The Casino Murder Case (1935)

Sadly Over-hyped

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

Something new and a bit jarring was added to the Philo Vance series, a Philo Vance with an accent. In his one and only time playing S.S. Van Dine's fictional detective Paul Lukas plays a continental Philo, as charming as ever with a mind like a steel trap. Not quite William Powell or Warren William the best of the Vances.The reason why so many actors played Vance is that the estate of S.S. Van Dine sold the novels one at a time to various studios. Paramount, Warner Brothers, MGM, and last the B picture studio PRC all filmed various Vance stores of varying quality.Lukas gets himself involved with the Llewellyn family when he receives a note saying that Donald Cook will be killed at his uncle's casino that night. In fact he is poisoned, but survived. The same cannot be said for some other family members and friends. It takes a while, but Vance has to work through a maze of false clues before solving this one.One of the near victims is Rosalind Russell who said that this B film marked the first time she was given star billing in a film. She wasn't particularly fond of The Casino Murder Case, but in fact it did lead to better parts for her.Some of the others in the cast are Ted Healy as the garrulous Sergeant Heath, Louise Fazenda as a nosy maid, Isabell Jewell as an alcoholic daughter, Allison Skipworth as the family matriarch, Arthur Byron as the casino owner and Skipworth's brother, Leo G. Carroll as the butler, and Eric Blore as Lukas's valet. We see too little of him in The Casino Murder Case. The cast all perform as typed.Charles Sellon plays the Medical Examiner Dr. Doremus. He's a particularly important character in this film. It's all in the how here.

During the 1930s and 40s, Hollywood produced a long string of B-detective films such as Charlie Chan, the Falcon, Boston Blackie and Sherlock Holmes. One of these series that never seem to catch on despite many films in the series were the Philo Vance films. Now a few of them were very good and the series seemed to be going very well at first but unfortunately there was never a single actor to carry the films--and there were many different Philo Vances which confused the public and prevented their acceptance. As I said, it started well and those with William Powell were excellent, but after several films the studios replaced him with a wide variety of stars that never quite had the elegance and charm of Powell. Warren William (also of the Lone Wolf series), Grant Richards, Basil Rathbone, William Wright, Edmund Lowe and many others tried to fill his shoes, but with only indifferent results.About the strangest of the stars to play the role, though, was Paul Lukas. Now Lukas WAS a good actor but unfortunately he was also Hungarian and sounded much like Bela Lugosi!! This was definitely NOT the Philo Vance the public had come to expect, as he'd always been played by Americans or Brits! As a result, no matter how much Lukas tried, the film was bound to fail and I think it's among the worst of the Vance films I have seen. Now not all of this was due to Lukas, though he was pretty poor. The studio also managed to waste poor old Eric Blore who usually is a great supporting character who infuses some needed humor into a film. Here, he simply wasn't given a chance to get laughs or contribute much to the film.The plot itself wasn't bad, and the conclusion worked very well because I loved the bad guy's maniacal laugh as well as the way that Vance arranged for this guy to be killed, not captured! These interesting and off-beat aspects of the film manage to help the overall effort to be watchable, but that is all.FYI--Watch and listen to a young Rosalind Russell showing off her British accent. Before she was an established American star, she often used a British accent and sounded so convincing I really thought she might have been from the UK. Good job Roz!

Basil Rathbone. Warren William. William Powell. And now? Paul Lukas. All played Philo Vance in the movies up to 1935 when Lukas took his turn as the urbane, suave American detective Philo Vance. I really like Lukas as an actor, but I must agree with a previous review that stated how distracting his accent was and how much it affects his character's credibility. I had trouble forgetting about it(probably as every time he spoke I was reminded!). This time around, Vance gets a note warning him that a member of a rich family is going to be killed at a family-owned casino. Vance investigates and has a keen interest in the possibility of a crime being committed and even more interest in the rich matriarch's private secretary Rosiland Russell. Russell is really quite good as she has an excellent tough for light comedy - which this is undoubtedly more so than a mystery. The mystery at times almost seems to be in the way of some cute comedy sketches between various secondary characters only to be explained with some hugely wild plot contrivance dealing with hard water! While Lukas and the mystery are not up to what I usually expect from a Philo Vance film, the film is saved because the end resolution is at the very least interestingly inventive and there are some really fine character performances by Russell, William Demarest,Louise Fazenda, Isabel Jewell, Ted Healey, Leo G. Carroll, and two that really stand out for me - Charles Sellon as the always put-upon coroner(he keeps busy in this one) and the ever impregnable Eric Blore( a master of sophisticated comedy for man-servants).

PAUL LUKAS stars as Philo Vance in this trifle designed to entertain audiences with an intriguing murder mystery laced with comedy. The comedy is just so-so and the mystery is weighed down by some heavy-handed explanations involving "heavy water", a most curious plot device and one that Agatha Christie mercifully never thought of as a poison.ALISON SKIPWORTH is a wealthy eccentric woman whose murder prompts the arrival of Philo Vance on the scene. ISABEL JEWELL overacts in her usual style as the woman's daughter, while ROSALIND RUSSELL does considerably better as another household relative. LEO G. CARROLL handles his butler role efficiently and LOUISE FAZENDA is just slightly annoying as an eaves-dropping maid assigned most of the comedy relief.The mystery elements are handled in okay fashion but the use of "heavy water" as a plot device seems totally far-fetched. PAUL LUKAS does rather nicely as Philo Vance but it takes awhile to get used to him in the role often played by more debonair types.Nothing special, but passes the time pleasantly.