Grade: B-
Synopsis: Amateur detective Philo Vance (William Powell) solves the murder of a man found locked in his bedroom.
The Kennel Murder Case is a snappy mystery carried by star William Powell.
Powell, reprising the Philo Vance role for the fifth and final time, is a natural. Powell’s easy charm and urbane manner are perfectly suited to the story and foreshadow the great success he would have playing a similar detective a year later in The Thin Man (1934).
Supporting Powell is a fine cast including Mary Astor as a perfect femme fatale and Eugene Pallette as the perpetually confused police detective.
Director Michael Curtiz keeps thing moving at a brisk pace and shows some real technical chops with an impressive tracking shot that starts with Powell in one building, pans out the window, arcs across the cityscape and focuses on a room across the street. While it’s obviously staged using miniatures, it’s impressive nonetheless.
If The Kennel Murder Case has a weakness though, it’s that perhaps it moves too fast. There’s very little room for characterization, as the plot moves at a break-neck speed through the 73-minute running time, and as such, it can be a little dizzying trying to keep up, let alone engage in the murder mystery’s greatest pleasure: trying to guess the killer’s identity.
Still, if the choice is between too fast or too slow, it’s better to err on the side of speed.
Bottom Line: While The Kennel Murder Case may be short on characterization, it’s fast break pacing and the charisma of star William Powell, amply make up for it.
