Movie Review – Philo Vance Returns
Principal Cast : William Wright, Vivian Austin, Leon Belasco, Clara Blandick, Ramsay Ames, Damian O’Flynn, Frank Wilcox, Iris Adrian, Ann Staunton, Tim Murdock, Mary Scott.
Synopsis: Philo Vance once more intertwines with crime, as he investigates the murder of a wealthy socialite, uncovering a web of deceit and secrets among high society.
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Meandering, highly contrived Philo Vance entry lacks much of the allure of the early series films, as an ill-cast William Wright takes up the debonair detective work of the lead role, surrounded by an ever-mounting bodycount and a weird sidekick. Despite almost none of the wit of the William Powell entries, this low-budget effort is perhaps the nadir of the franchise given its direct screenplay, absurd list of supporting characters, and a strange decision to turn Philo Vance into a not-quite-ally of the police, in what feels like an attempt to generate some mild tension here. Unfortunately, not even William Beaudine’s valiant direction can salvage much here, despite a strong opening sequence, with the story, mystery machinations and eventual whodunnit reveal becoming quite tedious and chock-full of contrivance in the race to completion.
Plot synopsis courtesy IMDb: Playboy Larry Blendon (Damian O’Flynn) introduces his grandmother Stella Blendon (Clara Blandick) to his fiancée, radio singer Virginia Berneaux (Ramsay Ames). Despite Larry’s record of broken romances and divorces, Virginia decides she will marry him. Virginia is slain that night and Blandon telephones his friend Philo Vance (William Wright) to help find the killer. Even as they talk, the killer strikes again and Philo hears Larry fall dead. Philo begins his investigation with Alexis Karnoff (Leon Belasco), Virginia’s manager, and the two go to Larry’s home, where Stella tells them that the motive for the killing might be Larry’s will that names the six women in his life as heirs and if any die before the will is probated, the others will divide the shares. They also learn that Katherine Corbett (Phyllis Planchard), the first of Larry’s wives, has been murdered. Suspicion now falls on Lorena Sims (Vivian Austin), a former wife who has been a patient at a sanatorium suffering from a nervous ailment.
It doesn’t help that Philo Vance Returns lacks all the main supporting characters the series had become popular for – DA Markham and Sergeant Ernest Heath are particularly egregious omissions, to be honest – nor does the film follow any of SS Van Dine’s novel series. It feels like an attempt to reinvent the wheel a little, and with William Wright trying to turn the famous detective into something of a sex symbol (or at least a muscular hero, rather than an effete dilettante) there’s a rather uneasy tone that settles over the production. Sure, the film carries the series’ typically brief character development and plot conniptions, what with breezy exposition and a lot of very quickly delivered “surprise” revelations dotted throughout. Aficionados of the detective subgenre will likely guess pretty quickly who the principal killer is, with Robert E Kent’s brazenly over-the-top script more focused on the how and when than offering much by way of why.
In a surprising turn, I felt that it was the supporting cast who carried much of the film’s energy and fun throughout, rather than lead actor William Wright. This would be Wright’s only turn as Philo Vance, a fact I put down to the fact that he never really feels right for the role, both physically and performatively. Wright is a darker, more serious actor who lacks the requisite twinkle in the eye as he goes about solving the case, and I guess a more understated turn might have given the series some much-needed emphasis on character rather than plot mechanics. Alas, the choice is a poor one, with Wright’s take on Vance being a Machiavellian troublemaker for the police coming off as patently arrogant – William Powell’s level of condescension never reached these heights – which doesn’t endear him to the audience. Wright seems too imposing a figure compared to previous actors to have assumed the role – both William Powell and Basil Rathbone, and perhaps less so Paul Lukas, provided a rakish fop silhouette to the character – and he comes across as something of a bully, if not an arrogant asshole. Perhaps this was the direction, or the choice by Wright when he read the script, but this wasn’t the Philo Vance I’d enjoyed in previous entries.
In terms of the supporting cast, perhaps the most obviously notable is Leon Belasco as Alexis Karnoff, a talent agent for one of the murdered women. Belasco has a very interesting face for the screen, and he seems to have been placed as the analogous replacement for Eugene Pallette’s absent Sergeant Heath; as far as replacements go, the film stretches credulity that an agent would insert himself into a murder investigation, particularly a multiple murder investigation, but with a shrug of the shoulders and a knotting of his ample eyebrows, Belasco is a terrific foil for the brusque William Wright. The likes of Ramsay Ames, Vivian Austin and Iris Adrian have a terrific time vamping it up as a series of spurned and wannabe lovers to Damian O’Flynn’s playboy Larry Blendon role, while Clara Blandick (better known to modern audiences as Aunt Em in The Wizard of Oz) has a whale of a time as the scatological matriarch of the Blendon family. It’s all played in broad, wide sweeps of exposition and detective-mystery clichés, and you get the sense the cast all knew what they were in for, but it’s barely believable and often quite silly as a result.
Clocking in at a relatively brief hour and a bit, Philo Vance Returns is tiresomely scripted, and preposterously plotted. Yes, even by Philo Vance series standards, the fact that half the cast end up dead by the end of the film makes this one of the deadlier entries into the canon, if not the silliest. Dark humour abounds, requisite plot twists and devious reveals make for frivolous genre inanity, and the droll William Wright hams it up despite never feeling right for the part. It’s all pretty silly, and a bottoming-out for the quality of the Vance film series, of which only two further entries would be made. Little wonder – I think the gleeful energy of the early Powell-led films has evaporated and we’re left with contrivance and convenience in its place, and certainly a lot less ingenuity and fun. Philo Vance Returns is for completists only.
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