The League of Frightened Men ** (1937, Walter Connolly, Lionel Stander, Eduardo Ciannelli, Irene Hervey, Victor Kilian, Nana Bryant) – Classic Movie Review 11,213

The 1937 film The League of Frightened Men stars smooth Walter Connolly, who makes a good job of playing Rex Stout’s grouchy housebound detective hero Nero Wolfe (taking over from Edward Arnold in the second film from the books). 

‘NERO WOLFE CAN GET AWAY WITH MURDER – AND MAKE YOU LIKE IT!’

Director Alfred E Green’s 1937 film The League of Frightened Men stars smooth Walter Connolly, who makes a good job of playing Rex Stout’s grouchy housebound detective hero Nero Wolfe (taking over from Edward Arnold in the second film from the books) for this OK, reasonably entertaining suspense mystery thriller about the mysterious murders of a group of ten former Harvard University college friends. Prominent author Paul Chapin (Eduardo Ciannelli) is suspected as he was crippled in a hazing prank while the men were in college decades ago.

Happily, Lionel Stander returns as Nero Wolfe’s bungling legman assistant, Archie Goodwin, from the first movie, Meet Nero Wolfe (1936).

The Columbia Pictures black and white programmer film is a bit on the flimsy side, but it is made with an agreeable, entertaining light touch, and performed effectively.

It is based on the 1935 novel The League of Frightened Men, the second Nero Wolfe novel by Rex Stout.

Also in the cast are Eduardo Ciannelli, Irene Hervey, Victor Kilian, Nana Bryant, Allen Brook, Walter Kingsford, Leonard Mudie, Kenneth Hunter, Charles Irwin, Rafaela Ottiano, Edward McNamara, Jameson Thomas, Ian Wolfe, Jonathan Hale, Herbert Ashley, James Flavin and Clara Blandick.

Stout wanted Charles Laughton as Nero Wolfe but he was unavailable. Stout apparently disliked the film, particularly Stander’s bungling Archie Goodwin, and objected to any more Hollywood adaptations of his books, and there were no more in his lifetime.

The League of Frightened Men is directed by Alfred E Green, runs 71 minutes, is made and released by Columbia Pictures, is written by Edward Chodorov, Eugene Solow and Guy Endore, based on the novel The League of Frightened Men by Rex Stout, shot in black and white by Henry Freulich, produced by Edward Chodorov, scored by George Parrish, and designed by Stephen Goosson.

Nero Wolfe was originally played by Edward Arnold in Meet Nero Wolfe (1936), the first Columbia Pictures film of Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe novels.

After Rex Stout’s death, Nero Wolfe was also played by Thayer David in the 1977 TV movie Nero Wolfe, William Conrad in the 1981 TV series Nero Wolfe, and Maury Chaykin in the 2000 TV movie The Golden Spiders: A Nero Wolfe Mystery (2000) and the subsequent TV series Nero Wolfe (2001–02).

The cast are Walter Connolly as Nero Wolfe, Lionel Stander as Archie Goodwin, Eduardo Ciannelli as Paul Chapin, Irene Hervey as Evelyn Hibbard, Victor Kilian as Pitney Scott, Nana Bryant as Agnes Burton, Joseph Allen (Allen Brook) as Mark Chapin, Walter Kingsford as Ferdinand Bowen, Leonard Mudie as Professor Hibbard, Kenneth Hunter as Dr Burton, Charles Irwin as Augustus Farrell, Rafaela Ottiano as Dora Chapin, Edward McNamara as Inspector Cramer, Jameson Thomas as Michael Ayers, Ian Wolfe as Nicholas Cabot, Jonathan Hale as Alexander Drummond, Herbert Ashley as Fritz, James Flavin as Joe, and Clara Blandick.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,213

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