In "Paramount on Parade" William Powell essayed a spot on parody of Philo Vance, an intellectual man-about-town amateur detective, and when he was shot Inspector Heath (Eugene Palette) happily congratulated Fu Manchu. S.S. Van Dine had written his first Vance book in 1926 - "The Benson Murder Case", and it was a huge success. Philo Vance was independently wealthy and was always called into the cases by Heath when the police had given up - of course he always solved the crime!! In 1929 Paramount acquired the film rights to the first three Van Dine books and the first to roll out was "The Canary Murder Case". William Powell who had excelled in villainous roles was a brilliant choice for Vance. He played up the suavity and intellectualism but eliminated the stuffiness and pretentiousness that was quickly turning a lot of readers off!!
Louise Brooks in feathers was enough to make this movie memorable, even though you didn't hear her distinctive throbby voice. She played "The Canary", a beautiful blackmailing showgirl who has set her sights on marrying into society and has her claws into Jimmy (James Hall) who in turn has patched things up with fellow show- girl Alice (for all Jean Arthur's top billing she has two small scenes).
Definitely not as interesting as "The Greene Murder Case", once Brooks departed (she was the victim) after 15 minutes, there were no more ladies to brighten up proceedings. The plot was then propelled by a group of suspects - most of them older men whom the Canary was blackmailing. The climax came with a poker game, staged by the insufferable Mr. Vance, in an effort to use psychology to flush out the murderer. Until then chief suspect is young Jimmy but in a twist the murderer is killed and Philo Vance then takes centre stage to explain just how the murder had been done. Most interesting character is good old Ned Sparks as, believe it or not, Louise's husband back from "up the river" and eager to get his hands on some of her ill gotten loot!!
The film was caught in the middle of the talkie change over. Initially filmed as a silent in 1928 it was extensively re-shot to make it a 1929 all talkie, which explains Louise Brook's reluctance to return for dialogue dubbing. The studio got their revenge by substituting the "dese, dems and dose" voice of Margaret Livingston - you just couldn't imagine that voice issuing from Louise's fair lips.
Louise Brooks in feathers was enough to make this movie memorable, even though you didn't hear her distinctive throbby voice. She played "The Canary", a beautiful blackmailing showgirl who has set her sights on marrying into society and has her claws into Jimmy (James Hall) who in turn has patched things up with fellow show- girl Alice (for all Jean Arthur's top billing she has two small scenes).
Definitely not as interesting as "The Greene Murder Case", once Brooks departed (she was the victim) after 15 minutes, there were no more ladies to brighten up proceedings. The plot was then propelled by a group of suspects - most of them older men whom the Canary was blackmailing. The climax came with a poker game, staged by the insufferable Mr. Vance, in an effort to use psychology to flush out the murderer. Until then chief suspect is young Jimmy but in a twist the murderer is killed and Philo Vance then takes centre stage to explain just how the murder had been done. Most interesting character is good old Ned Sparks as, believe it or not, Louise's husband back from "up the river" and eager to get his hands on some of her ill gotten loot!!
The film was caught in the middle of the talkie change over. Initially filmed as a silent in 1928 it was extensively re-shot to make it a 1929 all talkie, which explains Louise Brook's reluctance to return for dialogue dubbing. The studio got their revenge by substituting the "dese, dems and dose" voice of Margaret Livingston - you just couldn't imagine that voice issuing from Louise's fair lips.