The Kennel Murder Case (1933)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Michael Curtiz

Writers:

S.S. Van Dine (novel)
Robert Presnell Sr. (adaptation)

Release Date:

November 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery

Tagline:

GREATEST OF ALL THE PHILO VANCE MYSTERIES!

Plot:

Archer Coe has been found dead in his locked bedroom. The cops consider it suicide, but Philo believes otherwise...

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Philo Vance | Sequel | Vase | Kennel Club

Cast

William Powell	...	Philo Vance
Mary Astor	...	Hilda Lake
Eugene Pallette	...	Detective Sgt. Heath
Ralph Morgan	...	Raymond Wrede, Archer's secretary
Robert McWade	...	Dist. Atty. Markham
Robert Barrat	...	Archer Coe
Frank Conroy	...	Brisbane Coe, Archer's brother
Etienne Girardot	...	Dr. Doremus, coroner
James Lee	...	Liang, Archer's cook
Paul Cavanagh	...	Sir Thomas MacDonald (as Paul Cavanaugh)
Arthur Hohl	...	Gamble
Helen Vinson	...	Doris Delafield
Jack La Rue	...	Eduardo Grassi (as Jack LaRue)

Runtime:

73 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Unrated | Canada:PG (Ontario) | USA:Approved | Spain:13

Company:

Vitaphone Corporation, The

Trivia:

William Powell's last appearance as Philo Vance.

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: About twelve minutes into the film, you can see the boom mic reflected in a mirror in Miss Delafield's apartment.

Quotes:

[while posing Doris with her champion dog and his numerous awards, the photographer hikes the lady's skirt to show her shapely legs]
Photographer at Dog Show: There! That's great!
[Doris rearranges her skirt to cover her legs]
Doris Delafield: Sorry, boys, but these are not trophies.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in La très très grande entreprise (2008)

A generic piece of vintage Warners

A film that is so much a 30's Warners film in an era when each studio had a particular look and style to their output, unlike today where simply getting audiences is the object.

Curitz was one of the quintessential Warners house directors working with tight economy and great efficiency whilst creating quality, working methods that were very much the requirements of a director at Warners, a studio that was one of the "big five" majors in this era producing quality films for their large chains of theatres.

Even though we have a setting of the upper classes on Long Island there is the generic Warners style embedded here with a narrative that could have been "torn from the headlines". Another example is the when the photographers comment on the girls legs early in the film and she comments that "They're not the trophies" gives the film a more working mans, down to earth feel, for these were the audiences that Warners were targeting in the great depression. (ironically Columbia and Universal were the two minors under these five majors until the 50's when their involvement in television changed their fortunes - they would have made something like this very cheaply and without the polish and great talent) Curtiz has created from an excellent script a film that moves along at a rapid pace whilst keeping the viewer with great camera angles and swift editing.

Thank heavens there is no soppy love interest sub-plot so the fun can just keep rolling along.