Calling philo vance is a film directed by william clemens with james stephenson, margot stevenson, henry oneill, edward brophy, year. The dragon murder case 1934 featuring warren william as. He appeared in thirteen films between 1929 and 1947. James stephenson plays the titular gentleman sleuth, who must solve the murder of the inventor of a revolutionary new bombsight the original film concerned a championship dog race. Philo vance s secret mission is a 1947 american mystery film directed by reginald le borg and starring alan curtis, sheila ryan and tala birell. It stars the wonderful william powell, slinky natalie morehead.
Philo vance was the first private detective of the sound era. Philo vance, old time radio, 490315 million dollar murder case mp3. William powell was probably the best philo vance he had the requisite charm. Van dine the pen name of willard huntington wright, published in the 1920s and 1930s. Jimmy conlin and henry oneill in calling philo vance 1940 donald douglas and. Philo vance franchise list of movies, prequel and sequel. An escaped lunatic poses as famed detective silo dance in this musical comedy mystery set in an old dark house in this spoof of s. Calling philo vance original trailer trailer clip calling philo vance original trailer calling philo vance original trailer airing. There was a time when detective, crime, and murder mystery books had fallen into disrepute. Youll not only be supporting this website but you will be helping us to bring these fine shows back into public circulation and preserving the enjoyment of old time radio for everyone.
Calling philo vance is a 1940 american mystery comedy released by warner bros. Proving a reliable support in such films as boy meets girl 1938, you cant get. Philo vance philo vance needs a kick in the pance ogden nash. A private detective traces an aircraft manufacturer suspected of treason and is forced to find out why he was murdered. The gracie allen murder case 1939 with warren william as philo vance, billed below gracie allen. Van dine novels featuring the detective philo vance, starring various actors in the lead role.
I do recommend these films for lovers of 30s detectives, but not so much for lovers of philo vance unless youre good at. British stage actor james stephenson made his film debut quite late in life, at the age of 49, in 1937, making four pictures that year. Hastings mystery theater calling philo vance youtube. The plot is set in motion when a valuable emerald is smuggled into the u. After socialite lynn llewwllen receives an anonymous threat, he is poisoned at his uncles casino, and although he recovers, his wife is murdered by the same killer. Despite the changes, james stephenson makes a very good philo vance. William powell, mary astor, eugene pallette, ralph morgan. I have three major complaints about the title of the film. Philo vance murder case collection 2disc dvdr 1930.
The film also features henry oneill, edward brophy, sheila bromley and ralph forbes. Alan curtis philo vance, sheila ryan, tala birell, frank jenks, james bell, frank fenton, paul maxey. Van dines detective in calling philo vance 1940 based on the book the kennel murder case video formats. Once a week a day loaded with thin man, the whistler, the falcon, philo vance, charlie chan. List of films, prequel and sequel in philo vance franchise. The dilettante detective stylishly sleuths his way through some of his most famous cases in this 3disc, 6 film collection. With paul lukas, alison skipworth, donald cook, rosalind russell. Imo, paul lukas was the weakest of the six actors in this sethis heavy accent simply does not fit the urbane, sophisticated philo vance. Philo of alexandria, sometimes known as philo judaeus, was a firstcentury philosopher who was born sometime between 1530 bc in alexandria, egypt. We offer other old time detective and investigator radio shows.
While the climax may be a bit of a clunker on this one, william, here as philo vance, plays the part as smart as william powell ever did, with just enough touches of humor to keep his vance human. Philo vance was responsible for putting detective, crime, and murder mystery books back on the literary map. Philo is in vienna working for the us government to see if archer coe is selling aircraft designs to foreign powers. Powells role as philo vance is not the actors first performance as the aristocratic sleuth.
