Calling Philo Vance (1940)

James Stephenson, Margot Stevenson, Henry O'Neill, Edward S. Brophy, Ralph Forbes ... see more  , Donald Douglas , Martin Kosleck , Sheila Bromley , Edward Raquello , Creighton Hale , Harry Strang , Richard Kipling , Wedgewood Nowell , Herbert Anderson , Jimmy Conlin , William Hopper , George Irving , Yakima Canutt , George Reeves

Calling Philo Vance is a perfunctory remake of 1933's The Kennel Murder Case, which many aficionados consider the best of the "Vance" films. James Stephenson plays the titular gentleman sleuth, who mu... read more st solve the murder of the inventor of a revolutionary new bombsight (the original film concerned a championship dog race). The principal suspect is the victim's brother, who is taken out of the running when he, too, is bumped off. The actual killer is in the employ of an unnamed foreign government-and, in the tradition of Kennel Murder Case, is also the least suspicious and most cooperative of the suspects. With Calling Philo Vance, mystery novelist S. S. Van Dine's dilettante detective bade farewell to the screen for seven years, returning in 1947 through the facilities of low-budget PRC Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi