ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Glimmerubro It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

robert-temple-1 This is the seventh Philo Vance film, the first after the retirement of William Powell from the lead role, and the first and only one starring Warren William as Vance. William is very insouciant and droll, more so than Powell was. (Powell had not yet fully found himself, as he had not become the future Powell of the Thin Man films. But then, he had not found his Loy yet either, with whom he was later to create his ALL-LOY of magic, fusing his silver with her gold.) William also has greater warmth and manages a far better rapport with Eugene Palette as the idiotic Sergeant Heath. When Palette keeps boasting of 'my knowledge of criminality', William genuinely grins sympathetically and teases him very gently like a friend. This works very well, since in previous films, Palette had been floundering around like a stranded fish and over-acting to an embarrassing extent, and Powell never engaged with him. On the other hand, this film lacks the effectiveness of the coroner's grumbling except with exasperation. In the previous film (THE KENNEL MURDER CASE, 1933, see my review) we saw him (played by Etienne Girardot, who despite his French name was born in London and in his films is 'as American as apple pie') being interrupted at his meals and rushing off to examine bodies, but this time that standing joke is taken for granted, no screen time is given actually to showing his frustrations, which are merely referred to in occasional lines of dialogue, and hence that comic sub-plot does not work nearly as well. The story line of this film is however a superior and unusually mysterious one. It concerns a sinister and mysterious pool behind a large house which they call 'the Dragon Pool'. People swim in it all the time, treating it as a swimming pool, but it is a natural feature, not an excavated pool, and it has bizarre features. It links to extended sink holes beyond, and is said to contain a mysterious aquatic dragon who comes out at night and occasionally eats people who dare to swim after dark. This is said to be an ancient Indian legend, and the pool was reputed to have been regarded by the Indians with awe and fear. The film concerns the disappearance and presumed murder of one of the characters who dove into the pool one evening and never reappeared. The pool is drained but nothing is found. An eccentric rich man lives in the house, whose sitting room is full of identical fish tanks (a low budget prevented these from being properly effective, and they look cheap and unconvincing) which contain rare and exotic fish. There are several scenes where the man and his visitors watch 'Japanese fighting fish' killing one another in tanks. That certainly sets a sinister tone at the very beginning of the film. This is definitely a superior Vance film, and the story is so unusual that it could be remade as a very effective modern film if the right people realized its possibilities.

sol1218 **SPOILERS** When young Monty Montague, George Meeker, disappeared in the Stamm Estate pond while taking a moonlight dip it was at first assumed that he drowned and was stuck, in the thick mud, underneath.It was when the pond was drained out that to the surprise of everyone present there was absolutely no Monty there! This is when ace sleuth Philo Vance, Warren William, who accompanied the police to the Stamm Estate went into action. With rumors of a dragon, or Locke Ness-like monster, living in the pond it at first is believed that Monty ended up being killed and eaten by it. As Philo started to uncover the evidence of Monty's strange disappearance, as well as Monty's badly torn up body,it became evident that he was the victim of foul play. Not by any sea monster or mythical dragon but someone who really had it in for poor old Monty. Someone who Monty was blackmailing and who just got sick and tired of being under his thumb!***SPOILERS***The key to Monty's demise had to do with his engagement to Bernice Stamm, Margarte Lindsey. It was handsome and debonair, as well as expert swimmer, Dale Leland, Lyle Talbot, who was in loved with Bernice and the fact that she had dropped him for Monty made him a prime suspect in Monty's murder. It took a while for Philo to get a hang on things but it was a secret key, to the Stamm Family Mausoleum, that open the door to who really killed Monty. The key not only revealed Monty's murdered but also the reason he was murdered. It also reviled the way he was murdered and who, beside the actual murderer, secretly set him up to be murdered!A bit dry, despite all the water in it, Philo Vance mystery with Warren William as Philo sleepwalking through his role as the famous fictional detective. The nonchalant and effortless way that Warren solved this very difficult murder of Monty Montague took all the tension and suspense out of the film. What really did save the movie and made it interesting was the "Old Lady" of the house or estate the daffy and fuddled brain Mrs. Stamm, Helen Lowell. It was Mrs. Stamm who unknowingly solved this very baffling murder case by her getting Philo on the right track without her not even knowing, in her thinking it was the underwater dragon, who the killer really was!

dougdoepke Despite the many unfavorable reviews, the first 15 minutes of this programmer are exotic and memorable. Take a look at the impressive outdoor set that places the nightmarish swimming pool in front of the majestic stairway leading up to the mansion's front door. All are full-size components of a single sound stage creation (listen for the echo), unusual for a movie of this type. Now, it's hard for me to believe that First National (Warner Bros.) would go to the trouble and expense for a series B- picture like this. But however that may be, the result is unusually atmospheric, particularly the eerie pool where any kind of mutant creature might be growing amid the ugly murk.Then there are the stylishly dressed party guests, a good look at high fashion, circa 1934. How the guest-suspects react to the fighting fish battling to the death in the mansion's many aquariums is how we get to know them. It's an offbeat idea that also shows how the mansion's inside is as strange as its outside. And when one of the guests mysteriously vanishes in the haunted pool, thanks to the weird build-up, I was ready to believe that the legendary dragon had gotten him.At that point, however, the screenplay collapses into a routine who-dun-it, and a not very coherent one, at that. Note how little interaction there is among the suspects after the murder. In fact, the comely Margaret Lindsey almost disappears until the end. Most of the dialogue goes to humorous throw-away lines from the froggish Sergeant Heath (Palette) and the raspy Dr. Doremus (Girardot). Nor, for that matter, does director Humberstone show any imagination in developing the characters or the initial atmosphere. Even the usually forceful Warren William seems uninterestingly subdued. Too bad a more stylish director and less pedestrian screenwriter didn't get hold of the material first. That way maybe we would have gotten more than just a promising start.

aimless-46 "The Dragon Murder Case" (1934) is not nearly as weak as some of these comments would lead you to believe. It should be cut some slack based on when it was made (it has Code Certificate #109) and viewed from the perspective of its intended audience. At the time its claim to fame was as a murder mystery packaged inside a lot of clever misdirection. For today's viewers, these sorts of twists will seem rather routine. Not so forgivable are several huge plot holes but as long as you are suspending disbelief anyway….There is even a (Stanley) Kubrick-style subtext about Native Americans although they don't take it as far as he did in "The Shining".This is a Philo Vance story (basically an early version of William Powell's Nick Charles character) with Warren Williams replacing Powell. Williams is nothing exceptional but the supporting cast and the production design are quite good. Eugene Palette (Friar Tuck) steals all his scenes with the funniest lines and the best delivery; his stuff alone makes the film worth viewing. The quotes section has his line about women generally speaking. Helen Lowell has a lot of fun playing the loony grandmother; she was born in 1866-wonder how many pre-1870 actors can claim lines in a talking picture. Margaret Lindsay is extremely beautiful as she was in "Jezabel" (1938); beautiful enough to stand out from all but a handful of her contemporaries. Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.