utgard14 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.

Michael_Elliott Garden Murder Case, The (1936) ** (out of 4) Philo Vance (Edmund Lowe) looks into some deaths where the murder seems to have been committed by hypnosis, which forced the people to kill themselves. This film starts off very good but really doesn't go anywhere and even the 61-minute running time seems very long. The story is an interesting one but the screenplay does very little with it due to some very boring characters, which just aren't that interesting. I've never been a fan of Lowe and that feeling continues here. He's decent in the role but he's just as tad too laid back to me. Virginia Bruce is the best part of the film as the woman Vance is interested in. Henry B. Whalthal plays a small, supporting role.

blanche-2 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.

bllest When Philo Vance (Edmund Lowe) is standing precariously on the edge of a balcony high above the city, apparently hypnotized and just about to step to his death,it immediately reminded me of a nearly identical scene in another film made nine years later, "The Woman in Green" in which Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone)is similarly about to hurl himself into space while being hypnotized. Happily, both Philo Vance and Sherlock Holmes survive these attempts at murder by unscrupulous criminals. Exciting cinematic suspense in both these scenes. When will they learn you can't cloud the minds of great fictional detectives ?