Calling Philo Vance

1940 ""

Calling Philo Vance

5.8 | 1h2m | en | Crime

Philo is in Vienna working for the US Government to see if Archer Coe is selling aircraft designs to foreign powers. He grabs the plans with Archer's signature, but is captured by police before he can escape. Deported he comes back to America and plans to confront Archer, but Archer is found dead in his locked bedroom with a gun in his hand. While it looks like a suicide, Vance knows better and the coroner finds that Archer has been shot, hit with a blunt instrument and stabbed - making suicide unlikely. But Vance is on the case and is looking to see if government secrets have been sold and who has murdered Coe. This is a remake of "The Kennel Murder Case" using aircraft designs and espionage instead of Chinese porcelain and dog shows.

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5.8 | 1h2m | en | Crime , Mystery | More Info

Released: February. 03,1940 | Released Producted By: Warner Bros. Pictures , Country: Budget: 0 Revenue: 0 Official Website:

Synopsis

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Cast

James Stephenson , Margot Stevenson , Henry O'Neill

Director

Ted Smith

Producted By

Warner Bros. Pictures ,

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Trailers & Images

Cast

James Stephenson

as Philo Vance

Flight from Destiny The Sea Hawk A Dispatch from Reuters The Letter South of Suez Murder in the Air River's End Calling Philo Vance King of the Underworld

Margot Stevenson

as Hilda Lake

Castle on the Hudson Calling Philo Vance Granny Get Your Gun Flight Angels

Henry O'Neill

as Markham

Untamed Scandal Sheet Scarlet Angel The Family Secret The Milkman Convicted Alias Nick Beal Holiday Affair Strange Bargain

Reviews

blanche-2 This is a remake of the "Kennel Murder Case" with Philo Vance (James Stephenson) going after some U.S. airplane plans sold to a foreign nation; the designer of the plans and his brother both wind up murdered, and there are plenty of suspects.William Powell was probably the best Philo Vance - he had the requisite charm. Stephenson, who started in films late in life after stage work, was on his way to a big career when he made "Calling Philo Vance" - unfortunately, he died the next year, at the age of 53. As with "The Dragon Murder Case" with Warren William as Vance, the supporting players have the good lines and the energetic roles. Stephenson doesn't have a lot to work with, but he's okay.Parts of this film are interesting, it's a little better than "The Dragon Murder Case," which isn't really saying much.

bkoganbing Warner Brothers probably of all the studios loved remaking its films. I guess Jack Warner thought it saved on buying new properties. Calling Philo Vance after a brief prologue updating the story to have Vance working for the State Department investigating the theft of airplane designs, it becomes almost a word for word remake of The Kennel Murder Case. Even the character names remain the same. Whole bits of dialog from the original are reused in this one.Too bad they couldn't have gotten William Powell as well. But he was over at MGM keeping Nora and Asta in line. So James Stephenson became the latest in a long line of Vances. Philo Vance would soon fade from the screen.Stephenson is serviceable, but lacks Powell's unique debonair charm. And of course we've seen it all before.

tedg Spoilers herein.There are two kinds of films: those that simply talk to you, and those that have an engaging conversation of some type. There are an amazing number and variety of the second type, with the prototype being the detective story. In its pure form it is an intimate wrestling match for control over what happens next in your imagination. This is interesting because it is something in between. The detective story is very clever in the situation it presents. But it is not given as a game, instead all we can do and watch as the story surprises us with its various confabulations. Its titillating being on the edge.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

Arthur Hausner This remake of Kennel Murder Case, The (1933) has some good points, but James Stephenson is not one of them. He plays it too impersonal for my taste and pales by comparison with William Powell, who played Vance in the original. But the screenplay, which was updated for the war that loomed on the horizon, was nicely developed, concerning plans for a warplane. The setting was switched to the State Department, with Vance an employed investigator instead of a private eye. I really enjoyed how he used diagrams to explain the movement of the people involved in the murder of the warplane designer, so that in the end, the actions of all were clear. The film also had the advantage of having Edward Brophy in the Sergeant Heath role (here he's called Ryan), bringing comedy without the stupidity of the Heath character. It was rather fun to watch.