Stylistically, this reminds me quite a lot of the 1931 "FRANKENSTEIN", only with a murder mystery plot instead of a science-fiction horror story. I love both, and have great tolerance for old (and REALLY old) films, so this was right up my alley.
The 2 most outstanding characters in here, of course, are the urbane Vance (William Powell) and the gruff, too-confident police sergeant (Eugene Pallette). It's nice to see so much mutual respect between them, refreshing after seeing far too many stories with the cop constantly berating the "wild theories" of the talented amateur or private eye.
Two things caught me by surprise. The first was when, halfway thru the film, I SUDDENLY had a strong suspicion as to who the killer might be, based on an incident and how I related it to an earlier murder.
The second was, when Vance spelled everything out, ONE of the shootings used the IDENTICAL method seen in the CAMPION story "Police At The Funeral" (which was published in 1931!). Like this one, that story involved an old house populated by eccentrics waiting for the elderly mother to die so they could inherit, and some of them being bumped off ONE-BY-ONE. Of course, there was enough differences to avoid any thought of plagiarism.
That particular murder method had been used much earlier-- in the SHERLOCK HOLMES story "The Problem At Thor Bridge". And, amazingly, it was re-used in a 1950s CHARLIE CHAN tv episode. Rather than spell it out, I urge mystery fans to seek out those stories and have fun comparing!
The 2 most outstanding characters in here, of course, are the urbane Vance (William Powell) and the gruff, too-confident police sergeant (Eugene Pallette). It's nice to see so much mutual respect between them, refreshing after seeing far too many stories with the cop constantly berating the "wild theories" of the talented amateur or private eye.
Two things caught me by surprise. The first was when, halfway thru the film, I SUDDENLY had a strong suspicion as to who the killer might be, based on an incident and how I related it to an earlier murder.
The second was, when Vance spelled everything out, ONE of the shootings used the IDENTICAL method seen in the CAMPION story "Police At The Funeral" (which was published in 1931!). Like this one, that story involved an old house populated by eccentrics waiting for the elderly mother to die so they could inherit, and some of them being bumped off ONE-BY-ONE. Of course, there was enough differences to avoid any thought of plagiarism.
That particular murder method had been used much earlier-- in the SHERLOCK HOLMES story "The Problem At Thor Bridge". And, amazingly, it was re-used in a 1950s CHARLIE CHAN tv episode. Rather than spell it out, I urge mystery fans to seek out those stories and have fun comparing!