On B List of Movie Reviews
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The Benson Murder Case (1930)
Rate:
4
Viewed:
7/25
7/25:
The bottom finally falls out for the Philo Vance franchise.
What went wrong in The Benson Murder Case? It's the script. The film may be 65 minutes long, but I
was already bored a third into it. Everybody kept talking so much that I was like, "Please kill somebody,
so we can get started."
As for the case per se, I guarantee nobody will be able to solve it. It's impossible to get clues. That's
because Philo Vance kept everything to himself. And then he'll have the greatest "aha!" explanation at the
end which has become so typical of future Agatha Christie films. Even how the murder is done on the top
of the stairs is patently absurd.
William Powell is okay this time, but I feel he's rather bored of it all, wanting to move on. Out is Jean
Arthur, in is Paul Lukas. The photography is nice as usual. I just wish the writing was less verbose with
Philo Vance being close to the core of how he was in
The Canary Murder Case.
All in all, The Benson Murder Case gives me a pause in determining whether or not I want to see any
more of the sequels.