The Gracie Allen Murder Case

During the depth of the Depression, the popularity of S.S. Van Dine's Philo Vance novels is credited with keeping the Scribners publishing company afloat. But, ironically, the Vance novels influenced better writers to create better detectives, most notably Ellery Queen. By the late 1930s, their popularity was dwindling.

It's easy to see why this happened. The Vance novels simply don't hold up, with the protagnoist coming as more annoying than smart. The worshipful admiration he receives from police and the D.A. gets tiresome and the mysteries themselves are so-so.

Philo Vance movies had been popping up--made by different studios--since 1929. In 1938, Van Dine was a bit strapped for cash, so he cut a deal to write The Gracie Allen Murder Case, in which Vance would team up with the ditzy comedienne to solve a crime. Gracie's husband and partner George Burns would put in an appearance as well, but the novel would focus primarily on Gracie and Vance. The movie version, with Warren William playing Vance for the third time, was released the next year.

I had to read the Vance novels when I wrote Radio by the Book and I won't subject myself to that torture a second time--not even to revisit the admittedly unique Gracie Allen novel. But Vance has always been more likeable in his movie (and radio) versions than in his novels, so I had no problem watching the movie after searching for years to find a copy. The movie is simply funny, with Gracie bringing her brand of chaos to what is a fairly well-constructed murder mystery.

George isn't in the movie, leaving Gracie free to fall for Bill Brown (Kent Taylor), a perfume maker who is soon accused of murder. Gracie finds Bill's cigarette box near the body and both end up in the slammer. Gracie is released soon after Philo Vance, who believes Bill is innocent, takes up the case.

The dead man was murdered with a rare poison, which is soon used to kill someone else. There is, in fact, several items that are poisoned being unwittingly found and carried around by Gracie, including a cigarette and a bottle of perfume.

Vance eventually puts the clues together and confronts the killer, but by then the poisoned cigarette has ended up in Vance's case. Gracie has to convince a motorcycle cop to race her across town in time to save Vance's life just as he's solving the murder.

Gracie is typically wonderful playing her ditzy counterpart, while Warren William drops into the straight man role with aplomb. There is a pretty good mystery hidden inside this movie, but mostly its an excuse to let Gracie be Gracie, which is always hilarious. 

The Gracie Allen Murder Case is indeed unique, but Vance is indeed a strong protagonist in all his movies. As difficult to read as the original novels are, S.S. Van Dine apparently had a worthwhile detective hero hidden in there somewhere.