Philo Vance is a fictional amateur detective originally featured in 12

crime novel Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

s by

S. S. Van Dine S. S. Van Dine (also styled S.S. Van Dine) is the pseudonym used by American art critic Willard Huntington Wright (October 15, 1888 – April 11, 1939) when he wrote detective novels. Wright was active in avant-garde cultural circles in pre-Worl ...

in the 1920s and 1930s. During that time, Vance was immensely popular in books, films, and radio. He was portrayed as a stylish—even foppish—

dandy A dandy is a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies, pursued with the appearance of nonchalance. A dandy could be a self-made man who strove to imitate an aristocratic lifestyle desp ...

, a New York ''bon vivant'' possessing a highly intellectual bent. "S. S. Van Dine" was the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

of Willard Huntington Wright, a prominent art critic who initially sought to conceal his authorship of the novels. Van Dine was also a fictional character in the books, a sort of

Dr. Watson John H. Watson, known as Dr. Watson, is a fictional character in the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Along with Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson first appeared in the novel ''A Study in Scarlet'' (1887). The last work by Doyle fe ...

figure who accompanied Vance and chronicled his exploits.

Character

In the early novels, Van Dine claimed that "Philo Vance" was an alias, and that details of the sleuth's adventures had been altered to protect his true identity, even if "he has now gone to Italy to live". This claim was conveniently forgotten as the series progressed. (A few years later, the same process occurred with another fictional detective,

Ellery Queen Ellery Queen is a pseudonym created in 1929 by American crime fiction writers Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee and the name of their main fictional character, a mystery writer in New York City who helps his police inspector father solve ...

, whose authors acknowledged being inspired by Van Dine.) As Van Dine described the character of Vance in the first of the novels, ''

The Benson Murder Case ''The Benson Murder Case'' is the first novel in the Philo Vance series of mystery novels by S. S. Van Dine, which became a best-seller. Plot outline New York dilettante Philo Vance decides to assist the police in investigating the death of an ...

'':

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. The great majority of those with whom he came in contact regarded him as a snob. Yet there was in his condescension and disdain no trace of spuriousness. His snobbishness was intellectual as well as social. He detested stupidity even more, I believe, than he did vulgarity or bad taste. I have heard him on several occasions quote Fouché’s famous line: ''C’est plus qu’un crime; c'est une faute''. And he meant it literally. Vance was frankly a cynic, but he was rarely bitter; his was a flippant, Juvenalian cynicism. Perhaps he may best be described as a bored and supercilious, but highly conscious and penetrating, spectator of life. He was keenly interested in all human reactions; but it was the interest of the scientist, not the humanitarian. Vance’s knowledge of psychology was indeed uncanny. He was gifted with an instinctively accurate judgement of people, and his study and reading had coordinated and rationalized this gift to an amazing extent. He was well grounded in the academic principles of psychology, and all his courses at college had either centered about this subject or been subordinated to it… He had reconnoitered the whole field of cultural endeavor. He had courses in the history of religions, the Greek classics, biology, civics, and political economy, philosophy, anthropology, literature, theoretical, and experimental psychology, and ancient and modern languages. But it was, I think, his courses under Münsterberg and William James that interested him the most. Vance’s mind was basically philosophical—that is, philosophical in the more general sense. Being singularly free from the conventional sentimentalities and current superstitions, he could look beneath the surface of human acts into actuating impulses and motives. Moreover, he was resolute both in his avoidance of any attitude that savoured of credulousness and in his adherence to cold, logical exactness in his mental processes.

In the same book, Van Dine detailed Vance's physical features:

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.

In the second adventure, ''

The Canary Murder Case ''For the film adaptation see The Canary Murder Case (film)'' ''The Canary Murder Case'' (1927) is a murder mystery novel which deals with the murders of a sexy nightclub singer known as "the Canary," and, eventually, her boyfriend, solved by Ph ...

