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Post by Nalkarj on Mar 25, 2017 18:16:43 GMT
This thread is growing out of both my "Two Mystery Films" thread and a thread of the same name on Monster Kid Classic Horror Forum, but I'll ask the same question here just to get some other viewpoints: what are your favorite classic mystery movies? I'm very fond of whodunits (both film and book), especially from the '30s and '40s, and have a number of favorites--so I guess I'm just wondering (1) what everyone else's (film) favorites are too and (2) if you write a list of them, as I will below (though order isn't necessary). What are the parameters? Ehh, you can put in what you'd like; as for me (and only me), I'm going to leave out such great movies as the majority of Hitchcock, Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back, The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep, Murder, My Sweet, Laura, Sleuth, and Deathtrap. (If your criteria are different, go at it; I'm just restricting myself to the criteria I enumerate below.) Why? As great as they are (and I love all of 'em), the primary focus, or at least the picture's raison d'être, is not the solution, the mystery, or the detection; it's something else, whether that be characterization, style, or a big twist. NOTE that I hold characterization, style, and twists in high regard and treasure them when they're added to the whodunit; they're just not the essence of the whodunit. Film, unfortunately, is not the mystery's best format, and it can become too static--all that interviewing of suspects, you know! But some, of course, avoid the stasis, and here are my choices for that honor: (N.B. Many of the best cinematic whodunits are from the '30s and '40s, but I'm going to put movies from other decades on my list as well, and there's absolutely no restriction on time period. Oh, and I'm only writing the year below when there could be confusion about the film in question.) The Thin Man
After the Thin Man
Another Thin Man
Murder on a Honeymoon
The Phantom of Crestwood Green for DangerAnd Then There Were None (1945) The Case of the Howling Dog (1934) The Kennel Murder Case
The Benson Murder Case
Charlie Chan at Treasure Island
Charlie Chan in Egypt
Charlie Chan in Paris
Death on the Nile (1978) The Last of Sheila
The Scarlet Claw
The House of Fear (1945) Now the ball is in your court. What are your favorites? |
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Post by Nalkarj on Mar 25, 2017 19:35:04 GMT
You've named a lot I would have chosen (The Thin Man, Charlie Chan, for example), but I'll give it a stab, hoping I meet the whodunit criteria and sticking with some of the less famous ones. The Spiral Staircase (1946) The Uninvited (1944) The Cat and the Canary (1939) Lady on a Train (1945) Murder She Said (1962) Spellbound (1945) My Favorite Brunette (1942) But I have to add Laura (1944), just because I love it so much. Beyond this, I think I'm into the really famous ones. Great choices, Spider! And I completely understand about putting certain movies on the list just because we love 'em so much. I mean, heck, I'm even stretching it a little with my choices based on my criteria: does The Thin Man truly fit, as much as I love it? Its focus is obviously more on the Charleses than on the puzzle plot, but I just can't bear to leave it off. I've been meaning to see Lady on a Train--that's the one with Deanna Durbin, right?--for the longest time, ever since Everson recommended in The Detective in Film. One day I'm going to have to bunker down and find it--or, more likely, just wait for it to come on TCM again! The Uninvited, one of my favorite movies (I was recently defending it--I can't believe it needs defending, but so be it!--on the "Monster Kid" forum), is a curious case of cross-genre pollination. I mean, for a ghost movie, it actually has a more involved, complicated (too complicated?) puzzle plot than at least half of cinematic whodunits, with probably more clues to boot! Then again, as I wrote there too, the supernatural tale and the mystery tale both do come from the same source, Gothic literature. No need to worry about meeting the criteria, by the way: I was trying (and, as noted, probably failing) to restrict myself to them, but yours may be different for "whodunit." Thanks! |
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Post by teleadm on Mar 25, 2017 20:25:49 GMT
Not gonna be an angry jerk this time!!!
