Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

Adeel Hail Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Derrick Gibbons An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

utgard14 Philo Vance (Warren William) investigates a cursed swimming pool. It's called the dragon pool because there is supposedly a killer dragon in it! Extremely interesting idea elevates this murder mystery. Nice cast too. Warren William is good. It's amusing to me how there seems to be little consensus on Philo Vance's character in these films. He seems to change personality depending on who is playing him. This is probably why he's one of my least favorites of the classic mystery film detectives. But I do enjoy Warren William so I enjoyed this. Eugene Palette reprises his role as Sgt. Heath and he's always fun. Also returning is Etienne Girardot as the coroner Doremus. I love this actor. He's hilarious! The lovely Margaret Lindsay appears as one of the suspects, as does character actor George E. Stone. Lyle Talbot plays a half-Indian apparently. He doesn't look it but they keep referencing it so I thought I'd throw that in there. Short runtime helps keep the pace tight. Good old school detective flick. Fans of them will enjoy this one.

cm-albrecht Hollywood never found a real Philo Vance. In the books he was an effete, superior pedantic individual and really not very likable. Maybe no one wanted to play him that way. Warren William made a barely passable Vance. I've always been a big William Powell fan, and whether he was Vance, Charles or Dal, he was always the pleasant urbane same William Powell. That being said, I'll move on to The Dragon Murder Case. There is a plot I call the Scooby-Doo plot. All Scooby-Doo episodes share one plot: There appear to be frightening mysterious and perhaps supernatural events going on, when in the end it turns out to be just another baddie with a baddie agenda. The Dragon Murder Case is one of these. A group of guests go for a nocturnal swim. A man disappears after diving into a naturally formed swimming pool. After draining the pool, there is no sign of the missing man. Eventually his broken body is found some distance away in what they call a "pothole". Word on the street is that the dragon that supposedly inhabits the pool, killed the man and dragged his body away to the pothole for future nutrition. When the film came out, audiences weren't as blasé as they are today, and many were probably amazed at what happened and at Mr. Vance's acumen. Today however, most viewers will spot the murderer the moment he appears on the screen. For its time, the film is pretty good with spooky lighting, aquariums with lizards and fighting fish; sea monster lore. The dammed up pool looks pretty good with its rugged edges. But the denouement is downright lame. It worked better in the book because of the description of the pool and the reader's imagination. In the film it seems impossible for the murder to have been carried out without one or more of the four people present having seen something. The biggest "plothole" in the story is however, that the entire operation (which began sometime before we entered the movie), depended completely upon the victim (both in the book and on the screen), suggesting that everyone go for a swim. Okay, maybe he liked to swim, but what if he hadn't made the suggestion? The killer would have wasted a great deal of effort and bad acting for nothing. How many times would he have to go through this to get his victim where he wanted him? And really, why bother to hide the body? Just to add to the mystery? If I plotted to murder someone, my concern would be not to get caught, to hell with offering up a great mystery for the world to ponder. I liked The Kennel Murder Case a lot better.

Michael_Elliott Dragon Murder Case, The (1934) *** 1/2 (out of 4) William Warren takes over the role of Philo Vance in this entry, which plays more like a horror film than just a mystery. A world class swimmer jumps into a pool during a party and never comes up. The next day the pool is drained but there isn't a body so various people are looked at as suspects but certain clues lead to a legend dealing with an Indian dragon monster. The Kennel Murder Case is the best known film in the series but this one here is just as exciting and entertaining. Warren is terrific in the role of Vance bringing his usual charm and brains to the role. The supporting cast including Lyle Talbot, Margaret Lindsay, Robert McWade and George E. Stone are all terrific but it's the overweight and funny talking Eugene Palette that steals the show. The mystery behind the killing remains interesting throughout the entire film and all the horror elements ranging from ghosts to dragons to a crazy old woman play out very well. This is certainly one of the better mysteries I've seen from this period.

Jim Tritten Not a particularly auspicious entry in the Philo Vance series. Warren Williams simply does not match the acting of William Powell who had the lead in four of these films, including the excellent Kennel Murder Case. The storyline revolves around guests at a mansion and the deaths of the fiancée Montague and perhaps others in the vicinity of the "dragon pool." Mrs. Stamm, the matron of the house warns that a water dragon that has guarded the lives and fortunes of the Stamm family inhabits the pool. Montague was not worthy of joining the family. How a dragon would have ever been in the pool is simply ignored. Shots of swimming in the pool remind one of the Creature From the Black Lagoon. Eugene Pallette is excellent as the detective who is always remarking how his knowledge of criminology leads him to suspect... Etienne Girardot is excellent as the coroner as is Helen Lowell as grandmother Stamm. Love triangle does not lend much to the plot. Much discussion of fish in tanks that does not appear to serve any purpose - although they are interesting to view, especially through the tanks suspended from the ceiling. Perhaps one of them was supposed to evolve into the dragon. Orry-Kelly costumes on Margaret Lindsay. Not recommended.