'' (set in 1927), Van Dine says that Vance was "not yet thirty-five... His face was slender and mobile; but there was a stern, sardonic expression to his features, which acted as a barrier between him and his fellows." Vance was highly skilled at many things: an "expert fencer", a golfer with a three handicap, a breeder and shower of thoroughbred dogs, a talented polo player, a master poker player, a winning handicapper of race horses, experience in archery ("a bit of potting at Oxford," as he referred to it), a patron of classical music, a connoisseur of fine food and drink, knowledgeable of chess, and of several foreign languages. He was also an expert on Chinese ceramics, psychology, the history of crime, ancient Egypt, Renaissance art, and a host of other recondite subjects. In ''The Kidnap Murder Case'', in which Vance uses a gun, Van Dine describes Vance as a good marksman and a decorated World War I veteran. Van Dine says Vance's "one passion" is art. "He was something of an authority on Japanese and Chinese prints; he knew tapestries and ceramics: and once I heard him give an impromptu ''causerie'' to a few guests on Tanagra figurines..." (''The Benson Murder Case'') His interest in dogs is featured in ''

The Kennel Murder Case ''The Kennel Murder Case'' is a 1933 murder mystery novel written by S. S. Van Dine with fictional detective Philo Vance investigating a complex locked-room mystery. Plot summary One of the Coe brothers is found dead in his bedroom, locked fr ...

'' (his polo playing is also mentioned in that case), his skill at poker in ''The Canary Murder Case'', his ability to handicap race horses in ''

The Garden Murder Case ''The Garden Murder Case'' (first published in 1935) is the ninth in a series of mystery novels by S. S. Van Dine about fictional detective Philo Vance. Plot outline Floyd, the son of Professor Garden, invites his socialite friends to the roofto ...

'', his knowledge of chess and archery in ''

The Bishop Murder Case ''The Bishop Murder Case'' (1928) is the fourth in a series of mystery novels by S. S. Van Dine about fictional detective Philo Vance. The detective solves a mystery built around a nursery rhyme. ''The Bishop Murder Case'' is believed to be the f ...

'', and of Egyptology in ''

The Scarab Murder Case ''The Scarab Murder Case'' (1929) is a classic whodunit written by S. S. Van Dine. In this book, detective Philo Vance's murder investigation takes place in a private home that doubles as a museum of Egyptology, and the solution depends in part ...

''. His skills at golf and at fencing do not figure in any of the cases. Vance often wore a monocle, dressed impeccably (usually going out with chamois gloves), and his speech frequently tended to be quaint: * "Why the haste, old dear?" Vance asked, yawning. "The chap's, dead, don't y' know; he can't possibly run away." (''The Benson Murder Case'') * "Really, y' know, Markham, old thing, " he added, "you should study the cranial indications of your fellow man more carefully—vultus est index animi..." (''The Canary Murder Case'') * "And now I think I'll erase the Greenes from my mind pro tempore, and dip into the 'Satyricon.' The fusty historians pother frightfully about the reasons for the fall of Rome..." (''

The Greene Murder Case ''The Greene Murder Case'' is a 1928 mystery novel by S. S. Van Dine. It focuses on the murders, one by one, of members of the wealthy and contentious Greene family. This is the third in the series of Philo Vance whodunits, and the first of the ...

'') He was also a heavy smoker, lighting up and puffing on his Regies throughout the stories. According to some contemporary critics, these mannerisms of Vance were affectations, which made him look like a foppish dandy, a poseur. (See below for criticisms.) There is some indication that Van Dine wished the reader to question Vance's sexuality. In ''The Benson Murder Case'', Vance is called a "sissy" by another character, and early in the book, as he is dressing, his friend Markham asks if he is planning to wear a green carnation, the symbol of homosexuality during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Publication

Van Dine's first three mystery novels were unusual for mystery fiction because he planned them as a trilogy, but plotted and wrote them in short form, more or less at the same time. After they were accepted as a group by famed editor

Maxwell Perkins William Maxwell Evarts "Max" Perkins (September 20, 1884 – June 17, 1947) was an American book editor, best remembered for discovering authors Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, and Thomas Wolfe. Early life and e ...

