NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (May 2024): Kino have transferred three Philo Vance murder mysteries starring William Powell to one dual-layered Blu-ray; The Canary Murder Case (1929,) The Greene Murder Case (1929) and The Benson Murder Case (1930.) They are cited as being from "Brand New 4K Restorations of THE CANARY MURDER CASE and THE GREENE MURDER CASE" and a "2K Restoration of THE BENSON MURDER CASE". The films have inherent softness, some fuzzy grain and decent-to-pleasing contrast. The HD presentations are a product of the age but the higher resolution certainly advances over SD. Marks and speckles are rife but no surprise for these 95-year old Pre-Code films. Hopefully our screen captures will give you an idea of the image quality.

NOTE: We have added 100 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Kino use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel tracks (24-bit) in the original English language. None of the film have aggressive moments. The murders are almost all off-screen (one chocking with a rope from behind, one off screen gunshot). Dialogue is predictably weak - again a function of the early-talkie productions. Score was by Karl Hajos (The Story of Temple Drake, Thunderbolt, Four Frightened People, Werewolf of London, Supernatural, Summer Storm) for the first two films and (uncredited) to Charles Midgely on The Benson Murder Case. Louise Brooks' DUB in The Canary Murder Case was very weak and easily apparent. Kino offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray offers a new audio commentary for each film. On The Canary Murder Case and The Greene Murder Case by (author of Anno Dracula 1999: Daikaiju) and Barry Forshaw (author the BFI Film Classics' The War of the Worlds book) and on The Benson Murder Case by Professor and Film Scholar Jason A. Ney. Kim and Barry discuss author S. S. Van Dine's (pseudonym of American art critic Willard Huntington Wright - quoting him) classic whodunnits, director Frank Tuttle - the cast of William Powell, Louise Brooks, Jean Arthur (in both films they comment on), James Hall, Florence Eldridge, and Charles Lane also Eugene Pallette as Sgt. Ernest Heath (in all three films.) Jason A. Ney discusses The Benson Murder Case as the first Philo Vance novel, 'behind the scenes' details of the production, including using nascent sound technology, and how the film was changed to appease censors, where it fits into the career of leading man William Powell, and why Paramount shot both English and Spanish language versions of the film, more on who S. S. Van Dine was, and what he thought of this adaptation. He also breaks down some of the many changes the filmmakers made to the original story, and why they matter. It is at Jason's usual thorough and well-researched level. There are also trailers for Blackmail, Lucky Jordan and The Hour Before the Dawn but none for any of these three Philo Vance films.            

The fictional amateur detective Philo Vance (originally featured in 12 crime novels) was very popular in books, films, and radio in the 1920s and 1930s. Vance was described by the author "S. S. Van Dine" (pseudonym of art critic Willard Huntington Wright who dismissed the idea of the mystery story as 'serious literature') as "... a man of unusual culture and brilliance. An aristocrat by birth and instinct, he held himself severely aloof from the common world of men." William Powell was an excellent choice to play the character despite his negative opinion of the human characteristics of Vance - described as an "expert fencer", a scratch golfer, a thoroughbred dog breeder, a expert polo player, a consistently winning poker player, a handicapper of race horses, a patron of classical music and connoisseur of gourmet food and wine as well as fluent in several foreign languages. There is not any Pre-Code naughtiness although the subject matter is "murder". Fans of vintage film detective fiction and Powell (plus Louise Brooks + Jean Arthur) will certainly enjoy. Kino offer the three, almost century-old, films on Blu-ray - each with an expert commentary. Thank you Kino for releasing these in this package.

NOTE: There are six more Philo Vance films, on a Warner Archive DVD package, reviewed HERE. 

Gary Tooze