''The Casino Murder Case'' is a 1935 American

mystery film A mystery film is a genre of film that revolves around the solution of a problem or a crime. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur Detective, sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of an issue by means ...

starring

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 ...

and

Alison Skipworth Alison Skipworth (born Alison Mary Elliott Margaret Groom; 25 July 18635 July 1952) was an English stage and screen actress. Early years Skipworth was born in London. She was the daughter of Dr. Richard Ebenezer Groom and Elizabeth Rodgers, an ...

. It was directed by

Edwin L. Marin Edwin L. Marin (February 21, 1899 – May 2, 1951) was an American film director who directed 58 films between 1932 and 1951, working with Randolph Scott, Anna May Wong, John Wayne, Peter Lorre, George Raft, Bela Lugosi, Judy Garland, E ...

from a screenplay by

Florence Ryerson Florence Ryerson (September 20, 1892 – June 8, 1965) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and co-author of the script for the 1939 film ''The Wizard of Oz''.'' Between 1915 and 1927 she published more than 30 short stories and then join ...

and

Edgar Allan Woolf Edgar Allan Woolf (April 25, 1881 – December 9, 1943) was an American lyricist, playwright, and screenwriter. He is best known as the co-author of the script for the 1939 film ''The Wizard of Oz (1939 film), The Wizard of Oz''. Early years an ...

, based on the 1934 novel of the same name 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 ...

. It was the ninth film in the

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— ...

film series."Notes"
on

TCM.com Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasti ...

Plot

Gentleman detective The gentleman detective, less commonly lady detective, is a type of fictional character. He (or she) has long been a staple of crime fiction, particularly in detective novels and short stories set in the United Kingdom in the Golden Age. The heroe ...

Philo Vance (

) begins an investigation when he receives an anonymous letter stating that society man Lynn Llewellyn ( Donald Cook) will be in danger when he appears at the casino owned by his uncle, Kinkaid (

Arthur Byron Arthur William Byron (April 3, 1872 – July 16, 1943) was an American actor. who played a mixture of British and American roles in films. Early years Byron was the son of actors Kate Crehan and Oliver Doud Byron. He was a nephew of the stag ...

). Vance visits the Llewellyn estate, which is run by Mrs. Priscilla Kinkaid-Llewellyn (

), the matriarch of the household, and stumbles into one of the family's many quarrels. At the end of the bitter quarrel, which involves Mrs. Llewellyn's son Lynn and his wife Virginia ( Louise Henry), Virginia announces that she has decided to leave the house and go to Chicago. During the tiff, Vance and Doris (

Rosalind Russell Catherine Rosalind Russell (June 4, 1907November 28, 1976) was an American actress, comedienne, screenwriter, and singer,Obituary ''Variety'', December 1, 1976, p. 79. known for her role as fast-talking newspaper reporter Hildy Johnson in the H ...

), Mrs. Llewellyn's secretary, are introduced to each other, and Doris immediately takes a liking to Vance. Vance takes Doris to his home, where he and District Attorney Markham (

Purnell Pratt Purnell Pratt (October 20, 1885 – July 25, 1941) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 110 films between 1914 and 1941. He was born in Bethel, Illinois and died in Hollywood, California. Partial filmography * ''The Great D ...

) show her the mysterious letter. Doris immediately recognizes the return address as being that of the Llewellyn's townhouse in Closter, and notices that the letter was typed on her typewriter. Vance assigns Sergeant Heath (

Ted Healy Ted Healy (born Charles Ernest Lee Nash; October 1, 1896 – December 21, 1937) was an American vaudeville performer, comedian, and actor. Though he is chiefly remembered as the creator of The Three Stooges and the style of slapstick comedy th ...

) to help stake out the casino that night, but their presence does not prevent Lynn from suddenly collapsing at the card table. At the same time, Doris informs Vance that Virginia has died at the Llewellyn house. Markham begins his investigation of the murder by questioning Mrs. Llewellyn, who recalls having quarrelled with Virginia before she was poisoned, and Amelia (

Isabel Jewell Isabel Jewell (July 19, 1907 – April 5, 1972) was an American actress who rose to prominence in the 1930s and early 1940s. Some of her more famous films were '' Ceiling Zero'', ''Marked Woman'', ''A Tale of Two Cities'', and ''Gone with t ...

), Mrs. Llewellyn's daughter, who admits that she too had a spat with Virginia. Meanwhile, Doris finds Mrs. Llewellyn's recently altered will, in which she disinherited Kinkaid, making it apparent that Lynn and Amelia would be the only ones who would benefit from Mrs. Llewellyn's death. Other clues begin to surface, including Kinkaid's unusual collection of books on chemistry and poisons, and a loaded gun found in Virginia's bedroom. Soon after Lynn's recovery, Mrs. Llewellyn is found dead of an apparent suicide, with a note, bearing her signature, in which she confesses to Virginia's murder. Not convinced that the mystery has been solved, Vance pursues his theory, and discovers a secret laboratory where Kinkaid has been making the newly discovered heavy water; it is not yet known whether this is a poison. Kincaid holds Vance and Doris captive at gunpoint, but they escape. Still, Vance believes that Kinkaid is not the murderer, but is merely one of many decoys set up by the real killer to lead the investigation astray. The real killer turns out to be Lynn, who gave himself a small dose of poison before. He lures Vance and Doris to the Closter townhouse to kill them. But before Lynn completes his "perfect crime", Vance reads from a letter he wrote earlier in which he detailed his theory about the killings. In it, Vance names Lynn as the murderer, calling him a rich, egomaniacal weakling, who, being tired of his wife, poisoned her and threw the blame on his uncle, whom he despised. After hearing Vance's summary of the murder plot, Lynn tells his captors that he has arranged to pin Vance and Doris' forthcoming murder on Kinkaid. However, when Lynn shoots Vance, Heath and others emerge from behind a door where they have been recording Lynn's confession and arrest him. After thanking Mrs. Llewellyn's maid Becky (

Louise Fazenda Louise Fazenda (June 17, 1895 – April 17, 1962) was an American film actress, appearing chiefly in silent comedy films. Early life Fazenda was born in her maternal grandparents' house in Lafayette, Indiana, the daughter of merchandise broke ...

