The good and the bad balance each other in the second Perry Mason film

The Case of the Curious Bride (1935)

Starring: Warren William, Margaret Lindsay, Allen Jenkins, Owlin Howland, Donald Woods, Thomas E. Jackson, Claire Dodd, and Barton MacLane

Director: Michael Curtiz

Rating: Six of Ten Stars

Famed defense attorney Perry Mason (William) must uncover the truth buried beneath lies and police corruption when a former lover (Lindsay) comes to him for help with a blackmail case but ends up being accused of murdering the blackmailer.

"The Curse of the Curious Bride" was the second Perry Mason film produced by Warner Bros. during the mid-1930s. Reportedly, although film reviewers said nice things about it at the time, and it did well financially, Perry Mason's creator, Earl Stanley Gardner strongly disliked it. And I think it's clear why.

Although the film is fast paced, features an engaging mystery with stakes that keep getting raised as it goes, and a suspect pool that keeps getting larger instead of smaller as the story unfolds, it spends too much time trying to be a comedy. From banter that isn't entertaining, to scenes that are supposed to be funny but are mostly just dumb, and renaming and reshaping of Paul Drake into the third-rate comic relief Spudesy Drake, just about every attempt at humor in this film falls flat and just lays there on the floor, stinking like a dead fish in the sun. They only supposed-to-be-funny bits that come close to working is when Perry Mason is being overly dramatic and flamboyant in front of newspaper reporters.

It's a shame that the filmmakers decided to lean so heavily on badly done comedy in this picture, because, unlike so many other Perry Mason tales, this one gives a lot of insight into what he does for fun and who he spends time with outside of the law offices and courtrooms. In some ways, Mason feels like a more fully rounded character in this film than he did even after the total of two decades of television series and made-for-TV movies starring Raymond Burr. This aspect, combined with the fact that the film features a great cast, which could have made this a great Perry Mason movie is why I'm giving it a Six instead of the Five it probably deserves.

Another quirk of the film is that it never enters a courtroom; in fact, the case at the center of the film never even makes it to trail. While the concluding "action" doesn't always take place in a oourtroom in Perry Mason stories, there's at least some sort of legal proceeding at some point. Here, the closet we get is Mason meeting with the District Attorney, in a scene that's more there to underscore the corruption of the D.A. and the police department more than anything else.

And speaking of the corrupt police department... corruption is another aspect of this film that's unusual when compared to other Perry Mason screen adventures I've seen. While the police and prosecutors are often shown as either dimwitted, lazy, or just unwilling to look beyond their initial conclusions when it comes to getting their convictions, they aren't usually out-and-out corrupt like they are here. For example, the police detectives don't just go where the evidence takes them here--they all but frame their prime suspect for murder while the prosecutor prevents Mason from seeing her. (On the other side of the coin, however, Mason engages in corruption to a degree that I've also not seen any screen incarnations do up to this point. While I'm used to Mason playing a bit loose with the spirit of the law or bending procedural rules, and even the law, almost to the breaking point, he goes well beyond that in this film.)

Some of the elements which seemed out of place to me probably did not appear that way to audiences in 1935. Corrupt police and prosecutors were the norm in detective films of the day, and the Perry Mason Formula didn't have 85 years of development behind it like it does now. (And, for that matter, the corruption of the justice system that exists everywhere in this movie might be something that will allow newcomers to Perry Mason--via the excellent series that recently ran on HBO.)

"The Case of the Curious Bride" in included with five other Perry Mason films that were produced by Warner Bros. in the 1930s. It's a reasonable priced set, and I think it's worth checking out for Perry Mason fans, old and new.

Powell's last outing as Philo Vance

The Kennel Murder Case (1933)
Starring: William Powell, Eugene Pallette, Robert Barrat, Robert McWade, James Lee, Mary Astor, Frank Conroy, Ralph Morgan, Paul Cavanagh, Helen Vison and Jack La Rue
Director: Michael Curtiz
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

When Archer Coe (Barrat) is found dead in a room locked from the inside, the police assume he killed himself. Celebrated private detective Philo Vance (Powell) believes he was murdered and he proves his suspicions true in fairly short order, even figuring out the solution to the "locked room mystery." But when his prime suspect (Morgan) is also found murdered and everyone else who is even remotely connected to the case had very good reasons to want Coe dead, Vance may for the first time be faced with a mystery he is unable to solve.


"The Kennel Murder Case" is a tale of high society murder that features a mystery so tangled that is bound to keep you guessing up to the very point where Vance tricks the murderer into revealing himself. (In fact, the case is so complicated that if Vance hadn't found another angle of attack by sheer luck after the loss of his first suspect, it might have gone unsolved, or perhaps even more victims would have been claimed by the killer.) It's a film that anyone who enjoys classic mysteries will love very much.

