If you're looking for a decent classic mystery movie, then you might enjoy this one. Based on an Ellery Queen novel, it has Donald Cook (Queen) taking a vacation in California with his pal the judge (Berton Churchill). As they settle into their rented house and discuss the snooty family next door, they discover that the daughter of the family, Helen Twelvetrees, is tied up up the back room, her uncle has been kidnapped and the bodies are starting to pile up, while the local sheriff tries everyone as the murderer.It's more notable for being a good mystery than a good movie, even with the good acting talent involved, but if you've a taste for puzzle mysteries it should be a pleasant seventy-five minutes.

Great title, "The Spanish Cape Mystery." It carries a double meaning too. The location at which Ellery Queen and his elderly companion are vacationing is named Spanish cape. And the first murder victim among the dozen or so guests at the estate is found near the beach, wearing only bathing trunks, and covered by an opera cloak, which is some kind of cape, although not a Spanish one, as far as we know.It's pretty routine as these 1930s murder mysteries go. Donald Cook is Ellery Queen and Berton Churchill, a great windbag, is his partner. They put up at an estate on the California coast. The other guests are in cahoots or in conflict over money or love. The butler eavesdrops. The first body shows up shortly after Queen's arrival. Then, at twelve-hour intervals, two more bodies show up. The clues point all over the place. Ellery Queen solves the mystery not so much by detection as by fulgurating intuition.There's not much to be said about it. Cook is inoffensive as Queen. He wears a condescending smile, almost amounting to a smirk, as he watches the hapless Chief of Police try to untangle the web of clues and suspicions. Ellery Queen is sarcastically referred to by the cops as "Sherlock", "Philo", "Mr. Chan," and so forth. But he's not them, because there's nothing distinctive about Cook's Ellery Queen. He doesn't shoot dope like Sherlock, doesn't speak with an accent like Chan, and never gets tipsy like Nick Charles.It's an inexpensive entertainment, diverting for the audience. It couldn't have been more than that.

Donald Woods plays the detective in this film. He has the distinction of being among the few actors to portray at least two fictional sleuths on film or on TV. Woods played Perry Mason in 1937 in the movies, and Craig Kennedy in 1952 on TV. Hollywood sees certain actors playing detectives and casts them in roles that may seem at odds with the character known in books. Warren William as Perry Mason, Philo Vance, and Sam Spade; Wm Powell as Philo Vance and Nick Charles (The Thin Man). Bogart as Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe. The fictional Ellery Queen is a hard role to cast since the character in the books by Dannay and Lee changes over time as the series proceeds over nearly 40 years. The first several books which feature the word "mystery," a derivative of a country, and a common noun ("Dutch Shoe," "Greek Coffin," "French Powder," etc.) feature a detective as esthete, erudite and epicene as Philo Vance and Peter Wimsey. Then EQ is "humanized" and becomes more of a regular guy, but along the way he becomes faceless and without much character. He loses his pince-nez glasses and no longer drives a Duesenberg. He becomes just a problem solver with less than compelling personal problems. So he is then a mere great mind who can be played by any actor, and as time has gone on he has been -- Ralph Bellamy, Lee Bowman, Hugh Marlowe, George Nader, Jim Hutton, and whoever. None of these actors had the distinct personality to create a character on screen like Suchet did with Poirot or Brett with Sherlock. Cumberbatch as Sherlock, too. So Woods is a cipher as a character and as Ellery Queen. The most interesting thing about this oh-hum movie is wondering why Helen Twelvetrees didn't make better movies.

Wow, what fun. You might not like this if you think of detective stories as an excuse to parade a colorful detective. The guy in this case is nearly nothing at all. Flat jokes.But what a cool mystery! Its a mystery in the old sense, where things happen and you know more than the detective does, just enough to be ahead of him. And you can easily figure it out.A body is found by the beach at night. In wet swimming trunks not his own, wearing a woman's shawl. Its a remote house and there is inheritance involved. Very typical constraints and model of detecting. Very complex events we have to suss out. Why the trunks? Why the shawl? Another murder and trunks follows.There isn't a character here that you'll remember. But you'll have fun if you like puzzle-stories.Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.