The Kennel Murder Case

Movie Information

The Story: Private — actually dilettante — detective Philo Vance sets out to prove that a suicide was actually a murder and to trap the killer. The Lowdown: The ultimate in classic detective movies from the age of the puzzle plot mystery, The Kennel Murder Case is also wildly inventive entertainment with the great William Powell in his best performance as sleuth Philo Vance.
Score:

Genre: Mystery
Director: Michael Curtiz (Casablanca)
Starring: William Powell, Mary Astor, Eugene Pallette, Ralph Morgan, Robert McWade, Robert Barrat
Rated: NR

The 1920s and 30s were the high point of a certain kind of detective fiction — the puzzle plot mystery (often featuring an “impossible” locked room murder) built around a gentleman detective. These gentleman detectives were invariably wealthy, spent their spare time studying crime and indulging in the arts. They were well-dressed, well-spoken and invariably smarter than the police. No fictional detective fits the concept of the gentleman detective better than S.S. Van Dine’s fictional sleuth Philo Vance. And no one embodied the character onscreen better than — or even as well as — William Powell. It was Powell who kicked off the detective movie exploits with three early talkies at Paramount Pictures — The Canary Murder Case (1929), The Green Murder Case (1930) and The Benson Murder Case — but when Powell left the studio and moved over to Warner Bros., Paramount lost interest. MGM took a shot at Vance with The Bishop Murder Case (1930) in which Basil Rathbone tried the role, but neither Rathbone nor the film was a success. It wouldn’t be until 1933 that Warner Bros. revived the character with William Powell back in the role. In fact, the opening credits read, “William Powell returns as Phil Vance in The Kennel Murder Case.” And it was worth the wait because The Kennel Murder Case is far and away the best of the Philo Vance pictures and perhaps the finest example of this particular kind of mystery ever made.

The film is a vastly enjoyable textbook example of the classic mystery. The Kennel Murder Case has it all. We have the classic setup where one character — in this case, sharp-tongued and just plain mean Archer Coe (Robert Barratt) — manages to give darn near everyone in the cast (including Philo Vance) good reason to murder him. No one crosses his path without being browbeaten, insulted or both. So it’s hardly a big surprise when he’s found dead in his bedroom — but it appears to be a suicide since the room was locked from the inside. And, of course, it would have been accepted as such if Vance hadn’t stepped in and proved that the man was dead before he supposedly shot himself. But what about that locked room? Well, that’s another question for Vance to answer during the course of the film’s very complex plot. OK, so if it wasn’t complex there’d be no need for Philo Vance, would there?

Powell is much more at ease here than he had been in his earlier Vance outings, but then the movies were much more at ease themselves by 1933. The original three films (rarely revived and hard to see today) had been rather stagey affairs. By contrast, The Kennel Murder Case zips along at breakneck speed while the often underrated director, Michael Curtiz, throws every possible trick at the viewer — zoom shots, moving camera, miniature work, point of view shots, clever scene transitions, you name it. It’s a film of both great invention and entertainment value. If you’ve never seen a classic mystery from the “golden age” of the detective movie, this is the place to start.

Plays at 7:30 on Wed., Oct. 24 at Carolina Asheville Cinema 14

SHARE
About Ken Hanke
Head film critic for Mountain Xpress from December 2000 until his death in June 2016. Author of books "Ken Russell's Films," "Charlie Chan at the Movies," "A Critical Guide to Horror Film Series," "Tim Burton: An Unauthorized Biography of the Filmmaker."

Before you comment

The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.

5 thoughts on “The Kennel Murder Case

  1. Jessamyn

    This really is one of the best movies of its type. The scene transitions were so dazzling even I noticed them, and I don’t tend to be particularly clued into that sort of thing. Powell is absolutely at his sparkling, most urbane best, the comic bits are actually funny, and the whole thing jogs along at an impressive pace.

    Have you seen the trailer that was made for the first Thin Man film, which has Powell as Philo Vance having a chat with himself as Nick Charles in a life-size mockup of a Thin Man novel? “I haven’t seen you since the Kennel Murder Case!” says Charles. They played it on TCM last year. It’s a hoot!

  2. DrSerizawa

    If anyone is interested this film is available in the “50 Mystery Movie Pack” online for a few bucks. Not great quality but there are some decent movies in this pack as well as some hilarious stinkers and some really weird titles. Both Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff playing Asian detectives in “Mr Wong” mysteries are bizarre.

  3. Ken Hanke

    I’m not surprised, though the one that’s being shown next week is great quality.

    One correction: only Karloff’s Mr. Wong is a detective. Lugosi’s Mr. Wong is a low-rent evil genius.

  4. Ken Hanke

    Ah, it’s available on YouTube – of course:

    Which is no way to see a movie, especially one as visually inventive as this.

Leave a Reply to DrSerizawa ×

To leave a reply you may Login with your Mountain Xpress account, connect socially or enter your name and e-mail. Your e-mail address will not be published. All fields are required.