Paul Lukas was memorable in The Lady Vanishes and some other films, but not playing Philo Vance. The Casino Murder Case is an enjoyable melodramatic murder mystery with three problems: his European accent, and the fact there's not much casino in the story and no murder there either. Did they have Bela Lugosi audition for the part too?!
To the background of some incongruous opening music Vance gets called in to protect a man threatened with an "awful tragedy" at a casino, when there finds the murder of the man's bitchy wife takes place at their home. Lukas also found a spunky sidekick in Rosalind Russell and had some nice patter with her but her snooty British accent jarred a little as well! The job is on to nail the culprit from a gallery of suspects, and Vance is ably obstructed in this as usual by the suspects, the dense District Attorney and the complaining coroner. In bit parts William Demarest was perfect as a shyster auctioneer and Leo Carroll was fascinating to watch as a slapstick servant, but Eric Blore as Vance's gurning butler was sadly underused here. Favorite bit: Lukas and Russell on the phone as the tragedy unfolds.
If you don't like detective potboilers from the '30's my advice is to Skip It. For those of us that do, it must be a lot better if you don't know your Vance, but it's an excellent watch even if you do
To the background of some incongruous opening music Vance gets called in to protect a man threatened with an "awful tragedy" at a casino, when there finds the murder of the man's bitchy wife takes place at their home. Lukas also found a spunky sidekick in Rosalind Russell and had some nice patter with her but her snooty British accent jarred a little as well! The job is on to nail the culprit from a gallery of suspects, and Vance is ably obstructed in this as usual by the suspects, the dense District Attorney and the complaining coroner. In bit parts William Demarest was perfect as a shyster auctioneer and Leo Carroll was fascinating to watch as a slapstick servant, but Eric Blore as Vance's gurning butler was sadly underused here. Favorite bit: Lukas and Russell on the phone as the tragedy unfolds.
If you don't like detective potboilers from the '30's my advice is to Skip It. For those of us that do, it must be a lot better if you don't know your Vance, but it's an excellent watch even if you do