{"id":77114,"date":"2025-02-13T06:00:53","date_gmt":"2025-02-12T19:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/?p=77114"},"modified":"2025-01-27T21:59:56","modified_gmt":"2025-01-27T11:29:56","slug":"movie-review-casino-murder-case-the","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/2025\/02\/13\/movie-review-casino-murder-case-the\/","title":{"rendered":"Movie Review – Casino Murder Case, The"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/h5>\n
Principal Cast : <\/strong>Paul Lukas, Alison Skipworth, Donald Cook, Rosalind Russell, Arthur Byron, Ted Healy, Eric Blore, Isabel Jewell, Louise Fazenda, Purnell Pratt, Leslie Fenton, Louise Henry, Leo G Carroll, Charles Sellon, William Demarest.
\nSynopsis:<\/strong> After socialite Lynn Llewellyn receives an anonymous threat, he is poisoned at his uncle’s casino, and although he recovers, his wife is murdered by the same killer.<\/h5>\n

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The Casino Murder Case<\/em>\u00a0(1935) is a curious beast\u2014a whodunit so convoluted in its machinations that it risks alienating even ardent fans of the genre. Adapted from S.S. Van Dine\u2019s 1934 novel by screenwriters Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf, and directed with breakneck urgency by Edwin L. Marin (A Study in Scarlet<\/em>), the film swaps William Powell\u2019s iconic Philo Vance for Paul Lukas, whose lone outing as the sleuth proves a mixed blessing. Intended initially as a Powell-Myrna Loy vehicle (pre-Thin Man<\/em>), the casting shake-up lands Lukas alongside a spirited Rosalind Russell, their chemistry flickering but never quite catching fire.<\/p>\n

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The plot? A poison-laced labyrinth. Wealthy socialites gather at a storm-lashed casino estate, only to succumb to a series of increasingly baroque murders. Vance, the erudite amateur detective, must untangle a web of red herrings involving secret passages, coded letters, and a killer whose Rube Goldberg-esque methods defy logic (why concoct an elaborate poison scheme when a bullet would suffice?). Marin\u2019s direction hurtles forward with almost reckless momentum, buoyed by Rose Loewinger\u2019s crisp editing and the cast\u2019s rapid-fire delivery. Outdoor storm sequences\u2014a rarity in the series\u2014inject a dash of realism, yet the film\u2019s frenetic pace often papers over gaping plot holes, leaving viewers breathless but bemused.<\/p>\n

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Lukas, while a capable actor, feels miscast as Vance. His Hungarian accent jars against the character\u2019s New York pedigree, and though he nails Vance\u2019s smug intellect (that pencil moustache!), he lacks Powell\u2019s twinkling charisma. A fleeting cameo from Powell himself\u2014a cheeky \u201cpassing the torch\u201d moment at an auction\u2014only underscores the disparity. That said, Lukas shares a genial, if manufactured, rapport with Russell, whose sharp wit and fizzy charm elevate their romantic subplot from perfunctory to pleasantly diverting.<\/p>\n

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The supporting cast shines brighter. Ted Healy\u2019s Sergeant Heath swaps Eugene Pallette\u2019s bluster for wry understatement, while Louise Fazenda steals scenes as a nosy maid, her eavesdropping antics bordering on farce. Alison Skipworth and Donald Cook ham it up delightfully as eccentric suspects, though Cook\u2019s campy histrionics tip into self-parody. Charles Sellon, as the perpetually harassed coroner Dr. Doremus, delivers acerbic wit with deadpan flair\u2014a welcome foil to Robert McWade\u2019s exasperated District Attorney.<\/p>\n

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The film\u2019s fatal flaw lies in its tonal whiplash. Marin juggles screwball romance and grim murder with uneven results; one moment, Vance and Russell trade flirtatious barbs, the next, a corpse tumbles from a secret panel. The script\u2019s reliance on 1930s scientific jargon (\u201cradioactive isotopes!\u201d) and contrived coincidences stretches plausibility to snapping point\u2014a killer\u2019s plan this elaborate would require divine intervention, not mere cunning.<\/p>\n

Yet, for all its flaws,\u00a0The Casino Murder Case<\/em>\u00a0retains a giddy, old-Hollywood charm. Marin\u2019s brisk pacing and Loewinger\u2019s snappy cuts gloss over the narrative excesses, while Lukas and Russell\u2019s camaraderie\u2014though no Powell-Loy\u2014hints at what might have been. It\u2019s a flawed but fascinating relic, a testament to the era\u2019s appetite for ornate mysteries, even when logic takes a backseat to spectacle.<\/p>\n

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Not quite a classic, then, but far from a misfire: a diverting, if overstuffed, entry in the Philo Vance canon. Just don\u2019t ask whodunit\u2014or why.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Principal Cast : Paul Lukas, Alison Skipworth, Donald Cook, Rosalind Russell, Arthur Byron, Ted Healy,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48482,"featured_media":77117,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,569],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-review","category-philo-vance-mysteries"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/thecasinomurdercase1935.78-1-scaled.jpg",2560,1668,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/thecasinomurdercase1935.78-1-500x280.jpg",500,280,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/thecasinomurdercase1935.78-1-660x365.jpg",660,365,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/thecasinomurdercase1935.78-1-768x500.jpg",640,417,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/thecasinomurdercase1935.78-1-840x840.jpg",640,640,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/thecasinomurdercase1935.78-1-1536x1001.jpg",1536,1001,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/thecasinomurdercase1935.78-1-2048x1334.jpg",2048,1334,true],"covernews-featured":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/thecasinomurdercase1935.78-1-1024x667.jpg",1024,667,true],"covernews-medium":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/thecasinomurdercase1935.78-1-540x340.jpg",540,340,true],"profile_24":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/thecasinomurdercase1935.78-1-24x24.jpg",24,24,true],"profile_48":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/thecasinomurdercase1935.78-1-48x48.jpg",48,48,true],"profile_96":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/thecasinomurdercase1935.78-1-96x96.jpg",96,96,true],"profile_150":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/thecasinomurdercase1935.78-1-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"profile_300":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/thecasinomurdercase1935.78-1-300x300.jpg",300,300,true],"sow-carousel-default":["https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/thecasinomurdercase1935.78-1-272x182.jpg",272,182,true]},"author_info":{"display_name":"Rodney Twelftree","author_link":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/author\/rodney\/"},"category_info":"Movie Review<\/a> Philo Vance Mysteries<\/a>","tag_info":"Philo Vance Mysteries","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48482"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77114"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77418,"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77114\/revisions\/77418"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fernbyfilms.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}