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Warner Bros. Pictures
Philo Vance Collection
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.
CinemaSerf
Apr 1, 2023 · via TMDB
This is an adequate afternoon B-feature that probably served more as a warning against fifth-columnists than it actually entertained anyone. It all centres around attempts by the Axis powers to obtain access to the designs of "Archer Coe" (the briefest of appearances from Richard Kipling). Now he has an exclusive arrangement with the Americans so when he is found murdered, it falls to the wily, suspicions and tenacious "Vance" (James Stephenson) to find out who the killers were and on whose malevolent behalf they were working? Did they manage to steal his secret plans? Now this is just a substantial reworking of "The Kennel Murder Case" (1933) - even down to whopping great chunks of the script being transferred, albeit updated, to allow for it's WWII scenario. Although all pretty lightweight and devoid of any real sense of jeopardy, Stephenson is actually quite engaging and there is a decent supporting effort from Edward Trophy ("Ryan") delivering some fun to this rather dry, procedural, crime drama. It's only an hour, and if you like the genre then there isn't really anything not to like - or memorable - about this.
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
James Stephenson
Philo Vance
Margot Stevenson
Hilda Lake
Henry O'Neill
Markham
Edward Brophy
Ryan
Sheila Bromley
Doris Delafield
Ralph Forbes
Tom McDonald
Donald Douglas
Philip Wrede
Martin Kosleck
Gamble
Jimmy Conlin
Dr. Doremus - Coroner
Edward Raquello
Eduardo Grassi
Creighton Hale
Du Bois - Fingerprint Man
Harry Strang
Hennessey - Markham's Assistant
Wedgwood Nowell
Brisbane Coe
Terry
MacTavish (uncredited)
Herbert Anderson
First Reporter (uncredited)
Egon Brecher
Austrian Judge (uncredited)
Harry Burns
Capt. Lugo (uncredited)
Yakima Canutt
Sorrento Sailor (uncredited)
Nat Carr
2nd Photographer (uncredited)
Glen Cavender
Train Porter Asked to Send Telegram (uncredited)
John Harron
Third Reporter (uncredited)
Stuart Holmes
Hertz (uncredited)
William Hopper
Clerk at Hotel Nino in Chicago (uncredited)
Olaf Hytten
Charles (uncredited)
George Irving
Avery (uncredited)
Marion Lessing
Mrs. Fritz Snauble (uncredited)
Frank Mayo
Doorman (uncredited)
George Reeves
Steamship Clerk (uncredited)
John J. Richardson
4h Reporter (uncredited)
Hans Schumm
Nazi Officer at Dock (uncredited)
Frank Wilcox
2nd Reporter (uncredited)
Maris Wrixon
Long-Distance Operator (uncredited)
William Clemens
Director
S.S. Van Dine
Novel
Night of Mystery
The Scarab Murder Case
Philo Vance's Secret Mission
The Casino Murder Case
The Ring
Philo Vance Returns
The Gracie Allen Murder Case
Philo Vance's Gamble
The Kennel Murder Case
The Greene Murder Case
Die Füchsin - Rachespiel
The Benson Murder Case
The Dragon Murder Case
The Canary Murder Case
The Garden Murder Case
The Bishop Murder Case
Lusty Wife: Temptation of Flesh
Danger in Blue 2
Swish.
It Burns!
A Violent Separation
Kill 'em All 2
The Black Book
The Blue Gardenia
The International
All the Devils Are Here
The Mean Season
God Is a Bullet
The Kennel Murder Case
The Mirror Crack'd
Marlowe
12 Rounds 3: Lockdown
Shimmer Lake
The Virtuoso
The Locksmith
Absolution
Suburbicon
Righteous Kill
Winter Kills
Thirteen at Dinner
Jan 27, 1940
Los Angeles, California
Feb 3, 1940
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2021
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1943
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1987 · 14 wins
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2000 · 12 wins
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2019 · 11 wins
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