A Comédia de um Crime

Everyone dislikes this picture. Especially George Burns, who had the good sense not to appear in it. (His part was re-written to accommodate Kent Taylor). Gracie, of course, was stuck. Her good friend, S.S. Van Dine, had written the novel just for her. So who else could play the title role? ZaSu Pitts? Billie Burke? Perhaps Alice Brady might have given it a twirl had she not gone all serious in In Old Chicago.

Well, actually, on approaching the movie a second time, I found it not so bad after all. Not riotously funny, mind, but tolerably entertaining at worst and quite enjoyable at best. The climax is even reasonably suspenseful.

Production values generally come well up to the mark. The support cast is great. Warren William (who played Vance in 1934's Dragon Murder Case) makes a delightful straight man, Ellen Drew impresses as the heroine, H.B. Warner has a grand time as the lawyer, and it's hard to ignore Jerome Cowan as the slimy Mirche.

Aside from its over-extended, hands-on fade-out, Green's direction has enough pace to overcome most of Gracie's flat-footed business and dialogue. And although we are blinded by an outpouring of light every time the camera focuses on the said Miss Allen, photographer Charles Lang does manage more than a few pleasingly atmospheric effects.

If you are interested in the arc of development of the mystery gene, follow the Philo Vance series.

When they started, they were complex puzzles, incredibly complex and imaginative. They had a hard time conveying elements of the mystery cinematically (instead of by exposition), but they tried and sometimes succeeded. They were important and sometimes entertaining as well.

But when a narrative form is mature, it starts to die, the tension to evolve being exhausted. Then what usually happens is that some comic layer is applied, humor being our storehouse of packaged tension.

Here we have Philo Vance essentially at the end, with the bare skeleton of a mystery, serving as a rack for Gracie's dumb comedy act. If you don't know Gracie, it really is the comedy of stupidity. She gets everything wrong. We are supposed to laugh both at the character, who unconvincingly pretends to be pretty and therefore dumb. Thankfully, sex isn't part of the formula.

Its a character that actually worked when with husband George because he was so amazingly patient and loving, the humor was in the apparent normalcy of her. Here, she's abnormal. The actual jokes are all verbal humor and have some power outside of the character. Its a comic tradition we seem to have lost because it depends on people actually listening to words and having some sense what is correct. The Marx brothers used this as well. No one does today, but there is something similar in spoof movies which misquote movie "language."

The mystery involves poisoned vapors.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

This film's been getting trashed pretty hard, which is a shame because it's actually a lot of fun and Gracie Allen shines in it. OK, so it's not the most complicated mystery, but it does have some suspenseful moments, especially the climax which gives new meaning to cigarettes being hazardous to your health. The film's real charms come from Gracie Allen, whose scatterbrained antics generate a lot of laughs. Warren William is also perfect reprising his role of Philo Vance (Fido, to Gracie) and hilariously playing straight man to Mrs. George Burns.

I'd advise anyone who panned this film to give it another chance. You may be surprised.

This black and white film with Gracie Allen is very funny.

She is on a picnic and meets a man named Bill who later is accused of killing a convict just let out of jail.

She sings and has a really beautiful voice when she is not adding confusion to her singing. The film is just full of comedy mostly by her. She has the ability to talk funny and confuse people with her babble like on the George Burns and Gracie Allen Show.

She tries to help Bill by going into an apartment that might have clues to the man that was murdered. This apartment scene is so funny. She stumbles, falls, crashes into furniture in the dark mostly out of fear. She gets attached to a piece of furniture she thinks is a person following her and wrestles it to the ground. She gets tangled in drapes, sees a woman in the mirror and gets scared and does not realize she saw herself but thinks it is another another woman in the dark room. You will gets lots of laughs, some very stupid moments but also very funny.

See the film or download on YouTube --> The Gracie Allen Murder Case 1939 --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=658fHZLgyoQ

Warren William makes the second of his two appearances as S.S. Van Dine's detective Philo Vance in this picture. But actor William and detective Vance both have a lot of trouble making sure people remembered they were in The Gracie Allen Murder Case.

Even without George Burns to pace their routine Gracie Allen does well enough on her own in this film where she seemingly hinders more than she helps William solve the murder of an escaped convict. Seemingly stood up at a society bash Jed Prouty pairs off young Kent Taylor with his niece Gracie. Inadvertently Taylor gives Gracie a clue to the murder that he doesn't yet know about but of whom he is neatly being slipped into a nice frame.

Of course Gracie's non sequitur babbling almost lands Taylor in Sing Sing's prize chair and then she almost implicates Vance in her own special la-de-da way.

Although William seems to be taking this all in stride he's barely keeping up with Gracie in the title role. Both Donald MacBride as DA Markham and William Demarest as Sergeant Heath both known for their slow burns are given ample provocation by Gracie.

It's Gracie's picture and if you've never seen her before this film will make you a fan even if it's without George Burns.