, Van Dine expanded them into full-length novels. All 12 book titles are in the form "The X Murder Case," where "X" is always a six-letter word (except for ''

The Gracie Allen Murder Case ''The Gracie Allen Murder Case'' (1938) (also published as ''The Scent of Murder'') is the eleventh of twelve detective novels by S. S. Van Dine featuring his famous fictional detective of the 1920s and 1930s, Philo Vance. It also features the ...

'', which was originally just "Gracie"). Although Van Dine was one of the most educated and cosmopolitan detective writers of his time, in his essays he dismissed the idea of the mystery story as serious literature. He insisted that a detective novel should be mainly an intellectual puzzle that follows strict rules and does not wander too far afield from its central theme. He followed his own prescriptions, and some critics feel that formulaic approach made the Vance novels stilted and caused them to become dated in a relatively few years. All of the cases, except ''

The Winter Murder Case ''The Winter Murder Case'' ( 1939) is a Philo Vance novella that S. S. Van Dine intended to expand into his twelfth full-length book, a project cut short by his death. ''The Winter Murder Case'' seems especially similar to the B mystery movies ...

'', are mostly set in the

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

borough of New York City. On a few occasions, Vance and Van Dine (usually accompanied by Markham and Heath) briefly travel to

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

Westchester County Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population o ...

, and

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

in the course of their investigations. In ''The Greene Murder Case'' Vance tells, after his arrival back in New York, that he traveled by train to

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

to gather information relevant to the case. Vance's last case, ''The Winter Murder Case'', is markedly different from the previous 11 cases in that the locale is away from New York (the

Berkshire Mountains The Berkshires () are a highland geologic region located in the western parts of Massachusetts and northwest Connecticut. The term "Berkshires" is normally used by locals in reference to the portion of the Vermont-based Green Mountains that ex ...

of western Massachusetts), and Vance and Van Dine are surrounded by an almost completely different cast of characters (only Markham makes a brief appearance at the very beginning). Wright had just finished writing this case when he died suddenly in New York on April 11, 1939.

Novels

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'' (1926) #''

'' (1927) #''

'' (1928) #''

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'' (1930) #''

'' (1933) #'' The Dragon Murder Case'' (1933) #''

The Casino Murder Case ''The Casino Murder Case'' is a 1934 novel written by S. S. Van Dine in the series about fictional detective Philo Vance. In this outing, a murder investigation is connected with a private casino on New York's Upper West Side, and the wealthy a ...

'' (1934) #''

'' (1935) #''

The Kidnap Murder Case ''The Kidnap Murder Case'' is a 1936 murder mystery novel by S. S. Van Dine, the tenth of twelve books featuring fictional detective Philo Vance Philo Vance is a fictional amateur detective originally featured in 12 crime novels by S. S. Van Di ...

'' (1936) #''

'' (1938) #''

'' (1939)

Cast of characters

Most of the adventures have at their beginning a "Characters of the Book," much as in

