Review of The Canary Murder Case

This is an interesting curiosity, as are so many films from the transition to sound.The "Canary" Murder Case was S.S.Van Dine's second in the Philo Vance series, and one of the best. It is a pity that they didn't follow the book more closely, and especially the character of Vance more closely. William Powell is rather nondescript as Vance, sort of like a watered down Nick Charles, without the wit and erudition that made the books so popular.(Vance is often described as "insufferable", which is puzzling when you consider that the books about him were tremendous best sellers, Apparently the American public didn't consider him insufferable. He has often been called, "the finest American detective in the English tradition". A little ironic, since what is often called the "English tradition" was started by Edgar Allen Poe in his C. Auguste Dupin stories). Actually the person who came closest to the true Vance was Warren William, but the character was never really developed as opposed to the character of Sherlock Holmes. Which is probably why Vance never really took off as a movie character.