boblipton
In between being bested of the leading lady in numerous comedies, Ralph Bellamy played Ellery Queen in the second of four mysteries for Columbia. It's a nicely tangled murder. Noel Madison has been asked by the Chinese government to bring some gems to New York to be auctioned for poor relief. When he turns up dead in a trunk, with the jewels missing, there are plenty of people to suspect, and plenty of talent on view, including Margaret Lindsay as girlfriend/secretary Nikki Porter, Charley Grapewin as Inspector Queen, Anna May Wong, Charles Lane, Mantan Moreland, Theodore von Eltz... lots of familiar faces for fans of old movies. Director James Hogan directs efficiently with no particular flair, but with his fine company, it's an enjoyable trifle and mystery fans should have no issue with the rules of the game.
albrechtcm
In his heyday, Ellery Queen made good reading and was justly popular. Hollywood, in its usual wisdom, made a mockery of poor Ellery. Although Ellery Queen appears as author of these screenplays, they were actually written by contract screen writers. We'll never know whose idea it was to turn Ellery into a comedian. All the Ellery films were on par with most of the stuff of the thirties and early forties, but that is not a compliment. Trite plots, corny situations and some absolutely terrible choices for the roles. The later Ellery, Ralph Bellamy, a wonderful actor, was badly miscast and looked awkward and was completely out of step with his character. Inspector Queen as well, and they made a clown out of Sergeant Velie à la Thin Man Series (much classier films). Only in the seventies with Jim Hutton, David Wayne and Tom Reese did Hollywood finally get it right. All three of these fine actors were perfectly cast for the parts they played, and displayed the intelligence one should expect. The highlight of this outing was the unexpected appearance of Mantan Moreland. A servile part, but he was always a pleasure to watch. Despite their shortcomings, I watch the old detective movies anyway when they come around, even if they are silly. It brings back the good old days, scrunched in a dark theater with a bag of popcorn in hand, all for 15 cents. For that I'll cut them some slack.
bkoganbing
Noel Madison who is a professional ventriloquist and also something of an international man of mystery is given a fortune in jewels to take from China to New York. The money from the sail is to provide war relief for the starving Chinese people. But complications do ensue.When Madison disappears his daughter Ann Doran seeks out her friend Margaret Lindsay. In the only reference to a previous Queen film that I've seen so far she compliments her on assisting Ellery Queen in the John Braun death from Ellery Queen Master Detective.With such a flattering reference how could Ralph Bellamy resist a call for assistance. Bellamy finds the dead Mr. Madison stuffed in a trunk about to be shipped to Chicago.Bellamy has a nice collection of suspects including the mysterious Anna May Wong, business manager Russell Hicks, another man of mystery Eduardo Ciannelli to name three. Eventually the murder is solved and quite frankly I guessed who it was, but the motive came out of left field.Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery was the second of four with Ralph Bellamy, dare I say it, the best of the movie Queens.
gridoon2018
A ventriloquist is sent on a mission to smuggle some priceless jewels from China to New York, but almost as soon as he arrives there, he gets killed and the jewels are nowhere to be found. His daughter happens to be a friend of Nikki Porter, who is now working as Ellery Queen's secretary. And that's how Ellery himself gets involved in the case, although he insists that all he wants to do is finish writing his latest book. The second entry in the Ralph Bellamy - Ellery Queen series (and fourth film starring this character in total) is occasionally fun to watch, especially thanks to the delightful Margaret Lindsay as Nikki Porter and the comic relief provided by Inspector Queen's dim-witted assistants, but suffers from a shockingly weak "climax" - the entire solution to this rather complex case is over and done with in about 30 seconds with as little fanfare as possible. ** out of 4.
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