With William Powell moving on to MGM and "The Thin Man", Warren William takes over the role of detective Philo Vance in this entry.
A party is being held at the Stamm residence where it seems, everybody hates every body else. The "party" is being held in honor of the forthcoming wedding of playboy Monty Montegue (George Meeker) and Bernice Stramm (Margaret Lindsey). Bernice is less than enthusiastic over the wedding being in love with childhood sweetheart Dale Leland (Lyle Talbot) Host Rudolph Stamm (Robert Barrat) seemingly is getting himself falling down drunk. Others in attendance are Ruby Steele (Dorothy Tree) who has a past with Monty, Greef (William Davidson), the oily Tatum (George E. Stone) and of course, the butler Trainor (Arthur Aylsworth).
The group decides to go for a swim in "The Dragon Pond". Monte, Greff and Leland all dive in. Montegue who is an expert swimmer fails to re-surface. All efforts to find him fail. Greef calls the police. D.A. Markham (Robert McWade), Philo Vance (Williams) and Sgt. Heath (Eugene Palette) rush to the scene.
Vance orders the pool drained but they find only what appears to be dragon footprints in the mud. Weird old Mrs. Stamm (Helen Lowell) spins a tale about the ancient curse of the dragon. They finally locate Montegue's body in a pot hole away from the pool. Coroner Dr. Doremus (Etienne Giradot) examines the body and finds claw like marks on Montegue's neck.
Vance's investigation leads him to the family crypt wherein he finds a scuba diving outfit with gloves and flippers that resemble dragon claws and footprints. Hmmmmmm. He also discovers the body of Greef who apparently was getting too close to the killer. To reveal more at this point would give away the ending. Rest assured, Vance identifies the killer and all live happily ever after.
Warren William's performance as Vance reminded me of Basil Rathbone's interpretation of Vance in "The Bishop Murder Case" (1929). Both gave wooden performances not even coming close to that of William Powell in five Vance films. Eugene Palette steals this film as the gravel voiced detective.
A party is being held at the Stamm residence where it seems, everybody hates every body else. The "party" is being held in honor of the forthcoming wedding of playboy Monty Montegue (George Meeker) and Bernice Stramm (Margaret Lindsey). Bernice is less than enthusiastic over the wedding being in love with childhood sweetheart Dale Leland (Lyle Talbot) Host Rudolph Stamm (Robert Barrat) seemingly is getting himself falling down drunk. Others in attendance are Ruby Steele (Dorothy Tree) who has a past with Monty, Greef (William Davidson), the oily Tatum (George E. Stone) and of course, the butler Trainor (Arthur Aylsworth).
The group decides to go for a swim in "The Dragon Pond". Monte, Greff and Leland all dive in. Montegue who is an expert swimmer fails to re-surface. All efforts to find him fail. Greef calls the police. D.A. Markham (Robert McWade), Philo Vance (Williams) and Sgt. Heath (Eugene Palette) rush to the scene.
Vance orders the pool drained but they find only what appears to be dragon footprints in the mud. Weird old Mrs. Stamm (Helen Lowell) spins a tale about the ancient curse of the dragon. They finally locate Montegue's body in a pot hole away from the pool. Coroner Dr. Doremus (Etienne Giradot) examines the body and finds claw like marks on Montegue's neck.
Vance's investigation leads him to the family crypt wherein he finds a scuba diving outfit with gloves and flippers that resemble dragon claws and footprints. Hmmmmmm. He also discovers the body of Greef who apparently was getting too close to the killer. To reveal more at this point would give away the ending. Rest assured, Vance identifies the killer and all live happily ever after.
Warren William's performance as Vance reminded me of Basil Rathbone's interpretation of Vance in "The Bishop Murder Case" (1929). Both gave wooden performances not even coming close to that of William Powell in five Vance films. Eugene Palette steals this film as the gravel voiced detective.