Customer Reviews

Kennel Murder Case [VHS]

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

If this is the ground-breaking 30's detective movie they say it is, the DVD deserves more care as to quality control. (Please note that the distributor is not the studio that originally produced the film.) That said, the mystery is entertaining; and the acting is solid. However, the DVD picture quality is poor and is a major distraction. UCLA needs to get to work on this one, fast! The sound is surprisingly strong for most of the film, except in a couple of places where it cuts in and out. I will keep this DVD in my collection, but I cannot recommend it to any one to buy.

Great story with a great actor. Too bad Alpha didn't care enough to find a good print... sound is okay. I would not buy from them again.

For those who enjoy the Thin Man movies, this remake of the earlier silent version is worth watching. Although, not totally faithful to the book, this script captures the spirit of Philo Vance and William Powell gives a fluid performance. The supporting cast is made up of character actors familiar to any one who has viewed movies from the 30's. For Van Dine devotees this may be a bit of a disappointment, but for most this will prove a very viewable adaptation.

I was looking forward to a sharp, clear DVD of one of my favorite whodunnits but instead I wasted my money with Alpha Video on something that looks like a poor copy of a VHS! Do yourself a favor and look for a good, remastered version of this movie from someone else and enjoy! The story and plot are well worth it!

THE KENNEL MURDER CASE is an old-fashioned detective movie complete with a locked room mystery and a case of mistaken identity. The detective work by the hero Philo Vance is brilliant. The film is based on a novel by S.S. Van Dyne. It is a fun movie even though the story takes place during the height of the Great depression in New York City.

The role of Vance is played convincingly by William Powell. The strong supporting cast includes Eugene Pallette, Mary Astor, Ralph Morgan, Jack LaRue, Helen Vinson, Etienne Girardot and Paul Cavanaugh.

The film's director Michael Curtiz also directed CASABLANCA and YANKEE DOODLE DANDY.

from the 30s. William Powell is his usual sophisticated self, and in this film he, as Philo Vance, has an extraordinary talent for sleuthing. So much so that he makes the head detective of the police department (played adroitly by Eugene Palette) look like a dunderhead. But Palette's character doesn't mind and, in fact, depends on Powell's gift to solve the case and take the credit (and Powell doesn't mind in the least) for it. So all is amicable.

Several reviewers have mentioned the poor quality of the DVD. I only experienced near the end of the film two or three moments when the sound/picture seemed to slightly skip. Other than that, all ran smoothly.

Mary Astor is in this film, suave and gorgeous and looking so young one hardly recognizes her. Also legendary character actor Jack LaRue playing an Italian. And then there is Frank Morgan, et al. And one meets a couple of terrific dogs: one a scotty, the other a doberman. Their performances are up to par.

I personally couldn't guess who the murderer was unti it was ultimately revealed due to Vance's brilliancy. In fact, I had the wrong man in mind. I like a who done it where the villian's identity turns out to be a surprise. And the motive was one I couldn't imagine.

An enjoyable trip to the 30s.

William Powell drifts through this brisk murder mystery, portraying detective Philo Vance in a B-grade preview of the infinitely suaver, more witty "Thin Man" roles he would later excel at. This film is entertaining enough, after a style, but the script is as clumsy as the stage is cluttered, as one great character actor after another bump into one another as the plot zips unsuspensefully by. A murder is committed, but the police peg it as a suicide until Vance pops up to prove them wrong, playfully locking horns with the inept Sargeant in charge of the case (delightfully portrayed by the gravel-voiced Eugene Palette). Not one of director Michael Curtiz's brightest moments -- things just whiz by too quickly and the formula isn't given enough time to develop a sense of charm or wit. This is okay, but there are plenty of other oldies-but-goodies to spend your time on first.

To begin with, Amazon in its infinite wisdom, had thrown almost all the versions or prints of this particular movie into one bag. This is a pity as the quality of the various versions different greatly. This review is taken from the Alpha Video Distributors, Inc., 1996. It is VHS format. Now I am not one of those that are overly picky about the quality of many of the old movies, but I will say that for a VHS version of an old black and white, the video and the sound of this particular print was pretty good. On a scale of 1-10 I would probably give it an 8. (I would have watched a DVD version but this was the only one the library had and I am too cheap to buy my own). That being said....

William Huntington Wright, writing under the pen name of S.S. VanDine wrote twelve novels from 1926 to 1939 featuring a sort of later day Sherlock Holmes in the form of Philo Vance. These novels were extremely popular during their time but alas have fallen out of favor with the reading public and are seldom seen or read these days. Much of the problem here is that current readers have a bit of difficulty identifying (or even liking for that matter) the hero, Philo Vance.

