The Spanish Cape Mystery (1935)

Excellent adaptation.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

1935's The Spanish Cape Mystery is an Ellery Queen story starring Donald Cook as Ellery and Helen Twelvetrees. Now, that's a name out of the past! She stopped working in 1939.Ellery Queen goes on vacation to California with one Judge Macklin. They stay at a rented cabin, and before they know it, they are engulfed in murder and mystery. It all involves the Godfrey family who live on the Spanish Cape in a fabulous showplace.Ellery, smitten with Stella (Twelvetrees) tries to stay out of it, but too many murders, and the police detective arresting a new person every day, means he must step in. I have seen Ralph Bellamy do Ellery, and he's a warmer actor, more sarcastic, and more interesting than Cook, who nevertheless enjoyed a prolific career in film and on stage. Considering this film was probably made in a few days it's not bad. It's a little stagy, and the police detective yells at the top of his lungs through the whole movie, which is annoying.I enjoyed the opportunity to see Helen Twelvetrees. I found Donald Cook on the bland side, but Ellery is a cerebral detective, and it's easy to see why he wouldn't register much personality. I did like it, though not as much as some of the other Ellery Queen films.

The first Ellery Queen story to hit the big screen was The Spanish Cape Mystery and it starred Donald Cook as the intellectual crime solver and mystery writer. After solving a jewel theft, Cook decides he needs a vacation and he and Judge Berton Churchill take a cottage on the California coast.But no sooner do they get there than they get involved with a whole series of murders perpetrated against the Godfrey family who have gathered together. All the possible heirs to a fortune are there as the bodies start dropping. Cook develops a special interest in the family, especially in regard to Helen Twelvetrees. He also as a nasty antagonistic relationship with the local sheriff Harry Stubbs who finally has come begging for Cook's help.I have to say that Cook was all right in the part, not as bad as Eddie Quillan the following year. This film and Quillan's were made by Republic Pictures, but when the Ellery Queen series was picked up again it was by Columbia where Ralph Bellamy took over the part. Bellamy was far better in what my conception of Ellery Queen was.Still this one is all right and competently made.

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.

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.