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's plays. Vance, Van Dine, John F.-X Markham, Ernest Heath, Dr. Emanuel Doremus, and Currie all appear in 11 of the 12 stories; the last, ''The Winter Murder Case'', includes only Vance, Van Dine, and a brief appearance of Markham at the very beginning. *S.S. Van Dine: The fictional narrator S.S. Van Dine accompanies Vance during his investigations and later recounts them to readers. Van Dine, who reveals little about himself except that he once practiced law, says he is Vance's chief adviser, especially on financial and legal matters. Van Dine is not like most "sidekicks" in mystery stories. John Loughery, the biographer of Willard Huntington Wright, describes Van Dine as a "noncharacter": While other people in the novels sometimes talk to him or note his presence, he never addresses anyone (or at least does not quote anything he says to them). He also never does anything that would influence events. *John F.-X Markham: New York County District Attorney who served only one four-year term. A bachelor, like all of the leading male characters in the stories, he lives in an apartment in lower Manhattan. Markham is a straight-arrow, no-nonsense type whose serious demeanor frequently contrasts, in friendly bantering, with Vance's whimsical persona. Van Dine describes this contrast of personalities: *Ernest Heath: Sergeant in the Homicide Bureau of the New York Police Department. He is gruff, lacking in imagination, prone to misuse English grammar, and also a no-nonsense type when it comes to dealing with suspects in the murder cases (he occasionally suggests to Markham that he "work over" some of them to extract confessions). He and Vance, although very different in most ways, gain a mutual respect for each other as they work together. He seems to sleep very little, as he is up all hours working on cases. *Dr. Emanuel Doremus: Medical Examiner for New York City. A cocky little man who wears a bowler hat and constantly complains (in a mock manner) about being called to check out corpses just as he has sat down to a meal or is otherwise inconvenienced. *Currie: Described in ''The Benson Murder Case'' as "a rare old English servant who acted as Vance's butler, valet, major-domo and, on occasions, specialty cook." Other individuals who appear frequently include Francis Swacker, Markham's male secretary, and Guilfoyle, Hennessey, Snitkin, and Burke, all detectives under Heath in the Homicide Bureau.

Criticisms of Vance and the novels

Vance's character as portrayed in the novels might seem to many modern readers to be supercilious, obnoxiously affected, and highly irritating. He struck some contemporaries that way, as well. At the height of Philo Vance's popularity, comic poet

Ogden Nash Frederic Ogden Nash (August 19, 1902 – May 19, 1971) was an American poet well known for his light verse, of which he wrote over 500 pieces. With his unconventional rhyming schemes, he was declared by ''The New York Times'' the country's best ...

wrote:

Philo Vance
Needs a kick in the pance.

Famed hardboiled-detective author

Raymond Chandler Raymond Thornton Chandler (July 23, 1888 – March 26, 1959) was an American-British novelist and screenwriter. In 1932, at the age of forty-four, Chandler became a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive durin ...

referred to Vance in his essay "

The Simple Art of Murder ''The Simple Art of Murder'' is the title of several quasi-connected publications by hard-boiled detective fiction author Raymond Chandler: *The first, and arguably best-known, is a critical essay on detective fiction, originally published in ...

" as "the most asinine character in detective fiction." In Chandler's novel ''

The Lady in the Lake ''The Lady in the Lake'' is a 1943 detective novel by Raymond Chandler featuring the Los Angeles private investigator Philip Marlowe. Notable for its removal of Marlowe from his usual Los Angeles environs for much of the book, the novel's comp ...

'', Marlowe briefly uses Philo Vance as an ironical alias. A criticism of Vance's "phony English accent" also appears in Chandler's ''

Farewell My Lovely ''Farewell, My Lovely'' is a novel by Raymond Chandler, published in 1940, the second novel he wrote featuring the Los Angeles private eye Philip Marlowe. It was adapted for the screen three times and was also adapted for the stage and radio. ...

''. In Chandler's ''

The Big Sleep ''The Big Sleep'' (1939) is a hardboiled crime novel by American-British writer Raymond Chandler, the first to feature the detective Philip Marlowe. It has been adapted for film twice, The Big Sleep (1946 film), in 1946 and again The Big Sleep ...

'', Marlowe says he's "not Sherlock Holmes or Philo Vance" and explains that his method owes more to judgement of character than finding clues the police have missed.

Julian Symons Julian Gustave Symons (originally Gustave Julian Symons) (pronounced ''SIMM-ons''; 30 May 1912 – 19 November 1994) was a British crime writer and poet. He also wrote social and military history, biography and studies of literature. He was bor ...

in his history of detective fiction, ''Bloody Murder'', says: "The decline in the last six Vance books is so steep that the critic who called the ninth of them one more stitch in his literary shroud was not overstating the case."Symons, Julian, ''Bloody Murder'', London: Faber and Faber 1972, with revisions in Penguin Books 1974, In ''

A Catalogue of Crime ''A Catalogue of Crime'' is a critique of crime fiction by Jacques Barzun and Wendell Hertig Taylor, first published in 1971. The book was awarded a Special Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America in 1972. A revised and enlarged edition ...