The first two, canary and greene filmed in 1929 were pretty hard going. Calling philo vance was adapted from the kennel murder case, and is almost a scene by scene remake of the superior earlier picture, but still has its own charms. Philo vance lost films collection my video classics. In this film, hes called in as a whole family named greene, rich society folks like vance himself keeps getting knocked off one at a time. Philo vance james stephenson was dispatched by the u. Van dine wrote that he was an aristocrat by birth and instinct, he held himself severely aloof from the common world of men.
He still has his beautiful place in the country, money, servants. Van dine wrote a number of murder mystery novels and created the character of detective philo vance. The casino murder case 1935 the garden murder case 1936 calling. He grabs the plans with archers signature, but is captured by police before he can escape. Van dines philo vance stands out because of the sheer number of studios four that. Stephenson, who started in films late in life after stage work, was on his way to a big career when he made calling philo vance unfortunately, he died the next year, at the age of 53. Among the many screen detective series of the 1930s and 1940s, s.
All calling philo vance movie posters,high res movie posters image for calling philo vance. As usual, he is able to get the job done and finds hard evidence of coes crimes, but he is nabbed before. Philo vance first appearancethe benson murder case last appearancethe winter murder case created bys. James stephenson appears as philo vance in this stripped down remake of the kennel murder case, which is available here at ia in the video cellar collection. Vance, in the original books, is an intellectual so highly refined he seems he might be ghostwritten by p. Overview of calling philo vance, 1940, directed by william clemens, with james stephenson, margot stevenson, henry oneill, at turner classic movies. You can find more episodes in the ear benders section. Jun 20, 2019 philo vance, old time radio, 500228 the big nick murder case partial mp3 by the classic archives old time radio channel. The last of william powells four philo vance movies to hit youtube, i hope this is not infringing on any s.
The only reason i am not getting on the trial of philo is the phone number request to sign up and looking at certain post on this sub. Van dines popular mystery, the first warners film to feature noted society sleuth philo vance. During that time, vance was immensely popular in books, movies, and on the. The bishop murder case 1930, the kennel murder case 1933, the dragon murder case 1934, the casino murder case 1935, the garden murder case 1936, calling philo vance 1940.
A member of the jewish diaspora, he was raised with a jewish and greek education, giving him an impressive status in a nonjewish city like alexandria. They tried to turn philo vance into a simon templar, boston blackie, or other thorn it the side of the police. This is a remake of the earlier philo vance film, the kennel murder case made in 1932 with william powell as vance. This home of his is the visual setting for this classic philo vance story, made into an early talkie movie. Set during the beginning of world war ii, the dog show introduction of the earlier film is replaced with a prologue showing vance trying to retrieve a set of airplane blueprints vienna. The film also features henry oneill, edward brophy, sheila bromley and. And a veritable rogues gallery of golden age gentlemen actors all take a crack at philo, including william powell, warren william and basil rathbone. It was directed by william clemens from a screenplay by. Philo vance has often confided to his friend markham, new yorks district attorney, that he would love to have the chance of all the books that have some claim to being considered classics of the crime genre none have divided readers quite so dramatically as s. Van dines detective in calling philo vance 1940 based on the book the kennel murder case. Philo vance in the books was also more like sherlock holmes in that he had no romantic interests in women so his film persona coming to the aid of the lady in distress, i guess was necessary for films of the time. He grabs the plans with archers signature, but is captured by police.
Calling philo vance 1940 directed by william clemens. Calling philo vance 1940 trying to get information on airline mogul and accused spy archer coe richard kipling, sleuth philo vance james stephenson soon finds himself investigating a murder. Van dine pen name of willard huntington wright in a series of detective novels beginning in 1927. I guess it was natural for this series to enter the foreign agent storyline since it was released during ww2 but it still makes for a pretty poor film. If you enjoyed listening to these old time radio shows, please let us know by making a donation. Calling philo vance 1940 rotten tomatoes movie trailers. After collecting a set of clues, a player may accuse one of the suspects, and if enough of their clues match the suspect, the suspect can be arrested and brought to court. Van dine, creator of philo vance and once the most famous american writer of detective stories, has sadly slipped in recent years, not entirely deservedly. This would be the first of warren williams many screen detective appearances. A wealthy american graduate of the university of oxford, vance is a cultivated but snobbish man of wideranging interests and talents. Calling philo vance 1940 12 out of 4 in this entry, philo vance james stephenson is working with the u. Calling philo vance 1940 this b remake of the kennel murder case is pretty good on its own terms, weaving espionage into the plot and making vance more actionoriented. Philo vance is a fictional character featured in 12 crime novels written by s. Calling philo vance 1940 very loosely based on the kennel murder case with james stephenson as philo vance.