From this group of twelve books, there were a total of fifteen movies made featuring the main character. Of these fifteen movies, William Powell played the led in four of them. He fit the part perfectly but was able to "mellow" the character down and make him more palatable and acceptable to the general public. Take a look at the description of Philo in the author's own words:

"Vance was what many would call a dilettante, but the designation does him an injustice. He was a man of unusual culture and brilliance. An aristocrat by birth and instinct, he held himself severely aloof from the common world of men. In his manner there was an indefinable contempt for inferiority of all kinds.

He was unusually good-looking, although his mouth was ascetic and cruel...there was a slightly derisive hauteur in the lift of his eyebrows...His forehead was full and sloping--it was the artist's, rather than the scholar's, brow. His cold grey eyes were widely spaced. His nose was straight and slender, and his chin narrow but prominent, with an unusually deep cleft...Vance was slightly under six feet, graceful, and giving the impression of sinewy strength and nervous endurance."

Powell was able to pull this character off and make him rather likable...a bit more like "one of us."

The move being reviewed here, The Kennel Murder Case, has sort of drifted into the status of being a classic; a classic detective story with all of the trappings. The main characters of the story are of all upper crust and obviously quite well off and privileged. It must be noted there that this work was performed and the film was made in 1933 during one of this countries most difficult times and people wanted their movies to allow them to escape the rather difficult lives they faced on a daily bases. They wanted desperately to see how the other half lived; it gave them hope.

The story starts at a high end dog show where soon after one of the dogs is murdered! (Actually, the dog was the only one of the murdered I felt even slightly sorry for). This quickly changes to the murders of a rather wretched, evil and highly unlikable gentleman and then another. There are more than enough viable suspects to choose from and our brilliant hero Philo must untangle a very twisted web of deceit, jealously, greed, love and competiveness. He does this in a brilliant Homes lie tradition, observation, logic and a phenomenal analytic mind. Was it actually murder, or as the not so bright police detective feels, merely another suicide? This folks is a good mystery!

Like so many of these movies made during this era, the audience was well prepared and primed for the characters they encounter so that character development was not all that necessary and the film maker could concentrated on the story. This work is running over with all of the stereotype characters we were all so familiar with; the clueless D.A., the rich spoiled heiress, the incredibly stupid police detective, obnoxious reporters and groveling servants....right down to a very suspicious butler!

The cast includes a very young and actually quite good Mary Astor along with Eugene Pallette, Ralph Morgan, Jack LaRue, Helen Vinson, Paul Cavanagh and Robert Barrat. Each play their part quite well.

In addition, many of the men in the move carried walking sticks and all wore fedoras. I like that.

This film last for 75 minutes and is a great popcorn burner that once gotten into, will keep you glued to the screen as clues come flying at you hot and heavy.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

The Kennel Murder Case is among my favorite murder mysteries made better by William Powell's always steller performance. I've watched this more times than I can count and never tire of being entertained by it. Excellent footage is dedicated to various adorable dogs and Powell's Scotty dog who is entered in a dog show where Mary Aster's soon to be murdered uncle is competeing. Prior to his death it becomes evident that each character has ample motive to murder the man in a typical suspenseful who-done-it plot. When found dead he is locked in his room without any obvious means of entering the room from outside. The puzzle is did he commit suicide as authorities believe. Only Philo Vance (William Powell) has the intuitive instincts that sees through the obvious. One by one the overwhelmingly puzzling questions are systematically resolved by this superior sleuth. But why a second murder? Ahhh, Philo will not let them down. Excellent performances by Robert Barrat, Eugene Pallette, Etienne Girardot and more. Just love these old gems. I highly recommend it for really old movie buffs, like myself.

William Powell is Philo Vance trying to solve the murder of Archer Coe. This is a step way above the rest from this era. The atmosphere, the acting by the great William Powell and his cast including Mary Astor,Ralph Morgan. Powell has a great screen presence as a detective. How he solves the murder and how he was killed was pure genius as far as the story unfolds. A GREAT FILM. A true gem. Offered from Alpha DVD and the Roan Group. The Roan Group print is 100% better as Alpha just cranks them on DVD while Roan Group remasters their prints.. The Roan Group has a Nancy Drew Mystery as a 2nd feature and its really bad,goofy , unfunny and nothing compared to Kennel Murder,which is why I bought the Roan Group's DVD. 5 stars for the Kennel Murder Case. Now there is one from Marengo films which has British Intelligence which is better than Nancy Drew and the print is as good as The Roan Group - something to look into...