I like that tou like the early Thin Man and Charlie Chan Movies (in northern sweden there is now in Nyby a community center called The Warner Oland all activity cultural center)
On sunday mornings a chanel used to show "A Touch of Frost" and I liked those
In the 1970's Ian Carmichael played Lord Peter Whimsey in a couple of tv seriels,
Charles Vanel in Le Diaboliques (some say that it's the origin of the Columbo character)
The Bulldog Drummond movies with John Barrymore oo-starring
Humphrey Bogart in Maltese Falcon and Big Sleep
Robert Mitchum in Farewell, My Lovely (never seen the Dick Powell Version)
Murder She Said with Rutherford (Catchy tune if nothing else)
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Post by movielover on Mar 25, 2017 22:01:37 GMT
Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
Ten Little Indians (1974)
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Post by shield on Mar 25, 2017 23:11:06 GMT
Tell No One (Ne le dis à personne) (2006) French movie based on a book by Harlan Coben. Master of twists.
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Post by manfromplanetx on Mar 25, 2017 23:41:52 GMT
De dødes tjern , Lake of the Dead (1958) Norway, Directed by Kåre Bergstrøm
Mystery writer Bernhard has his wife Sonja and four other close friends, all intellectuals writers, critics, doctors travel to a relatives cabin deep in the Østerdal forests for a few days away from the city. On arrival the brother of one of the guests is missing and his dog is found dead at a pond nearby. It's not long before they begin to ponder the old legend that is associated with the place: a man is said to have killed his sister and her lover and then drowned himself in the lake. The characters begin to speculate about what has happened some of them favouring the rational, others leaning toward the supernatural.
A highly engaging atmospheric mystery, a psychological thriller with stunning wide-screen B&W cinematography often classed a horror film but I think mystery/whodunit thriller is closer to the mark.
La mort de Belle , The End Of Belle (1961) France, Directed by Édouard Molinaro
Blanchon teaches at the International College and lives a quiet comfortable life in Geneva. He is married to a cold, dry-hearted woman. One day, Belle an American student and daughter of one of his wife's friends, comes to stay at their villa. Blanchon hardly notices her, but his dull uneventful life is turned upside down when Belle is found strangled to death...
Adapted from mystery/whodunit novelist Georges Simenon, the film is a compelling psychological detective story.
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Post by Doghouse6 on Mar 26, 2017 1:48:24 GMT
I wonder if it's remarkable or simply elementary (my dear salzmank) what comfortable companions mystery and comedy make: the Thin Mans (and imitators); the Hildegard Withers series; the Perry Masons; Bulldog Drummonds; Charlie Chans; the Margaret Rutherford Miss Marples; stand-alones such as those occasionally done by the likes of Bob Hope and Gracie Allen. And the genre lends itself especially well to B-level programmers where contract players can strut their melodramatic stuff as supporting-cast suspects or score normally-unattainted top billing as clever sleuths.
The Black Camel (1931)/Charlie Chan In Monte Carlo (1937) - Respectively, the earliest surviving and last-completed of the Warner Oland Chans are two of the best. Camel benefits from both extensive location work in and around Honolulu and its predating of the more standardized formula to which subsequent entries soon conformed. And in each, Chan, in addition to receiving overeager and often bungling "assistance" (from Kashimo in Camel; number one son Lee in Monte Carlo), is partnered by a "co-sleuth" with whom Oland has great onscreen chemistry: alternately affable and intense Bela Lugosi (Camel) and the ever-versatile Harold Huber (Monte Carlo). Together, they serve as satisfying bookends to the extant Oland/Chan canon (four of the fifteen he did remain lost).
The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1939)/Mr. and Mrs. North (1942) - Gracie Allen did these two early in George Burns' 26-year hiatus from the big screen, and if you love Gracie, that's all the reason you need to enjoy them. In the first, she's joined by Warren William making a return appearance as Philo Vance five years after his one-off in The Dragon Murder Case. In the second, William Post, Jr. ("Franz Tobel" in Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon) adds little as the long-suffering Mr. North, but the cast is rounded out by a galaxy of notable reliables: Paul Kelly, Rose Hobart, Virginia Grey, Tom Conway, Felix Bressart, Porter Hall, Millard Mitchell, Jerome Cowan, Henry O'Neill. Fortunio Bonanova and even Keye Luke. Look for Gracie's earlier version of Nancy Walker's Murder By Death "silent scream" gag, but with an added payoff.
Eyes In the Night (1942)/The Hidden Eye (1945) - Regrettably, Edward Arnold did only these two as the resourceful, formidable and blind investigator Duncan MacNeil. They're brisk, snappy and glossily mounted in MGM style. It's always a pleasure to witness Arnold displaying his likeable side, and the genial "Mac" is a not-to-be-trifled-with force who lets nothing get him down and no one stand in his way.