Taken, like most of the vance films, fairly faithfully from van dines. Listen to classic philo vance radio shows in mp3 format for free. A location number of 111 indicates i have the show in my collection, but they havent yet been assigned a location number. Calling philo vance 1940 changes the movie database tmdb. Description philo vance murder case collection starring william powell and warren william. Van dines detective in calling philo vance 1940 based on the book the kennel murder case view the tcmdb entry for calling philo vance 1940. As several people have pointed out to me over the years, philo vance was a private eye, and it would be unfair for me to exclude him from this site. The gem promptly disappears, resulting in two murders. This game, based on popular 1920s and 30s fictional detective philo vance, revolves around each player trying to collect a set of clue cards which matches one of ten suspect, whose attributes are kept hidden in play.
Calling philo vance 1940 approved 1h 2min crime, mystery, thriller 3 february 1940 usa despite an exclusive contract with the u. Calling philo vance is a 1940 american mysterycomedy released by warner bros. The quality of the transfers was good, as was the sound. In fact, he rather enjoyed taking on the sophisticated whodunnit. This films earliest documented telecasts took place in tucson friday 5. Though kennel is one of the better philo vance novels, this adaptation of the eponymous book represents the rare case where a film is better than the original story which would not film well if precisely represented on screen because of 1 the psychological issues which would be hard to depict, and 2 the novels culminating violent scene. Vance was immensely popular in books, movies, and on the radio. The benson murder case kicked off the series in 1926. It should be noted that, calling philo vance is a remake of, the kennel murder case, and it suffers in comparison. Calling philo vance 1940 cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. They call kennel the best adaptation of van dines work. This is a nice little set of movieseach viewer will form hisher own opinions about the various actors and how wellpoorly they come across as vance.
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. Philo vance s gamble 1947 with alan curtis as philo vance. The greene murder case was william powells second of four ventures in the role of society detective philo vance. Calling philo vance is a perfunctory remake of 1933s the kennel murder case, which many aficionados consider the best of the vance films. They starred william powell and he would return to star in the benson murder case and the best of the vance. It was part of a series of films featuring the detective philo vance made during the 1930s and 1940s the film s sets were designed by the art directors edward c. This being 1940 though the films throws in a spy angle with vance working for the state department to stop some top secret plans. The philo vance murder case collection dvd 1930 region 1 us. During that time, vance was immensely popular in books, movies, and on the radio. Calling philo vance the philo vance murder case collection.
Van dine aka willard huntington wright in march 1980, jon l. This film is a close adaptation of the novel, with only a few minor variations. The kennel murder case 1933 michael curtiz continued his rise to the top at warner bros. Government trying to determine if a man sold war plans to a foreign agent. Breen wrote in ellery queens mystery magazine, the reputation of s. The kennel murder case is a 1933 american precode mystery film adapted from the 1933 novel of the same name by s. Philo vance, accompanied by his prizelosing scottish terrier, investigates the lockedroom murder of a prominent and muchhated collector whose broken chinese vase provides an important clue. The second of prcs trio of philo vance mysteries, philo vance s gamble stars alan curtis as s. Van dine, philo vance is a freelance detective whose best friend, district attorney markham, keeps him supplied with his favorite cases. Philo vance returns 1947 with william wright as philo vance. The benson murder case is a great whodunit classic movie.