The Casino Murder Case (1935)

A Masterpiece!

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

One of many films with Philo Vance as the protagonist but the only one with Paul Lukas as the famed detective. He isn't a perfect fit as Vance but does a good job nonetheless. The real reason to catch this is to get a glimpse of Rosalind Russell early in her career. At this point she was starting to get mired in, as she referred to them, "Lady Mary" roles all dignity, stiff upper lip and little humor. This part hints at the skillful comedienne she was to become. This was only her fifth film but the first where her name appeared above the title a clear sign that the studio had bigger plans for her than to be a leading lady in B pictures. As for the mystery it's not terribly hard to figure out but it's stylishly shot with a good supporting cast.

Minor Spoiler contained.In the mid-1960's, as part of my misspent youth, I read all the Philo Vance novels by a guy named Wright under the nom-de-plume of S. S. Van Dine. For some unaccountable reason, some of his books became "best sellers" and made the author a fortune. Even the Book of the Month Club honored some books as "selections." The first book THE BENSON MURDER CASE was never filmed under that title, but then several books in succession found their way into cinema history. The last book THE WINTER MURDER CASE was unfinished at the time of Wright's death. There was a progression in quality as you read the books and as you see the movies adapted from them. The earlier books are the best, so too the movies based on them. The muse seems to have left Wright as time ran on, and the quality of the mysteries devolved into the blood and thunder genre. The absolute joke of the series was THE GRACIE ALLEN MURDER CASE with the real life Gracie Allen as a character leading "Fido" (played by Warren William) around by the nose. Anyway, this film under review with Paul Lukas and Roz Russell is more in the THIN MAN vein, as opposed to the more respectable THE KENNEL MURDER CASE. Many reviewers here have talked about Lukas and his European accent (the Vance of the novels was a pure WASP, but even more intelligent, educated and insufferably arrogant than can be imagined -- a true wish fulfillment figure for the author), and others have commented on the absurdity of the plot where the murderer turns out to be a raving lunatic. But instead of repeating what has already been noted, I want to single out Eric Blore who plays "Currie" -- Vance's man servant. Blore is one of those little noticed supporting players who took up only a few minutes in every film he was in, but still managed to make an impression. I noticed him in a few Astaire/Rogers films, especially the one in which he talks to Alice Brady about crumpets. He saves the day with his revelation at the end of THE GAY DIVORCE. Here, he plays a servant who adumbrates Bruce Kwok in the Peter Sellers' "Clouseau" movies with his skill in fighting his master with swords and then with boxing gloves. Can't recommend the film as a mystery; but as a time server with seeing Russell (not looking all that glamorous, admittedly) before her step up the movie ladder, it may be worth the while.

Leave it to MGM to make an "A" production out of a genre that most other studios at the time treated as "B" stuff. A complicated mystery that keeps you in the dark but plays fair with the attentive viewer, an above-average cast (Isabel Jewell is especially memorable), and some clever jabs at the "long-winded" speech patterns of Vance himself make this one of the best films featuring this fictional detective that I've seen. It's true that Paul Lukas' rather heavy foreign accent makes him an odd choice for the role of Philo Vance, but his performance is otherwise quite good, and combined with the film's other strengths, that's enough to overcome this particular handicap. *** out of 4.

Something new and a bit jarring was added to the Philo Vance series, a Philo Vance with an accent. In his one and only time playing S.S. Van Dine's fictional detective Paul Lukas plays a continental Philo, as charming as ever with a mind like a steel trap. Not quite William Powell or Warren William the best of the Vances.The reason why so many actors played Vance is that the estate of S.S. Van Dine sold the novels one at a time to various studios. Paramount, Warner Brothers, MGM, and last the B picture studio PRC all filmed various Vance stores of varying quality.Lukas gets himself involved with the Llewellyn family when he receives a note saying that Donald Cook will be killed at his uncle's casino that night. In fact he is poisoned, but survived. The same cannot be said for some other family members and friends. It takes a while, but Vance has to work through a maze of false clues before solving this one.One of the near victims is Rosalind Russell who said that this B film marked the first time she was given star billing in a film. She wasn't particularly fond of The Casino Murder Case, but in fact it did lead to better parts for her.Some of the others in the cast are Ted Healy as the garrulous Sergeant Heath, Louise Fazenda as a nosy maid, Isabell Jewell as an alcoholic daughter, Allison Skipworth as the family matriarch, Arthur Byron as the casino owner and Skipworth's brother, Leo G. Carroll as the butler, and Eric Blore as Lukas's valet. We see too little of him in The Casino Murder Case. The cast all perform as typed.Charles Sellon plays the Medical Examiner Dr. Doremus. He's a particularly important character in this film. It's all in the how here.