Philo Vance Returns

It's an okay Vance programmer at a time when crime films would soon turn to noir. So who's knocking off all the good-looking babes. There were so many I couldn't keep them straight-- such a pickle. Then too, I kept yelling at them to stay away from the lipstick cause it ain't Revlon. Seems handsome rover Blendon keeps marrying them one after another, using his big inheritance as inducement. But now they're headed for the morgue in mysterious fashion. So, in good detective tradition, it's up to Vance and his comic Russkie helper Alexis to figure things out. Good thing the guys don't use lip brightener.

Journeyman director Beaudine films in straightforward fashion, few close-ups, little moody lighting. The guessing game itself is pretty good as the suspects keep accumulating then dying off. However, I do wish ditzy Alexis had more scenes with Choo-Choo Divine, such a great name. Then too, she's played by that great movie floozie Iris Adrian. In my little book, their one goofy scene's the movie's highlight.

All in all, the flick's an entertaining time-passer, with one of the best distaff casts since the Miss America Pageant.

This Philo Vance film was shot over at PRC studios on Poverty Row and has Alan Curtis as the urbane detective who gets a call from his old friend mucho married Damian O'Flynn about to take the marriage plunge again. His current fiance is murdered. By the time Curtis arrives on the scene O'Flynn has also been murdered.

This guy wrote a will where he was asking for it. He makes generous bequests to all the ex-wives and even to Iris Adrian, a fan dancer he almost married. And if they die the survivors get a bigger share.

So the bodies start dropping and it's poison cleverly administered. In fact finding the how inevitably leads to who.

This might have rated better at a major studio which had previously doing the Philo Vance films. And the murderer is very obvious.

Playboy Larry Blendon (Damian O'Flynn) introduces his grandmother Stella Blendon (Clara Blandick) to his fiancée, radio singer Virginia Berneaux (Ramsay Ames). Despite Larry's record of broken romances and divorces, Virginia decides she will marry him.

However, Virginia is shot that night by a hidden shooter and a distraught Blandon telephones his friend Philo Vance (William Wright) to help find the killer. Even as they talk over the phone, the killer strikes again and Philo hears a gunshot and Larry falling dead.

The budget might be much lower and there's no William Powell playing Philo Vance, but nevertheless this a fun mystery with a good idea of a husband's ex-wives/ a future wife getting bumped off, all because of an inheritance Will he drew up - William Wright's Philo Vance isn't debonair or detective-like as Powell; he's more like a tough talking PI and he does well. His Russian sidekick adds a comic touch. It's fast-paced, engaging and fun.

Larry takes his newly-betrothed girlfriend home to meet his granny. Granny is a sweet old dear who sleeps in a darkened room, waiting for her grandson to return. She shows Larry's latest a rogue's gallery, as she puts it, of Larry's past wives and girlfriends hanging on the wall. All of them stand to gain from Larry's will and their share goes up as others drop out. Larry's latest is shot dead and while Larry is phoning Philo Vance, he too is killed. I enjoyed the humor in this and it has to be my favorite story of the three PRC Philo Vance mysteries. The killing method is pretty clever and the body count is rapid. Iris Adrian is great as one of Larry's ex-wives. She is a fan-dancer calling herself Choo-Choo Divine onstage. Her testing out lipstick scene is very funny. Also I like Clara Blandick as granny. Clara was the Auntie Em of Wizard of Oz fame.

"Philo Vance Returns" is one of three Vance mysteries made by PRC, an ultra-cheapo production company specializing in mostly craptastic B-movies. Occasionally, they accidentally made a decent film...and this happens to be one of them. So, despite the horrid production company and mostly unknown actors, it manages to entertain and is worth seeing.

Larry is an idiot. He's been married many times and was engaged several times as well. Soon after introducing his latest fiancee to his grandmother, the young lady is killed. Soon, Larry is also killed...and one by one his exs all start getting killed as well! Fortunately, Philo Vance is on hand to investigate...though he isn't quick enough to stop many of the murders.

The film's biggest asset is that the murderer is an interesting choice but there also are enough red herrings and twists to keep you watching. Worth seeing...though I have no idea if PRC's other Vance films are worth your time or not.