Aside from being an excellent mystery film, it should be of interest to anyone who has enjoyed William Powell as Nick Charles in the Thin Man series. Powell shows that he is just as capable and engaging in the role of a more traditional "consulting detective", including to the point that he is part of the upper-crust society he rubs shoulders with (as opposed to Nick who married his way into it). Vance also solves his crimes sober, and it's interesting to watch Powell play a sober detective who gets by equally on his sharp wit, powers of observation and deduction, and a charming manner that makes him liked even by most criminal types.

"The Kennel Murder Case" is the only William Powell Philo Vance outing that is currently on the market in any format, a reflection of the changing tides of popular culture. In 1933, the Philo Vance character was perhaps more famous than even Sherlock Holmes, but 75 years later, he is all but totally forgotten.

Karloff is driven by mysterious forces when he becomes 'The Walking Dead'

The Walking Dead (1936)
Starring: Boris Karloff, Edmund Gwenn, Marguerite Churchill and Ricardo Cortez
Director: Michael Curtiz
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

Ex-con and all-around sad sack John Ellman (Karloff) is framed for murder by racketeers, he is unjustily executed in the electric chair, dying even as the governor is trying to reach the prison to stay the execution when a witness (Churchill) comes forward with evidence that clears him. The innocent man is given a second chance at life when Dr. Beaumont (Gwenn) brings him back to life with an experimental technique, but death has changed Ellman. Initially, he seems to be mentally disabled, but an encounter with the racketeer-allied attorney who helped frame him (Cortez) reveals that Ellman has changed in ways no mortal will ever be able to comprehend.


"The Walking Dead" is an early genre-bending effort from Warner Brothers that mixes mad science, horror, and crime drama with a deftness that I wouldn't have thought possible. Although a naked attempt to cash in on the horror genre that was doing so well for other studios--but still hewing close to the crime films that were Warners' specialty--it has an intelligent and multi-layered script full of unpredictable twists and turns; excellent pacing and beautiful, moody photography; sympathetic heroes you will be rooting for, and villains that you have no problem hating and won't mind seeing come to bad ends.

One of the most important factors making this film such compelling viewing is the excellent performances by its cast.

Edmund Gwynn plays a doctor who is more interested in first proving that he can bring the dead back to life and later interested in learning what happens to the soul after death than he is in John Ellman's health or sanity, He portrays the character with such likability that its impossible not to like him despite it all.

On the flipside, there is Ricardo Cortez, who plays an absolutely destible mob attorney who through the picture pretends to be looking out for Ellway's interests but who is really trying to see him put to death so he and his fellow criminals remain untouchable by the law. It's a character so slimy that we can't wait to see him get his just rewards, mostly because Cortez plays him with such a cool and detached grace.

And then there's Boris Karloff as John Ellway. Just like Karloff brought humanity to Frankenstein's Monster with a few gestures and body language, so does he convey the deep pain and confusion suffered by Ellway once he is restored to life. It's a confusion that's doubly fascinating, because as the film unfolds, it becomes apparent to the viewer that Ellway has returned from the Other Side with a limited sort of omnicience that allows him to know who the conspirators were that framed him for murder, but not why.


Without spoiling too much of the movie while discussing the aspect that I found the most interesting about it, I will reveal that Ellway spends the second half of the movie looking for the answer to his fate, but never receiving it, as there are other forces that are swirling around him, forces that are making the "untouchables" pay for their crime. And with each denied attempt at discovering why he was marked for death, his pain grows, and it's a pain that Karloff conveys with absolute perfection.

But Ellway's search for answers raises an interesting question about whatever forces govern life, death, and whatever comes after. Whatever they are in this film's world, they seem to have the ability to observe everything that happens with absolute clarity, but have no understanding of why something happens. Ellway recognizes the men who conspired to kill him when he sees them, but their motivation eludes him. Further, whatever the forces are, they also seem not to care about the whys of events... or at least they don't care whether Ellway gets his answers or not.

In the end, the film leaves all the characters wondering about life and death and fate (well, the ones who are still alive at the end of the film), and it will also give the audience members a little food for thought. The final scene is a bit maudelin, but it maintains the mysterious air that surrounded Ellway from the moment he was brought back to life and it really couldn't be more perfect.

"The Walking Dead" is an overlooked classic that every fan of Boris Karloff should see. He gives a performance that is on par with whatever of his more celebrated roles you care to mention. The film has recently once again become easily accessible to the public as part of the "Karloff & Lugosi Horror Classics" four-movie DVD pack. "The Walking Dead" is the only real classic in the bunch, but the price for the set is worth it for this film alone, so you can view the other included pictures as "bonus features." (None of them are outright bad, but they're not exactly great either.)