Movie Review: The Casino Murder Case (1935) directed by Edwin L. Marin
We begin our story with urbane amateur detective Philo Vance (Paul Lukas) fencing with his manservant Currie (Eric Blore). This is part of Vance’s recent exercise kick, and Currie has been dragged into it as well. More relevantly to the plot, an anonymous letter arrives warning that a certain young man is in danger if he goes to the casino tonight! Philo uses an auction house ruse to obtain access to the man’s home and family.
The family is led by Mrs. Priscilla Kinkaid Llewellyn (Alison Skipworth), a wealthy widow with a dark past of mental illness. Her brother Richard Kinkaid (Arthur Byron) a former chemist, lives with her though he’s now got a successful casino business running. Priscilla’s son Llyn Llewellyn (Donald Cook) is the presumptive heir. His wife Virginia (Louise Henry) is a singer/dancer who chafes under her mother-in-law and wants to go back on the stage. Daughter Amelia (Isabel Jewell) has a drinking problem and is romantically involved with the family doctor Dr. Kane (Leslie Fenton). There are also several live-in servants, including pretty secretary Doris Reed (Rosalind Russell), put-upon maid Becky (Louise Fazenda) and even more put upon manservant Smith (Leo G. Carroll).
Philo Vance swiftly realizes his best bet is to recruit Miss Reed to work with him. He shows her the letter (typed on her typewriter) and introduces her to District Attorney John Markham (Purnell Pratt), who assigns police sergeant Ernest Heath (Ted Healy) to assist in protecting Llyn. But at the casino that night, none of them are able to prevent Llyn from being poisoned somehow. Quick action prevents Llyn from dying, but then it’s learned that his wife Virginia was somehow poisoned at the same time at home, and she was not so lucky.
Philo must figure out this maze of hidden motivations and red herrings as additional poisonings and at least one more death pile up. His attempts at making sure at least one member of the family survives are hampered by the District Attorney deciding two-thirds of the way through that the case is closed!
Good: Doris is a fun sidekick for the movie, as she’s read the S.S. Van Dine novels. (In-universe, Van Dine is a friend and biographer of Philo Vance, though his character is skipped in these movies.) She’s willing to flirt with the famous detective and even make fun of him a bit.
There’s some use of cutting edge science (though mostly as a red herring), a neat bit of “diegetic” music, and I liked that Becky gets her own reasonably happy ending.
Sardonic coroner Dr. Doremus (Charles Sellon) is a delight in his minor role.
Less Good: Paul Lukas’ accent just doesn’t fit his character, especially when he’s given some difficult to pronounce dialogue.
There’s some dubious stuff around the topic of mental illness.
As usual in the Vance movies, the police have to be made particularly stupid so that Philo can be necessary to solve the case. with Sargeant Heath basically being a comic relief character in an already comedy-heavy movie.
Content note: Murder, suicide, gun violence (no blood), alcohol abuse, some dubious use of non-white characters in cameo roles (though I did love the deadpan reading of “Made in Japan”, outdated attitudes towards mental illness (“hysteria” is used as a medical diagnosis.)
Overall: One of the lesser entries in the Philo Vance series, but very tolerable if you know that going in. Recommended to fans of comedic mysteries.
