"The Kennel Murder Case" is often regarded as the best of all the Philo Vance films, but having seem many of them in the last few months I don't think the quality gap between "Kennel" and most of the others is that big; in fact, I think "The Casino Murder Case" is just as good as this film, if not better. That does not mean, however, that "Kennel" is not a clever and engrossing whodunit - it is. (Heavy spoilers follow - do not read if you have not seen the film) The idea of two killers separately plotting the murder of the same man and having their plans interrupted by each other is a unique one, especially for the time, and the mystery is a real head-scratcher. The ending, however, is not as strong as the rest of the movie: after describing in perfect detail the "how" and "when" of the crimes, Vance admits that he has no idea as to the "who" - and yet, a few seconds later, he pulls the killer's identity out of his hat and devises a not-so-foolproof plan to expose him. A better idea might have been to have all the suspects assembled and have the dog, with whom the killer had a previous encounter, sniff him out. The entire (large) cast is solid, and Michael Curtiz's direction features some advanced camera work. *** out of 4.
Review of The Kennel Murder Case
