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Calling Philo Vance

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5.8/10 • 11

1940-02-031h 2m

CrimeMystery

Philo is in Vienna working for the US Government to see if Archer Coe is selling aircraft designs to foreign powers. He grabs the plans with Archer's signature, but is captured by police before he can escape. Deported he comes back to America and plans to confront Archer, but Archer is found dead in his locked bedroom with a gun in his hand. While it looks like a suicide, Vance knows better and the coroner finds that Archer has been shot, hit with a blunt instrument and stabbed - making suicide unlikely. But Vance is on the case and is looking to see if government secrets have been sold and who has murdered Coe. This is a remake of "The Kennel Murder Case" using aircraft designs and espionage instead of Chinese porcelain and dog shows.

Directors
William Clemens
Editors
Ben G. Liss

Top Billed Cast

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  1. James Stephenson

    James Stephenson

    Philo Vance

  2. Margot Stevenson

    Margot Stevenson

    Hilda Lake

  3. Henry O'Neill

    Henry O'Neill

    Markham

  4. Edward Brophy

    Edward Brophy

    Ryan

  5. Sheila Bromley

    Sheila Bromley

    Doris Delafield

  6. Ralph Forbes

    Ralph Forbes

    Tom McDonald

  7. Donald Douglas

    Donald Douglas

    Philip Wrede

  8. Martin Kosleck

    Martin Kosleck

    Gamble

  9. Jimmy Conlin

    Jimmy Conlin

    Dr. Doremus - Coroner

Reviews1

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CinemaSerf Avatar

CinemaSerf

Apr 1, 2023

6/10

This is an adequate afternoon B-feature that probably served more as a warning against fifth-columnists than it actually entertained anyone. It all centres around attempts by the Axis powers to obtain access to the designs of "Archer Coe" (the briefest of appearances from Richard Kipling). Now he has an exclusive arrangement with the Americans so when he is found murdered, it falls to the wily, suspicions and tenacious "Vance" (James Stephenson) to find out who the killers were and on whose malevolent behalf they were working? Did they manage to steal his secret plans? Now this is just a substantial reworking of "The Kennel Murder Case" (1933) - even down to whopping great chunks of the script being transferred, albeit updated, to allow for it's WWII scenario. Although all pretty lightweight and devoid of any real sense of jeopardy, Stephenson is actually quite engaging and there is a decent supporting effort from Edward Trophy ("Ryan") delivering some fun to this rather dry, procedural, crime drama. It's only an hour, and if you like the genre then there isn't really anything not to like - or memorable - about this.

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Status
Released
Original Language
English
Budget
--
Revenue
--
Keywords
philo vance