Crwthod
A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.
CrawlerChunky
In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
SanEat
A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."
blanche-2
1935's The Spanish Cape Mystery is an Ellery Queen story starring Donald Cook as Ellery and Helen Twelvetrees. Now, that's a name out of the past! She stopped working in 1939.Ellery Queen goes on vacation to California with one Judge Macklin. They stay at a rented cabin, and before they know it, they are engulfed in murder and mystery. It all involves the Godfrey family who live on the Spanish Cape in a fabulous showplace.Ellery, smitten with Stella (Twelvetrees) tries to stay out of it, but too many murders, and the police detective arresting a new person every day, means he must step in. I have seen Ralph Bellamy do Ellery, and he's a warmer actor, more sarcastic, and more interesting than Cook, who nevertheless enjoyed a prolific career in film and on stage. Considering this film was probably made in a few days it's not bad. It's a little stagy, and the police detective yells at the top of his lungs through the whole movie, which is annoying.I enjoyed the opportunity to see Helen Twelvetrees. I found Donald Cook on the bland side, but Ellery is a cerebral detective, and it's easy to see why he wouldn't register much personality. I did like it, though not as much as some of the other Ellery Queen films.
bkoganbing
The first Ellery Queen story to hit the big screen was The Spanish Cape Mystery and it starred Donald Cook as the intellectual crime solver and mystery writer. After solving a jewel theft, Cook decides he needs a vacation and he and Judge Berton Churchill take a cottage on the California coast.But no sooner do they get there than they get involved with a whole series of murders perpetrated against the Godfrey family who have gathered together. All the possible heirs to a fortune are there as the bodies start dropping. Cook develops a special interest in the family, especially in regard to Helen Twelvetrees. He also as a nasty antagonistic relationship with the local sheriff Harry Stubbs who finally has come begging for Cook's help.I have to say that Cook was all right in the part, not as bad as Eddie Quillan the following year. This film and Quillan's were made by Republic Pictures, but when the Ellery Queen series was picked up again it was by Columbia where Ralph Bellamy took over the part. Bellamy was far better in what my conception of Ellery Queen was.Still this one is all right and competently made.
gridoon2018
"The Spanish Cape Mystery" is much more fun than you'd expect from a low-budget 1935 murder mystery that failed to launch the series it was probably intended to (an Ellery Queen film series WAS made a few years later, but with a different actor as the title character). A likable hero (who shows his crime-solving credentials early on), a cute heroine, a clueless sheriff, a suspicious butler, and all the other eccentric and shady characters you'd expect - and want - from the genre are here, exchanging lively and often humorous dialogue. I have to admit that the identity of the murderer becomes quite guessable after a point, but several hows and whys remain appropriately baffling. Fans of the genre will enjoy this one. **1/2 out of 4.
tedg
Wow, what fun. You might not like this if you think of detective stories as an excuse to parade a colorful detective. The guy in this case is nearly nothing at all. Flat jokes.But what a cool mystery! Its a mystery in the old sense, where things happen and you know more than the detective does, just enough to be ahead of him. And you can easily figure it out.A body is found by the beach at night. In wet swimming trunks not his own, wearing a woman's shawl. Its a remote house and there is inheritance involved. Very typical constraints and model of detecting. Very complex events we have to suss out. Why the trunks? Why the shawl? Another murder and trunks follows.There isn't a character here that you'll remember. But you'll have fun if you like puzzle-stories.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.
