Minor Spoiler contained.In the mid-1960's, as part of my misspent youth, I read all the Philo Vance novels by a guy named Wright under the nom-de-plume of S. S. Van Dine. For some unaccountable reason, some of his books became "best sellers" and made the author a fortune. Even the Book of the Month Club honored some books as "selections." The first book THE BENSON MURDER CASE was never filmed under that title, but then several books in succession found their way into cinema history. The last book THE WINTER MURDER CASE was unfinished at the time of Wright's death. There was a progression in quality as you read the books and as you see the movies adapted from them. The earlier books are the best, so too the movies based on them. The muse seems to have left Wright as time ran on, and the quality of the mysteries devolved into the blood and thunder genre. The absolute joke of the series was THE GRACIE ALLEN MURDER CASE with the real life Gracie Allen as a character leading "Fido" (played by Warren William) around by the nose. Anyway, this film under review with Paul Lukas and Roz Russell is more in the THIN MAN vein, as opposed to the more respectable THE KENNEL MURDER CASE. Many reviewers here have talked about Lukas and his European accent (the Vance of the novels was a pure WASP, but even more intelligent, educated and insufferably arrogant than can be imagined -- a true wish fulfillment figure for the author), and others have commented on the absurdity of the plot where the murderer turns out to be a raving lunatic. But instead of repeating what has already been noted, I want to single out Eric Blore who plays "Currie" -- Vance's man servant. Blore is one of those little noticed supporting players who took up only a few minutes in every film he was in, but still managed to make an impression. I noticed him in a few Astaire/Rogers films, especially the one in which he talks to Alice Brady about crumpets. He saves the day with his revelation at the end of THE GAY DIVORCE. Here, he plays a servant who adumbrates Bruce Kwok in the Peter Sellers' "Clouseau" movies with his skill in fighting his master with swords and then with boxing gloves. Can't recommend the film as a mystery; but as a time server with seeing Russell (not looking all that glamorous, admittedly) before her step up the movie ladder, it may be worth the while.

Basil Rathbone. Warren William. William Powell. And now? Paul Lukas. All played Philo Vance in the movies up to 1935 when Lukas took his turn as the urbane, suave American detective Philo Vance. I really like Lukas as an actor, but I must agree with a previous review that stated how distracting his accent was and how much it affects his character's credibility. I had trouble forgetting about it(probably as every time he spoke I was reminded!). This time around, Vance gets a note warning him that a member of a rich family is going to be killed at a family-owned casino. Vance investigates and has a keen interest in the possibility of a crime being committed and even more interest in the rich matriarch's private secretary Rosiland Russell. Russell is really quite good as she has an excellent tough for light comedy - which this is undoubtedly more so than a mystery. The mystery at times almost seems to be in the way of some cute comedy sketches between various secondary characters only to be explained with some hugely wild plot contrivance dealing with hard water! While Lukas and the mystery are not up to what I usually expect from a Philo Vance film, the film is saved because the end resolution is at the very least interestingly inventive and there are some really fine character performances by Russell, William Demarest,Louise Fazenda, Isabel Jewell, Ted Healey, Leo G. Carroll, and two that really stand out for me - Charles Sellon as the always put-upon coroner(he keeps busy in this one) and the ever impregnable Eric Blore( a master of sophisticated comedy for man-servants).

Philo Vance has been played by a number of actors over the years, everyone from Wilfred Hyde-White to William Powell, who portrayed the detective the most. In "The Casino Murder Case," it's Paul Lukas' turn to have a go at it. This is a light mystery concerning some murders within a family. Rosalind Russell is the young woman here, and she does a fine job.I'm not familiar with Philo Vance in the books so I can't comment on Lukas' portrayal in comparison. However, I suspect that normally, the role is approached with a lighter touch. Lukas is a wonderful and very likable actor, but I think that in the hands of someone like William Powell, the humor would have been mined a little bit more. Lukas isn't heavy-handed in any way, it's just that this type of role isn't a perfect fit for him. All in all, entertaining.

As good an actor as Paul Lukas is, his accent destroys the illusion that he's the great American detective, Philo Vance, and I was conscious of that throughout. The murder mystery gets off to a good start, but then falters when Vance speculates that perhaps it was "heavy water" that was used as the poison, since it was not known if that substance was poisonous. That idea was pulled out of thin air in an effort to explain why people drinking water would be poisoned. I disliked this development, sensing it was just a plot device to keep the movie rolling, and I was right. He mentions deuterium, Harold Urey's experiments, and the fact a quart of the substance would be worth $100,000, but I'm sure 99% of the 1935 audience didn't know what he was talking about anyway. It would have been much better if he came across Kinkaid's laboratory isolating heavy water by accident and then thought about the possibility of its use as a poison.But I did enjoy some of the comic relief. William Demarest plays an auctioneer trying to convince people that an ugly statue of cupid was made for Louis XIV, even after his assistant announces it says "made in Japan" on the bottom. In a running gag, Louise Fazenda plays the maid who is caught a dozen times listening at a keyhole and sheepishly says "Did you call, sir," each time. And Charles Sellon is the coroner always complaining about the inconsiderate murder victims getting bumped off just when he's trying to sleep. And there's more comedy too.