'',

Jacques Barzun Jacques Martin Barzun (; November 30, 1907 – October 25, 2012) was a French-American historian known for his studies of the history of ideas and cultural history. He wrote about a wide range of subjects, including baseball, mystery novels, and ...

and Wendell Hertig Taylor criticize "… the phony footnotes, the phony English accent of Philo Vance, and the general apathy of the detective system in all these books …", in all the Vance novels. They review only seven of the 12 novels, panning all but the first and the last: ''The Benson Murder Case'', which they call "The first and best …" and ''The Winter Murder Case'', of which they write, "In fact, this short book is pleasant reading …" In regard to Vance's supposedly phony accent, Van Dine addressed the issue early on. In ''The Greene Murder Case'', one of the three original novels, he wrote that Vance's seemingly British manner of speaking was the result of his long education in Europe, not an affectation. He described Vance as indifferent to what people thought of him and not interested in impressing them.

Adaptations

Films

Films about Vance were made from the late 1920s to the late 1940s, with some more faithful to the literary character than others. Fictional narrator S.S. Van Dine, who acts as a passive eyewitness to events in the novels, does not appear in the films. Among the several actors who played Philo Vance on the screen were

William Powell William Horatio Powell (July 29, 1892 – March 5, 1984) was an American actor. A major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the ''The Thin Man (film), Thin Man'' series based on the Nick and Nora Cha ...

Warren William Warren William (born Warren William Krech; December 2, 1894 – September 24, 1948) was a Broadway and Hollywood actor, immensely popular during the early 1930s; he was later nicknamed the "King of Pre-Code". He was the first actor to play Perry ...

and

Basil Rathbone Philip St. John Basil Rathbone MC (13 June 1892 – 21 July 1967) was a South African-born English actor. He rose to prominence in the United Kingdom as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in more than 70 films, primarily costume ...

, all of whom had great success playing other detectives in movies. The movie ''

'' is famous for a contract dispute that eventually helped sink the career of star

Louise Brooks Mary Louise Brooks (November 14, 1906 – August 8, 1985) was an American film actress and dancer during the 1920s and 1930s. She is regarded today as an icon of the Jazz Age and flapper culture, in part due to the bob hairstyle that she helpe ...

. William Powell did not enjoy playing Philo Vance, finding the role devoid of the complexity of a truly human character. After three Philo Vance films at Paramount, he flatly refused to play the role again. Later, at Warner Brothers, he was cajoled into making ''The Kennel Murder Case'', due to studio pressure and the lack of more interesting scripts. A few years later Powell was offered ''The Casino Murder Case'' at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer into which a part was written for

Myrna Loy Myrna Loy (born Myrna Adele Williams; August 2, 1905 – December 14, 1993) was an American film, television and stage actress. Trained as a dancer, Loy devoted herself fully to an acting career following a few minor roles in silent films. ...

as Vance's girlfriend, but Powell refused this film as well. On Philo Vance as a role, Powell stated: The Philo Vance novels were particularly well suited for films, where the more unpleasantly affected aspects of the main character could be toned down and the complex plots given more prominence. One of these films, ''

'', has been called a masterpiece by renowned film historian

William K. Everson Keith William Everson (8 April 1929 – 14 April 1996) was an English- American archivist, author, critic, educator, collector, and film historian. He also discovered several lost films. Everson's given first names were Keith William, but he r ...

. * ''

'' (1929) with

* ''

'' (1929) with William Powell * ''

'' (1929) with

* ''

'' (1930) with William Powell * ''

'' (1933) with William Powell * '' The Dragon Murder Case'' (1934) with

* ''

'' (1935) with

Paul Lukas Paul Lukas (born Pál Lukács; 26 May 1894 – 15 August 1971) was a Hungarian actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor, and the first Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama for his performance in the film ''Watc ...

