The Garden Murder Case (1936)

Philo Vance is back with a new face and minus that thick accent he had in the last film (ha!). This time Vance is investigating strange suicides. The best part of the movie is the return of Etienne Girardot as coroner Dr. Doremus. This wonderful actor steals every scene he's in. He was previously in two Philo Vance films in a row, The Kennel Murder Case and The Dragon Murder Case. But then he was noticeably absent in The Casino Murder Case. His part was played by a dull actor with no flair for comedy. This marks his return to the role but sadly is also the last time he'll play it. By coincidence or not, the three Vance films Girardot are in also happen to be the best three of the series.The rest of the cast is solid. Edmund Lowe is not as well-known as William Powell or even Warren William, but he's charming and good with comedy. If you get a chance to see it, check out the underrated gem Espionage (1937) that he stars in. He's wonderful in that. The supporting cast here is pretty impressive. Great character actors Nat Pendleton, Gene Lockhart, H.B. Warner, Jessie Ralph, Henry B. Walthall, and Grant Mitchell -- nice lineup. Also beauties Virginia Bruce, Frieda Inescort, and Benita Hume, who would go on to be Mrs. Ronald Colman and then Mrs. George Sanders! This also happens to be the film debut of Kent Smith, leading man of the Cat People movies. This is a good B detective flick with a short runtime and quick pace. It's not the best of the series but it's up there. It's a shame Lowe didn't play Vance anymore. The series badly needed a steady actor in the role.

Etienne Girardot is just a character actor--the sort of person people almost never would know by name. However, he once again plays the coroner--one of the only actors in the Philo Vance films that played his role more than once. I've already seen him two other times and loved him every time because he was so funny and a breath of fresh air. This film also is great to watch because in addition to Girardot, there are many other wonderful character actors along for the ride--including Grant Mitchell, Gene Lockhart, Henry Walthal, Kent Smith, H.B. Warner and Nat Pendleton. This is quite an impressive cast, and they sure made the job easier for leading man and woman Edmund Lowe and Virginia Bruce.These great character actors are one of the big reasons I love these old B-movies. While the mystery itself is rarely that terrific, because of the breezy writing and acting, the films really satisfy. As for this film, Vance is played wonderfully by Lowe but, like I said, the mystery itself is only an after-thought--with a silly plot involving hypnosis and suicides. Unfortunately, you cannot hypnotize anyone to do anything of the sort--I have training in clinical hypnosis and if I COULD do anything like the evil guy could do in the film, I would have done it! Used car salesmen and a few of my old bosses would have been obvious targets!! Overall, while not the best Philo Vance film, it was very good and it's a darn shame Lowe only played this role once. In fact, aside from William Powell (who played Vance five times), the series was hindered by a long, long succession of actors such as Basil Rathbone, Wilfred Hyde-White and Warren William (and many others) playing Vance. This is a similar problem that also plagued the Bulldog Drummond series--just too many different actors playing the leading man.Well worth seeing and exciting--though also quite impossible.

Now it's Edmund Lowe as Philo Vance as he tackles "The Garden Murder Case." It's a neat story concerning murder by hypnosis - which, as other posters point out, is a fairly obvious one, although the murder is not. The denouement makes for an exciting last minutes of the movie. Virginia Bruce costars and serves as a love interest for Vance.Lowe is certainly very attractive and extremely likable as Philo. It's a good fit, and to me, better than either Paul Lukas or Basil Rathbone. I haven't read the books, so I am just going by the films and the fact that the definitive Philo seems to have been William Powell. "The Bishop Murder Case" features a good performance by Rathbone, but it is an early talkie and the actors are still making the transition, so the film is rather awkward. Lukas was enjoyable and certainly embraced his character but his accent got in the way.This is an enjoyable entry in the exploits of a character who certainly served Hollywood well.

S.S. Van Dine must have been a shrewd businessman in dealing with Hollywood. Most of the film series' from the studio days were usually confined to one or two studios. But apparently Van Dine must have sold his rights to each book about Philo Vance one at a time. Note that Paramount, MGM, Warner Brothers, and more all released Philo Vance films. Only Tarzan seemed to get around Hollywood more.MGM produced the Garden Murder Case and starred Edmund Lowe as the fashionable detective. Of course MGM had the screen's original Philo under contract at the time, but Bill Powell was busy doing The Thin Man at the time and I guess Louis B. Mayer decided to concentrate him there.Edmund Lowe is a pretty acceptable Philo Vance. Lowe had started out pretty big at the tail end of the silent era with What Price Glory and then with a string of films with Victor McLaglen with their Flagg and Quirt characters. But after McLaglen got his Oscar for The Informer, Lowe seemed to fade into the B picture market. The Garden Murder Case involves three separate victims, Douglas Walton, Gene Lockhart, and Frieda Inescourt. The sinister atmosphere around the perpetrator kind of gives it away, the mystery is really how all the killings are connected and how they are accomplished.I will say this though. Vance takes a very big chance in exposing the villain and the last 15 minutes are worthy of Hitchcock.