The Canary Murder Case (1929)

Directed by

Malcolm St. Clair, Frank Tuttle

Genre

crime film, mystery film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 22m

Rated

NR

Rating

5.7 of 10 from 27 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A detective investigates the murder of a scheming showgirl. The story follows his logical questioning of suspects in high society.

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What happens

The Canary Murder Case is a 1929 American pre-Code crime-mystery film based on the 1927 novel of the same name by S.S. Van Dine (the pseudonym for Willard Huntington Wright). The film was directed by Malcolm St. Clair, with a screenplay by Wright (under the Van Dine pseudonym), Albert Shelby LeVino, and Florence Ryerson. William Powell starred in the role of detective Philo Vance, with Louise Brooks co-starring as "The Canary"; Jean Arthur, James Hall, and Charles Lane also co-starred in other principal roles. The first film to feature the Vance character, the film revolves around Vance's investigation into the murder of a conniving showgirl. It is a prime example of many films initially produced as a silent film before being turned into a "talkie", as the format quickly became the industry norm. The film was instrumental in expanding the career of Powell, who had previously been known in villain roles. Conversely, Brooks' refusal to participate in the sound reshoots famously led to controversy from which her career never recovered; her role was dubbed by Margaret Livingston. The Canary Murder Case was released by Paramount Pictures on February 16, 1929, to mixed reviews; the dubbing of Brooks was heavily panned by critics. However, the film was successful enough that Powell filmed two sequels with Paramount, The Greene Murder Case (1929) and The Benson Murder Case (1930), as well as The Kennel Murder Case (1933) at rival studio Warner Bros. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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