed than that of Palette. Watch for Mischa Auer, a mainstay of films in the 30s and 40s, as the butler.

Since this was before the Code, Natalie Moorehead doesn't make a secret of her "profession" but is let off easy in the end by a sympathetic Vance.

This film makes a good addition to the William Powell/Philo Vance series and is certainly worth the watch for the fan. I will not comment on any Vance films made without Powell (except those with Basil Rathbone) as they are not worthy of comment.

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.

"The Benson Murder Case" would have been another unexceptional, run-of-the-mill murder film. Worth watching but largely stagebound and with a primitive sound system (the players' voices fade in and out as they get closer or further from the mike). The deus-ex-machina is outrageously contrived to the point of unfairness, like some of Agatha Christies' stories. It starts off on a dark and stormy night, all suspects at the country estate of a hated stock broker, and, guess what? He gets bumped off. So far, pretty routine.

Enter William Powell as Philo Vance and the picture immediately goes from a rating of 4 up to a 6. Dapper and sophisticated and with his inimitable off-handed cocksuredness, Powell rescues the film just by coming in the front door. This was his milieu and in these circumstances he was the best ever.

Also on hand is Eugene Palette as the dense Police Lieutenant. and Richard Tucker as the corpse-to-be. Mischa Auer appears as a suspicious manservant and Paul Lukas as a mendacious gigolo. If it comes on it is worth a watch as a whodunit (you won't guess) and as a very early example of a new sound film.