The Ghost Breakers (1940) gets my vote as the better of Bob Hope's two whudunit teamings with Paulette Goddard: chock full of atmospheric and first-rate production values; an exotic setting; a strong supporting cast (Paul Lukas, Anthony Quinn, Richard Carlson, Paul Fix, Willie Best, Pedro de Cordoba, Lloyd Corrigan). And Hope's one-liners are more neatly integrated into character and situation (although '39's The Cat and the Canary features this irresistible exchange: GODDARD: "Aren't you afraid of big, empty houses?" - HOPE: "Not me; I used to be in Vaudeville").
5 Card Stud (1968) - Westerns aren't normally my thing, but this moody combo of the genre with that of murder mystery, aided by Maurice Jarre's unsettlingly-discordant, minor-key score and a solid if sometimes-unconventional cast (Dean Martin, Robert Mitchum, Roddy McDowall, Inger Stevens, Yaphet Kotto, John Anderson, Denver Pyle, Whit Bissell, Ted de Corsia), is nicely effective even if the mystery is pretty much no mystery from the get-go. That's long-haired brunette Katherine Justice as the "good girl," who had immediately before appeared as Gene Barry's red-headed accomplice in the 1968 Columbo pilot film, Prescription: Murder, upon whom the normally diffident detective bears down so aggressively and unmercifully.
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Post by Nalkarj on Mar 26, 2017 3:28:20 GMT
teleadmNo, no, you weren't being an angry jerk. (Really, it was just one line!) But some good choices: Les Diaboliques is of course a classic, though not as Hitchcockian as it's sometimes made out to be (not a criticism, just an observation), and the Bulldog Drummond movies are joys (at least the first two, with Ronald Colman; I'm not as fond of the later ones-- which are, I believe the ones with Barrymore?). They didn't make my list because they don't fit my (admittedly subjective) criteria, but they're great movies all the same. Of course, The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep are also classics. I hope you get to see Murder, My Sweet one day--really one of the best PI movies, with Dick Powell truly capturing many disparate aspects of Marlowe's character. (I prefer Bogie, maybe because I saw the movie first, but I know many fans, who read the books first, who prefer Powell.) I'm not all that fond, unfortunately, of Murder, She Said, but I've always liked Margaret Rutherford's hearty, amusingly un-Marplelike performances in those movies (I prefer Murder on the Gallop and Murder Most Foul, both of which were ironically based on Poirot, not Marple, novels!). movielover I've never seen the '74 Ten Little Indians (just the '45 and '65 versions), but thanks for putting it on there. I must say that I find Murder on the Orient Express overrated: well-done, elaborate, and grand, perhaps, with great performances making up for the lack of characterizations, but ultimately cold and really quite dull. I much prefer the less baroque but more fun Death on the Nile, though I do find Finney's Poirot superior to Ustinov's, which is really more of a caricature than a character. shieldI haven't seen Ne le dis à personne, but, especially since French is the only language (besides English, of course!) in which I'm fluent, je serai sûr de chercher le film! manfromplanetxI've never seen either of these, unfortunately, but Lake of the Dead looks particularly interesting (rather like early '60s B&W psychological thriller Hammer movies, in fact, from the brief clip I saw of it). I will try one of these days to hunt down La mort de Belle as well. Doghouse6Elementary? I say, Doghouse, what an amazing deduction! Comedy and detection do seem to go together--perhaps because of the very fact that, without comedy, the litany of murders would become too much to bear, similar with horror? One could probably write a whole paper on this theme. Be that as it may, great choices, though I haven't seen all that many of them--that cast alone of 5 Card Stud makes me want to take a look at it! There are a few Chans I prefer to The Black Camel, though I recognize the picture's virtues. And Mr. and Mrs. North--is that the one where the husband-and-wife sleuths go to the hotel and the murderer is the manager ? No, that can't be it; I don't think Gracie Allen was in that one. Lord, what can that be? I remember seeing it years ago and enjoying it then. The husband was tied up by the bad guy in a chest, or something, and thrown into the lake? Anyone know that one? Thanks, guys!
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Post by koskiewicz on Mar 27, 2017 22:14:05 GMT
...the entire Basil Rathbone/Sherlock Holmes collection.
