The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1939)

Very Cool!!!

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

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

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

This black and white film with Gracie Allen is very funny.She is on a picnic and meets a man named Bill who later is accused of killing a convict just let out of jail.She sings and has a really beautiful voice when she is not adding confusion to her singing. The film is just full of comedy mostly by her. She has the ability to talk funny and confuse people with her babble like on the George Burns and Gracie Allen Show.She tries to help Bill by going into an apartment that might have clues to the man that was murdered. This apartment scene is so funny. She stumbles, falls, crashes into furniture in the dark mostly out of fear. She gets attached to a piece of furniture she thinks is a person following her and wrestles it to the ground. She gets tangled in drapes, sees a woman in the mirror and gets scared and does not realize she saw herself but thinks it is another another woman in the dark room. You will gets lots of laughs, some very stupid moments but also very funny.See the film or download on YouTube --> The Gracie Allen Murder Case 1939 --> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=658fHZLgyoQ

I don't even think you've got to be a Philo Vance fan or a classic mystery buff to be utterly disappointed by this movie; but if you've seen other Philo Vance movies beforehand, this one will surely make you wonder WHO on earth had the idea to try and combine one of his cases with a Gracie Allen comedy.I usually try and put myself in the place of the audience of the time to find out why a movie that doesn't appeal to me at all today was popular then - but in this case, that's not even necessary, because even then it was a flop; and that's no wonder.Gracie Allen was a very popular radio comedy star together with her husband George Burns; and their domestic little jokes obviously appealed to quite a lot of fans who weren't too hard to please. I've got some of their broadcasts on cassette, and it's - well, just VERY light comedy, much lighter than, for example, W.C. Fields, Bergen & McCarthy, or even Abbott and Costello. But it was comedy, and it was popular.The 'Philo Vance' movie series, on the other hand, which had started 10 years before this movie was made, was composed of classic murder mysteries, with suspense, clever plots - and humor; Philo Vance's OWN kind of dry, slightly sarcastic gentleman's humor. That was just about enough humor those films needed to lighten up the atmosphere of crime and murder a little bit, and it was intelligent and well-dosed and in a way quite charming. And then, since the success of the long-running film series seemed to fade a little, the producers seemed to try a NEW feature that would radically alter the style, and (hence the title) lure more people into the theaters with the big name of Gracie Allen.But what was the result? Unsuspecting Gracie Allen fans were probably scared by the murder plot, the strangers lurking in dark apartments, the poisoned flowers and cigarettes (which they only described as smelling like 'bitter almond', not even bothering to mention that this, as everybody who has read or watched more than two or three murder mysteries, means of course cyanide, or prussic acid...) - while Philo Vance fans must have simply gone MAD with rage at this nut case who doesn't stop talking nonsense for a single moment, until they probably wished somebody would at last murder HER...Don't get me wrong, I LOVE crime comedies, from "Arsenic and Old Lace" to "Murder by Death" to "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" - but all those WERE real crime comedies, parodies on the genre without losing the grip on the suspense and the atmosphere of the genre itself. They don't try to mix PURE comedy with PURE mystery, like "The Gracie Allen Murder Case" did - but the outcome is neither a comedy nor a mystery; and it's CERTAINLY not recommended for serious fans of serious classic murder mysteries.

Warren William makes the second of his two appearances as S.S. Van Dine's detective Philo Vance in this picture. But actor William and detective Vance both have a lot of trouble making sure people remembered they were in The Gracie Allen Murder Case.Even without George Burns to pace their routine Gracie Allen does well enough on her own in this film where she seemingly hinders more than she helps William solve the murder of an escaped convict. Seemingly stood up at a society bash Jed Prouty pairs off young Kent Taylor with his niece Gracie. Inadvertently Taylor gives Gracie a clue to the murder that he doesn't yet know about but of whom he is neatly being slipped into a nice frame.Of course Gracie's non sequitur babbling almost lands Taylor in Sing Sing's prize chair and then she almost implicates Vance in her own special la-de-da way.Although William seems to be taking this all in stride he's barely keeping up with Gracie in the title role. Both Donald MacBride as DA Markham and William Demarest as Sergeant Heath both known for their slow burns are given ample provocation by Gracie.It's Gracie's picture and if you've never seen her before this film will make you a fan even if it's without George Burns.

A Philo Vance tale was created for Gracie Allen by her friend author and creator of Philo Vance SS Van Dine. the plot has Gracie going to her uncle's picnic where she's set up with a nice young man from her uncle's factory. the young man loves another girl but her figures to show Gracie a good time to make his girl jealous. While at a night club Gracie stumbles on a dead body and all evidence points to her chaperon. Philo Vance is brought in to help solve the case and the pairing of Allen and Vance (whom Gracie calls Fido) is on.An odd ball comedy mystery that doesn't really work as a mystery however the interplay between Gracie (sans George Burns) and Warren William as Vance is priceless. Actually Gracie and anyone is cause for sustained giggling. She is simply not one to be anything less than silly and it helps get us through a mystery that doesn't really work (we aren't given any real clues). One hopes that the novel that resulted from this screen pairing reads better as a mystery. Then again why would anyone in their right mind watch a Gracie Allen movie for anything other that the silliness A enjoyable but unremarkable comedy this film is worth the 75 minutes. As a mystery you're better off looking else where.