For the first entry of the Ellery Queen movie series at Columbia, Ralph Bellamy is a suave and smooth Ellery and Margaret Lindsay is sassy and delightful as his secretary to be, Nikki. However, the film itself leaves a lot to be desired, quite talkie and often rather dull.
The film involves the murder of a domineering wealthy man (Fred Niblo), having drove daughter Marsha Hunt out of their house when she married a man that he did not approve of. It appears that the wealthy man was manipulated by a crack doctor (Michael Whelan) and now believes that he is dying. When the millionaire shows up dead with his throat slit, the suspects are numerous but the culprit is obvious. Clues of suicide are left and even Lindsay's character is a suspect. James Burke goes from being typecast harassed police officer to Ellery's often idiotic assistantt, and Charley Grapewin of "The Wizard of Oz" is a lot of fun as Ellery's father. There's also busy character actor Charles Lane as the doctor who does the murdered man's autopsy and comes up with several different theories and Ann Shoemaker as Niblo's long-suffering wife. While the cast is in general very good, the film needed a little more spark to remain truly memorable.
The film involves the murder of a domineering wealthy man (Fred Niblo), having drove daughter Marsha Hunt out of their house when she married a man that he did not approve of. It appears that the wealthy man was manipulated by a crack doctor (Michael Whelan) and now believes that he is dying. When the millionaire shows up dead with his throat slit, the suspects are numerous but the culprit is obvious. Clues of suicide are left and even Lindsay's character is a suspect. James Burke goes from being typecast harassed police officer to Ellery's often idiotic assistantt, and Charley Grapewin of "The Wizard of Oz" is a lot of fun as Ellery's father. There's also busy character actor Charles Lane as the doctor who does the murdered man's autopsy and comes up with several different theories and Ann Shoemaker as Niblo's long-suffering wife. While the cast is in general very good, the film needed a little more spark to remain truly memorable.