* ''

'' (1936) with

Edmund Lowe Edmund Dantes Lowe (March 3, 1890 – April 21, 1971) was an American actor. His formative experience began in vaudeville and silent film. Biography Lowe was born in San Jose, California. His father was a local judge. His childhood home was a ...

* ''

'' (1936) with

Wilfrid Hyde-White Wilfrid Hyde-White (12 May 1903 – 6 May 1991) was a British character actor of stage, film and television. He achieved international recognition for his role as Colonel Pickering in the film version of the musical ''My Fair Lady'' (1964). Ea ...

(

lost film A lost film is a feature or short film that no longer exists in any studio archive, private collection, public archive or the U.S. Library of Congress. Conditions During most of the 20th century, U.S. copyright law required at least one copy o ...

) * '' Night of Mystery'' (1937) (based on ''The Greene Murder Case'') with Grant Richards * ''

'' (1939) with Warren William as Philo Vance, billed below

Gracie Allen Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen (July 26, 1895 – August 27, 1964) was an American vaudevillian, singer, actress, and comedian who became internationally famous as the zany partner and comic foil of husband George Burns, her straight man, ap ...

* ''

Calling Philo Vance ''Calling Philo Vance'' is a 1940 American mystery/comedy film released by Warner Bros. and starring James Stephenson as the dilettante detective Philo Vance, his only appearance as the character; Margot Stevenson co-stars. The film also featur ...

'' (1940) (a remake of ''The Kennel Murder Case'' with an altered setting) with

James Stephenson James Albert Stephenson (14 April 1889 – 29 July 1941) was a British stage and film actor. He found extraordinarily rapid success in Hollywood after arriving in his late 40s, but he died unexpectedly in his early 50s. Early life Stephenson ...

* ''

Philo Vance Returns ''Philo Vance Returns'' is a 1947 American mystery film directed by William Beaudine and starring William Wright, Vivian Austin and Leon Belasco.Marshall p.333 It is one of a series of films featuring private detective Philo Vance. Plot Vance in ...

'' (1947) with William Wright * ''

Philo Vance's Gamble ''Philo Vance's Gamble'' is a 1947 American mystery film directed by Basil Wrangell and starring Alan Curtis, Vivian Austin and Tala Birell. It was the first of three films featuring the detective Philo Vance made by the Producers Releasing Corpor ...

'' (1947) with Alan Curtis * ''

Philo Vance's Secret Mission ''Philo Vance's Secret Mission'' is a 1947 American mystery film directed by Reginald Le Borg and starring Alan Curtis, Sheila Ryan and Tala Birell.Backer p.35 It was part of a series of films featuring the detective Philo Vance made during the 1 ...

'' (1947) with Alan Curtis The plots of the final three films bear no relationship to any of the novels and very little relationship to the Philo Vance character of the novels. Philo Vance (

) also appears in the "Murder Will Out" comic vignette of ''

Paramount on Parade ''Paramount on Parade'' is a 1930 all-star American pre-Code revue released by Paramount Pictures, directed by several directors including Edmund Goulding, Dorothy Arzner, Ernst Lubitsch, Rowland V. Lee, A. Edward Sutherland, Lothar Mendes, Ot ...

'' (1930), wherein Vance and Sgt. Heath (

Eugene Pallette Eugene William Pallette (July 8, 1889 – September 3, 1954) was an American actor who worked in both the silent and sound eras, performing in more than 240 productions between 1913 and 1946. After an early career as a slender leading man, ...

), along with fellow detective

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...

(

Clive Brook Clifford Hardman "Clive" Brook (1 June 1887 – 17 November 1974) was an English film actor. After making his first screen appearance in 1920, Brook emerged as a leading British actor in the early 1920s. After moving to the United States ...

