Review of Ellery Queen, Master Detective

This is the first entry in the "official" Ellery Queen film series (though actually the third film starring that character); Ellery is played by Ralph Bellamy, who is just a tad colorless in the part (Donald Cook of "The Spanish Cape Mystery" remains my favorite so far), but he does have a certain sweet chemistry with the beautiful Margaret Lindsay, especially when he wakes up in the middle of the night to cook her something to eat; Lindsay's presence and smile brighten the movie, and I'm glad they decided to make her a recurring character in the series. The plot is pretty ingenious - a seemingly unsolvable puzzle (the dead man is found in a locked room with his throat slashed; there is only one way in, but we know nobody went through there; he might have committed suicide, but then where is the weapon?) with a simple, oh-but-of-course! solution. But the film is not very exciting or suspenseful, although it does end with a brief car chase / crash which was somewhat of a surprise for a production of this caliber. ** out of 4.