boblipton If you're looking for a decent classic mystery movie, then you might enjoy this one. Based on an Ellery Queen novel, it has Donald Cook (Queen) taking a vacation in California with his pal the judge (Berton Churchill). As they settle into their rented house and discuss the snooty family next door, they discover that the daughter of the family, Helen Twelvetrees, is tied up up the back room, her uncle has been kidnapped and the bodies are starting to pile up, while the local sheriff tries everyone as the murderer.It's more notable for being a good mystery than a good movie, even with the good acting talent involved, but if you've a taste for puzzle mysteries it should be a pleasant seventy-five minutes.

39-0-13 Donald Woods plays the detective in this film. He has the distinction of being among the few actors to portray at least two fictional sleuths on film or on TV. Woods played Perry Mason in 1937 in the movies, and Craig Kennedy in 1952 on TV. Hollywood sees certain actors playing detectives and casts them in roles that may seem at odds with the character known in books. Warren William as Perry Mason, Philo Vance, and Sam Spade; Wm Powell as Philo Vance and Nick Charles (The Thin Man). Bogart as Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe. The fictional Ellery Queen is a hard role to cast since the character in the books by Dannay and Lee changes over time as the series proceeds over nearly 40 years. The first several books which feature the word "mystery," a derivative of a country, and a common noun ("Dutch Shoe," "Greek Coffin," "French Powder," etc.) feature a detective as esthete, erudite and epicene as Philo Vance and Peter Wimsey. Then EQ is "humanized" and becomes more of a regular guy, but along the way he becomes faceless and without much character. He loses his pince-nez glasses and no longer drives a Duesenberg. He becomes just a problem solver with less than compelling personal problems. So he is then a mere great mind who can be played by any actor, and as time has gone on he has been -- Ralph Bellamy, Lee Bowman, Hugh Marlowe, George Nader, Jim Hutton, and whoever. None of these actors had the distinct personality to create a character on screen like Suchet did with Poirot or Brett with Sherlock. Cumberbatch as Sherlock, too. So Woods is a cipher as a character and as Ellery Queen. The most interesting thing about this oh-hum movie is wondering why Helen Twelvetrees didn't make better movies.

jonfrum2000 I gave this movie a try on YouTube, which is a real test. After all, I can always hit Pause and surf the web for something else. I finally gave up on this one at about 27 minutes, when the shouting, buffoonish detective drove me away.Let's have a look at it. The lead character, Ellery Queen, is on vacation and doesn't want to get involved. Now there's a cliché that was old when the movie was made. Unfortunately, I never find any reason to like Queen. He's just not played in an engaging manner. The fact that he - a young man - has gone on vacation for weeks with a guy who looks older than his father, just made me scratch my head. Was there really no other way to get him to the scene of the crime? Then comes the police detective, who needs to shout every line the script has given him. At half an hour in, I just wasn't hooked on the story, and I'm perfectly willing to write that time off to save myself from wasting even more.

MartinHafer If you see "The Spanish Cape Mystery", set your expectations accordingly. In other words, this is clearly a B-movie--with a relatively low budget and a somewhat familiar sort of story. It isn't intended to be an Oscar contender or high art--just dandy entertainment for the masses. And, in this capacity, it is very successful. I give this movie a 7 because it succeeds very well as a B-mystery--on par with the better Charlie Chan or Boston Blackie films.The film begins with a short little mystery involving Jack LaRue that is wrapped up in mere minutes. However, following this, viewers today KNOW that murders are about to occur. How is that? Well, Ellery (Donald Cook) and his friend, the judge (Berton Churchill), are going on vacation--and in B-mysteries and TV shows (like "Murder, She Wrote") this means that someone MUST die in order to keep the hero from his well-earned vacation! Heck, if I'd ever met any of these private detectives, I would have run for the hills because of this strong propensity for folks to die all around them!! However, Ellery is a bit different in that he doesn't seem all that inclined to investigate the murder. Instead, he'd rather just stand back and make fun of the dopey sheriff investigating. The sheriff, true to the cliché, is a bit of an idiot and he comes up with theories and then tries to find facts to prove his theory! Eventually, Ellery gets off his very sarcastic butt to help once a lady he's infatuated with (Helen Twelvetrees) is accused of the killings! And, not surprisingly, Ellery wraps everything up through the use of a ruse--a little trap--which, again, is a VERY familiar plot device for such a film.While it's obvious that this movie is very formulaic, it gets high marks anyway because the characters are fun. While Donald Cook was not a big-time actor, he did a very good job. It's a shame, then, that he was not asked to reprise the role--as he was the first and probably the best of them. Churchill was also nice, as he was a fun, blustery old guy in films and made for a different sort of sidekick. And, the film managed to do things well all around--with a slightly longer than usual running time for a B, good direction and decent production values. Fun and well worth seeing.