), go up against

Fu Manchu Dr. Fu Manchu () is a supervillain who was introduced in a series of novels by the English author Sax Rohmer beginning shortly before World War I and continuing for another forty years. The character featured in cinema, television, radio, comic ...

(

Warner Oland Warner Oland (born Johan Verner Ölund; October 3, 1879 – August 6, 1938) was a Swedish-American actor. His career included time on Broadway and numerous film appearances. He is most remembered for playing several Chinese and Chinese-American ...

). Holmes and Fu Manchu were featured in their own respective series at Paramount at this time. Vance is mentioned in ''

The Stolen Jools ''The Stolen Jools'' is a 1931 American pre-Code comedy short produced by the Masquers Club of Hollywood, featuring many cameo appearances by film stars of the day. The stars appeared in the film, distributed by Paramount Pictures, to raise fu ...

'', an all-star film short produced by Paramount in 1931 to promote fundraising for the National Vaudeville Artists Tuberculosis Sanitarium, but does not appear. In the trailer for the first ''

The Thin Man ''The Thin Man'' (1934) is a detective novel by Dashiell Hammett, originally published in a condensed version in the December 1933 issue of ''Redbook''. It appeared in book form the following month. A film series followed, featuring the main cha ...

'' film in 1934, Powell plays both Vance and Nick Charles via split screen, as Charles tells Vance about the mystery he solves in the movie. At the time, ''The Thin Mans studio,

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...

, had not produced a Philo Vance film since 1930, and the property was at that time contracted to

Warner Bros Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

. MGM regained the rights for 1935's ''The Casino Murder Case'', but Powell did not appear in that film. Vance was also mentioned in ''

The Lady Eve ''The Lady Eve'' is a 1941 American screwball comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda.

'' (1941).

Radio

Three

radio drama Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine ...

series were created with Philo Vance as the title character. The first series, broadcast by NBC in 1945, starred

José Ferrer José Vicente Ferrer de Otero y Cintrón (January 8, 1912 – January 26, 1992) was a Puerto Rican actor and director of stage, film and television. He was one of the most celebrated and esteemed Hispanic American actors during his lifetime, w ...

. A summer replacement series in 1946 starred John Emery as Vance. The best-known series (and the one of which most episodes survived) ran from 1948 to 1950 in Frederick Ziv syndication and starred

Jackson Beck Jackson Beck (July 23, 1912 – July 28, 2004) was an American actor best known as the announcer on radio's '' The Adventures of Superman''Dunning, John. (1998). ''On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio''. Oxford University Press. . Pp. 1 ...

. "Thankfully, the radio series uses only the name, and makes Philo a pretty normal, though very intelligent and extremely courteous gumshoe. ...

Joan Alexander Joan Alexander (born Louise Abrass; April 16, 1915 – May 21, 2009)
''

The Internet Archive's public domain Philo Vance radio programs/program information, accessed May 12, 2009
/ref>

Television

An Italian-language TV miniseries from 1974 entitled ''Philo Vance'' featured

Giorgio Albertazzi Giorgio Albertazzi (20 August 1923 – 28 May 2016) was an Italian actor and film director. Born in San Martino a Mensola, Tuscany, Albertazzi joined the Italian Social Republic and reached the rank of lieutenant. After their defeat, he spen ...

as Philo Vance. The series was composed of three episodes based on the first three Van Dine novels. The scripts were very faithful to the originals.

References

External links

Bibliography of UK first Editions
* (audio) {{DEFAULTSORT:Vance, Philo Fictional male detectives Male characters in literature Literary characters introduced in 1926 Novel series American detective novels Radio programmes based on novels

Philo Vance Philo Vance is a fictional amateur detective originally featured in 12 crime novels by S. S. Van Dine in the 1920s and 1930s. During that time, Vance was immensely popular in books, films, and radio. He was portrayed as a stylish—even foppish— ...

1945 radio programme debuts 1948 radio programme endings

Detective radio shows