) for loading Lynn's gun with blanks, Vance resumes his romance with Doris.

Cast

as Mrs. Priscilla Kinkaid Llewellyn * Donald Cook as Lynn *

as Doris *

as Kinkaid *

as Sergeant Heath *

Eric Blore Eric Blore Sr. (23 December 1887 – 2 March 1959) was an English actor and writer. His early stage career, mostly in the West End of London, centred on revue and musical comedy, but also included straight plays. He wrote sketches for and appe ...

as Currie *

as Amelia *

as Becky *

as Markham *

Leslie Fenton Leslie Fenton (12 March 1902 – 25 March 1978) was an English actor and film director. He appeared in more than 60 films between 1923 and 1945. Early life Fenton was born on 12 March 1902 in Liverpool, Lancashire, England. He emigrated to ...

as Dr. Kane * Louise Henry as Virginia *

Leo G. Carroll Leo Gratten Carroll (25 October 1886 – 16 October 1972) was an English actor. In a career of more than forty years, he appeared in six Hitchcock films including ''Spellbound'', '' Strangers on a Train'' and ''North by Northwest'' and in thre ...

as Smith *

Charles Sellon Charles A. Sellon (August 24, 1870 – June 26, 1937) was an American stage and film actor. Sellon appeared in more than 100 films and stage acts between 1901 and 1935. He played the blind Mr. Muckle in W. C. Fields' comedy ''It's a Gift'' ...

as Dr. Doremus *

William Demarest Carl William Demarest (February 27, 1892 – December 27, 1983) was an American character actor, known especially for his roles in screwball comedies by Preston Sturges and for playing Uncle Charley in the sitcom ''My Three Sons'' Demarest, w ...

as the auctioneer (uncredited) Cast note: * Rosalind Russell considered both the film and her performance in it to be "so bad". She wrote in her autobiography ''Life is a Banquet'' that MGM forced the role on her, and that afterward, her maid would tell her: "If you don't behave ... I'm going to tell people about that ''Casino Murder Case''."

Production

Originally

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 ...

and

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. ...

were intended to star in ''The Casino Murder Case'', but Powell was tired of playing Vance – he was the first actor to play the part on film,Steinberg, Jay S
"The Casino Murder Case" (article)
on

and had played the sleuth in four earlier Philo Vance features, as well as a short skit in ''

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 ...

'' – so MGM planned to use

Otto Kruger Otto Kruger (September 6, 1885 – September 6, 1974) was an American actor, originally a Broadway matinee idol, who established a niche as a charming villain in films, such as Hitchcock's ''Saboteur''. He also appeared in CBS's ''Perry Mason'' a ...

, and then Fred Keating (who would have been borrowed from

Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...

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

Ricardo Cortez Ricardo Cortez (born Jacob Kranze or Jacob Krantz; September 19, 1900 – April 28, 1977) was an American actor and film director. He was also credited as Jack Crane early in his acting career. Early years Ricardo Cortez was born Jacob K ...

, before settling on Paul Lukas.

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, ...

was to have played the police sergeant, but was first replaced by

Edward Brophy Edward Santree Brophy (February 27, 1895 – May 27, 1960) was an American character actor and comedian, as well as an assistant director and second unit director during the 1920s. Small of build, balding, and raucous-voiced, he frequently ...

, and then Ted Healey.

Constance Collier Constance Collier (born Laura Constance Hardie; 22 January 1878 – 25 April 1955) was an English stage and film actress and acting coach. She wrote hit plays and films with Ivor Novello and she was the first person to be treated with insu ...

was to have played "Mrs. Llewellyn", before Alison Skipworth was borrowed from

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

for the role.

Critical response

Andre Sennwald in the ''New York Times'' wrote "Paul Lukas just isn't the Philo Vance type and his reticent drawing-room manner seems a feeble substitute for the dashing qualities which made

the best of the cinema Philos. Rosalind Russell works very hard at being agreeable in the

style, but with no vast success. Miss Skipworth, of course, is characteristically excellent as the foolish dowager, and there are good performances by Arthur Byron as the chief suspect and the comical Ted Healy as the halfwit detective. The best work in the film, though, is contributed by Isabel Jewell as the morbid and dipsomaniac daughter of the house." More recently, Turner Classic Movies called the film "a diverting series entry that was faithful to Van Dine's original story,", and Allmovie agreed that Paul Lukas "is simply not the right type for the part" and that "it is largely because of Lukas that the film is not one of the better entries in the series." The review characterizes the work of Alison Skipworth and Isabel Jewell as "excellent" and Eric Blore and Charles Sellon as "strong" performances, but says that Rosalind Russell "hasn't quite yet hit her stride here." As a result, the mix of comedy and mystery in the film "isn't as smooth as one might wish."Butler, Craig
"Review"
on

Allmovie.com AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was founded by popular-cult ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Casino Murder Case, The 1935 films American mystery films American black-and-white films 1930s English-language films Films scored by Dimitri Tiomkin Films based on American novels Films based on mystery novels Films directed by Edwin L. Marin Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films 1935 mystery films Poisoning in film Films with screenplays by Florence Ryerson Films with screenplays by Edgar Allan Woolf 1930s American films Philo Vance films