Night of Mystery [The Greene Murder Case] * (1937, Grant Richards, Roscoe Karns, Helen Burgess) – Classic Movie Review 11,314

Director E A Dupont’s 1937 remake Night of Mystery [The Greene Murder Case] is a disappointingly plodding and pedestrian Philo Vance mystery movie, based on the fine 1928 thriller novel The Greene Murder Case by S S Van Dine.

Grant Richards is less than decently cast as gentleman sleuth Philo Vance, who is helping out his buddies the police sergeant Sgt. Heath (Roscoe Karns) and the district attorney John F X Markham (Purnell Pratt) in the baffling case of a killer who is wiping out the rich New York Greene family, presumably to inherit the clan’s wealth.

It was previously filmed as The Greene Murder Case by Frank Tuttle in 1929 and starring a perfect William Powell.

Also in the cast are Helen Burgess as the female lead Ada Greene, Ruth Coleman as Sibella Greene, Elizabeth Patterson as Mrs Tobias Greene, Harvey Stephens, June Martell, Ellen Drew, Purnell Pratt, Colin Tapley as Chester Greene, James Bush as Rex Greene, Ivan F Simpson, Greta Meyer, Leonard Carey, Nora Cecil, George Anderson, Barlowe Borland, and Myra Marsh.

Night of Mystery [The Greene Murder Case] is directed by E A Dupont, runs 66 minutes, is made and released by Paramount Pictures, is written by Frank Partos and Gladys Unger, is shot in black and white by Harry Fischbeck, produced by William LeBaron (executive producer) and Robert North, and scored by Boris Morros (musical director), with Art Direction by Hans Dreier and A Earl Hedrick.

Grant Richards (1911–1963).

Grant Richards died on July 4, 1963 in a car accident in Los Angeles, aged 51.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,314

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com