Review of The Benson Murder Case

I have no doubt that "The Benson Murder Case" must have wowed audiences when it came out in 1930; the main plot gimmick is ingenious. However, since then this gimmick (or others close to it) has been used so many times (even by Agatha Christie herself!) that it has lost some of its luster. The pacing can also be torturously slow at times. But, on the positive side, there are a couple of startling moments, like the bullet that suddenly breaks through a car window and wounds a man, or what is possibly one of the first flashbacks ever put on film. Personally I preferred Basil Rathbone as Philo Vance ("The Bishop Murder Case"), but William Powell is adequate as well. Eugene Palette provides some welcome comic relief (his best line, after a reporter asks who-done-it: "The four Marx Brothers!"), and Natalie Moorhead, playing a very pre-code character, wears a sexy backless dress in several scenes. **1/2 out of 4.