"The Garden Murder Case" from MGM boasts a cast that includes three former silent screen stars. As Philo Vance we have Edmund Lowe (What Price Glory? - 1926), H.B. Warner (King of Kings (1927) and Henry B. Walthall (The Birth of a Nation - 1915) as well as an excellent supporting cast.
Edmund Lowe makes an excellent Philo Vance. He has the poise and class of an upper crust detective unlike some of the previous actors (William Powell excepted) who played the part.
The film opens during "a day at the races" where millionaire Lowe Hammle (Gene Lockhart) is holding court, counting his winnings. With him are his niece Zalia Graem (Virginia Bruce), Mr. and Mrs. Fenwicke-Ralston (Warner, Frieda Inescourt), and gigilo Woode Swift (Kent Smith) who is pursuing Zalia much to the dismay of Hammle and jockey Floyd Garden (Douglas Walton) who seems to be in some sort of trance. Joining the group is Philo Vance (Lowe).
Floyd mutters that he must fall and break his neck as he mounts his horse for the next race. He does just that. Vance rushes to his side but he dies. Vance becomes suspicious. D.A. Marham (Grant Mitchell) and Sgt. Heath (Nat Pendleton) take up the case. They meet at Hammle's 22 room Apartment where we learn that everyone hates him for one reason or another. You knoe what's likely to happen to him at some point.
Zalia hates to be under her uncle's control, Nurse Beeton (Benita Hume is trying to blackmail him over a previous affair, Swift is suddenly transferred to South America to get him away from Zalia and Dr. Garden (Walthall) is distraught of his son Floyd's untimely death. Later a shot rings out and a woman's scream is heard. Hammle is found murdered in his office. Enter cranky coroner Dr. Dorameous (Etienne Girodot) who determines how the man died.
Vance suspects that a woman is guilty because of the weapon that was chosen for the murder. Hammle's crusty old mother (Jesse Ralph) begins accusing Zalia of the crime. Vance takes pity (or more than pity) on the young woman. Mrs. Fenwick-Ralston comes down the stairs apparently oblivious to her surroundings and boards a bus and unexpectedly commits suicide by jumping off the double decker.
While walking with Zaliia, the pair are forced to take refuse from a storm in a museum, Vance has a revelation when he shows Zalia how a python hypnotizes his intended victim. He now realizes how the crimes were committed. He confronts the killer who then apparently hypnotizes Vance and.............................................................
One of the better non-Powell entries in the series.
Edmund Lowe makes an excellent Philo Vance. He has the poise and class of an upper crust detective unlike some of the previous actors (William Powell excepted) who played the part.
The film opens during "a day at the races" where millionaire Lowe Hammle (Gene Lockhart) is holding court, counting his winnings. With him are his niece Zalia Graem (Virginia Bruce), Mr. and Mrs. Fenwicke-Ralston (Warner, Frieda Inescourt), and gigilo Woode Swift (Kent Smith) who is pursuing Zalia much to the dismay of Hammle and jockey Floyd Garden (Douglas Walton) who seems to be in some sort of trance. Joining the group is Philo Vance (Lowe).
Floyd mutters that he must fall and break his neck as he mounts his horse for the next race. He does just that. Vance rushes to his side but he dies. Vance becomes suspicious. D.A. Marham (Grant Mitchell) and Sgt. Heath (Nat Pendleton) take up the case. They meet at Hammle's 22 room Apartment where we learn that everyone hates him for one reason or another. You knoe what's likely to happen to him at some point.
Zalia hates to be under her uncle's control, Nurse Beeton (Benita Hume is trying to blackmail him over a previous affair, Swift is suddenly transferred to South America to get him away from Zalia and Dr. Garden (Walthall) is distraught of his son Floyd's untimely death. Later a shot rings out and a woman's scream is heard. Hammle is found murdered in his office. Enter cranky coroner Dr. Dorameous (Etienne Girodot) who determines how the man died.
Vance suspects that a woman is guilty because of the weapon that was chosen for the murder. Hammle's crusty old mother (Jesse Ralph) begins accusing Zalia of the crime. Vance takes pity (or more than pity) on the young woman. Mrs. Fenwick-Ralston comes down the stairs apparently oblivious to her surroundings and boards a bus and unexpectedly commits suicide by jumping off the double decker.
While walking with Zaliia, the pair are forced to take refuse from a storm in a museum, Vance has a revelation when he shows Zalia how a python hypnotizes his intended victim. He now realizes how the crimes were committed. He confronts the killer who then apparently hypnotizes Vance and.............................................................
One of the better non-Powell entries in the series.