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Post by Nalkarj on Mar 27, 2017 22:15:47 GMT
...the entire Basil Rathbone/Sherlock Holmes collection. They're very good. Which ones are your favorites? |
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Post by deembastille on Mar 27, 2017 22:38:46 GMT
pretty much anything from good ole ALPHIE!
I fell completely in love with REAR WINDOW.
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Post by marshamae on Mar 27, 2017 22:54:14 GMT
Sherlock Holmes in Washington- the last appearance of Rathbone in a very silly comb over designed to hide his growing baldness . Very strong cast with Henry Daniell, Marjorie Lord, Clarence Muse, and Gerald Hamer as the the courrier in one of his best roles. Exciting and fun.
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes- despite a good cast led by Ida Lupino it's not so engaging but I always watch it because Rathbone does à a wonderful music Hal turn, singing and dancing to I do like to be Beside the Seaside. Hilarious and charming, proving that practically all British actors love tye music hall.
Pursuit to Tangiers- one of the better stories , a romantic interest played by Marjorie Riordan, with Rosalind Ivan's and Martin Kosleck in support. Nigel Bruce does a bit of parkour singing , giving a stirring rendition of Loch Lomond.
Dressed to Kill- a delightful performance by Patricia Morison, a very underused actress. She does a glamorous society lady and a cockney char in great style, Nigel Bruce makes a noise like a duck and one of the victims has a glorious collection of music boxes. Among the music boxes is a personal favorite, a singing rabbit coming out of a cabbage, made by Roullet et Decamps . It was also featured in You Can't Take It With You.
Sherlock Holmes faces Death- another very good cast with Hillary Brook as a young heiress and Gerald Hamer as one of the shellshocked flyers convalescing at her country estate. He's joined by Vernon Downing , another great British character who often plays bits in good films. He's very funny in this one. It's full of arresting scenes ,the best of which is a giant chess game played on the marble floors of the manor.
The Voice of Terror- another very strong cast led by Evelyn Ankers as the cockney girlfriend of a murdered policeman. It's a great part, with a rousing speech to the coster mongers to rally their patriotism, and some wonderful creepy scenes with Thomas Gomez as an oily villain.
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Post by OldAussie on Mar 27, 2017 23:26:19 GMT
Favourite -
Last of Sheila
Witness For The Prosecution
Next Best - some Agatha's -
Murder on the Orient Express
Death on the Nile
Evil Under the Sun
Others of interest -
5 Card Stud - ultimately fails as a whodunnit but the idea of a western delving into the genre was good.
And Then There Were None (2015) - the British mini-series is the first version of 4 or 5 I've seen which actually has the book's original ending.
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Post by Nalkarj on Mar 27, 2017 23:41:03 GMT
Sherlock Holmes in Washington- the last appearance of Rathbone in a very silly comb over designed to hide his growing baldness . Very strong cast with Henry Daniell, Marjorie Lord, Clarence Muse, and Gerald Hamer as the the courrier in one of his best roles. Exciting and fun. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes- despite a good cast led by Ida Lupino it's not so engaging but I always watch it because Rathbone does à a wonderful music Hal turn, singing and dancing to I do like to be Beside the Seaside. Hilarious and charming, proving that practically all British actors love tye music hall. Pursuit to Tangiers- one of the better stories , a romantic interest played by Marjorie Riordan, with Rosalind Ivan's and Martin Kosleck in support. Nigel Bruce does a bit of parkour singing , giving a stirring rendition of Loch Lomond. Dressed to Kill- a delightful performance by Patricia Morison, a very underused actress. She does a glamorous society lady and a cockney char in great style, Nigel Bruce makes a noise like a duck and one of the victims has a glorious collection of music boxes. Among the music boxes is a personal favorite, a singing rabbit coming out of a cabbage, made by Roullet et Decamps . It was also featured in You Can't Take It With You. Sherlock Holmes faces Death- another very good cast with Hillary Brook as a young heiress and Gerald Hamer as one of the shellshocked flyers convalescing at her country estate. He's joined by Vernon Downing , another great British character who often plays bits in good films. He's very funny in this one. It's full of arresting scenes ,the best of which is a giant chess game played on the marble floors of the manor. The Voice of Terror- another very strong cast led by Evelyn Ankers as the cockney girlfriend of a murdered policeman. It's a great part, with a rousing speech to the coster mongers to rally their patriotism, and some wonderful creepy scenes with Thomas Gomez as an oily villain. Interesting and unusual choices, Marshamae, but there are many with which I agree. I've also always liked The Voice of Terror and SH in Washington, though they're probably the least faithful (to the original stories) of the lot! Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is a bit slow-moving and talky, but with that cast at least the talk is well-played! Lupino's performance, before she achieved stardom, is first-rate, and the plot, though not a whodunit (you know Moriarty is the mastermind from the get-go), is delightfully complex and complicated. I also love Rathbone's turn as a music-hall man--wonderful moment. It's nice to see Rathbone and Bruce playing the characters in the original 1890s setting, and, if Bruce for the first time makes Watson a dolt ("Boobus Britannicus," as Matthew Bunson calls him), the performance is so much fun that one can't help but love it anyway. (Even as a Holmes fan, I've never minded Bruce's non-canonical Watson; Bruce is just so lovable that Watson comes off equally so.) Sherlock Holmes Faces Death has an obvious murderer, but it's one of the best (and spookiest) of the series. There are so many great moments: the reading of the Musgrave Ritual is a first-class scene, and the business on the giant chessboard and in ( Dracula's) crypt are excellent as well. One of my favorites. (Unfortunately, I'm going to have to agree with the majority and say that I find Pursuit to Algiers the weakest of the films--but the moment you highlight, Bruce's marvellous rendition of "Loch Lomond," is, however, one of the series' greatest moments.) My other favorites are The Spider Woman (absolutely dotty plot, but Gale Sondergaard is a great villainess/match for Holmes), The Spider Claw (best at combining mystery and horror elements, best all-round of the movies), The Pearl of Death (most suspenseful, Rondo Hatton as "The Creeper"), and The House of Fear (best mystery, surprisingly well-clued). Oh, and The Hound of the Baskervilles, of course! How could I forget that? Thanks for your list, Marshamae! |
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Post by Nalkarj on Mar 27, 2017 23:43:32 GMT
pretty much anything from good ole ALPHIE! I fell completely in love with REAR WINDOW. By my (admittedly subjective) whodunit criteria, I wouldn't put most of Hitchcock on my "whodunit" list, but, hey, that's just silly me and my genre categories! (I'm just trying to explain why nothing of his is on this list, though he's one of my favorite directors.) I also love Rear Window; I recently showed it to a friend for the first time, and he absolutely loved it. Nice to know that it still has its staying power all these years later, and not just among movie buffs!  |
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Post by Nalkarj on Mar 27, 2017 23:48:01 GMT
Favourite - Last of SheilaWitness For The ProsecutionNext Best - some Agatha's - Murder on the Orient Express
Death on the Nile
Evil Under the SunOthers of interest - 5 Card Stud - ultimately fails as a whodunnit but the idea of a western delving into the genre was good. And Then There Were None (2015) - the British mini-series is the first version of 4 or 5 I've seen which actually has the book's original ending. This is a great list, OldAussie. Nice to see Sheila on there, though I know you responded about it on the other thread. Of the three Christie adaptations made in a row ( Murder, Death, and Evil), Death on the Nile has always been my favorite: it's a great showpiece for the actors, without the (IMO) dullness of Murder on the Orient Express and the superficiality of of Evil Under the Sun. (I do like Evil, though.) After both you and Doghouse recommended Five Card Stud, I'm going to have to take a look at it soon. By the way, has anyone here seen Breakheart Pass (1975), with Charles Bronson? That was also recommended to me as a whodunit-Western hybrid. |
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Post by deembastille on Mar 27, 2017 23:49:24 GMT
Me too. I had always heard about it and I saw it was going to be on like 4 minutes beforehand on a Friday a good 15 years ago. The shades are still going up and I was like I. LOVE. THIS. ALREADY.
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Post by OldAussie on Mar 28, 2017 0:00:10 GMT
salzmank - It's been a while since I saw Breakheart Pass but I recall it as more a western spy/thriller than a whodunit, though the 2 can overlap.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 28, 2017 0:02:30 GMT
I have to dwell on this question and make a list before posting in this thread.
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Post by Nalkarj on Mar 28, 2017 0:32:56 GMT
I have to dwell on this question and make a list before posting in this thread. Just fine, @gottaluvafriend. Take all the time you need. |
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