The Spanish Cape Mystery *** (1935, Donald Cook, Helen Twelvetrees, Berton Churchill) – Classic Movie Review 9895

Director Lewis D Collins’s 1935 thriller The Spanish Cape Mystery is the first in the series of Ellery Queen films, in which the holidaying debonair New York supersleuth Ellery Queen (Donald Cook) foolishly falls for the number one suspect Stella Godfrey (Helen Twelvetrees) when he goes for a vacation to the California coast with his friend Judge Macklin (Berton Churchill) in a rented cabin and trails a seaside murderer with the help of Sheriff Moley (Harry Stubbs).

The Spanish Cape Mystery is a minor mystery movie from Liberty Pictures, shot in black and white by Gilbert Warrenton, but nevertheless it is entertaining, brisk, professional and even pretty stylish, with some decent if not outstanding performances.

The screenplay by Albert DeMond is based on the novel of the same name by Ellery Queen (Frederic Dannay and Manfred Lee) and featuring the detective Ellery Queen.

Also in the cast are Frank Sheridan, Guy Usher, Harry Stubbs, Huntley Gordon, Betty Blythe, Olaf Hytten, Ruth Gillette, Jack LaRue, Frank Leigh, Barbara Bedford, George Cleveland, Kathy Marlowe, George Baxter, Arnold Gray, Donald Kerr, Lee Prather, Arthur Aylesworth, Richard Cramer, and Lee Phelps.

Ellery Queen is a writing pseudonym created in 1929 by crime fiction writers Daniel Nathan, alias Frederic Dannay (October 20, 1905 – September 3, 1982) and Manford (Emanuel) Lepofsky, alias Manfred Bennington Lee (January 11, 1905 – April 3, 1971), as well as the name of their main fictional character.

Helen Twelvetrees died on February 13, 1958 in Middletown, Pennsylvania, a suicide by overdose of sedatives, aged 49.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9895

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