This was the first of the two Columbia films with Nero Wolfe from the Rex
Stout novels. It is very fast paced with some comedy thrown on top of a good
mystery. Edward Arnold is terrific as Wolfe and displays a lot more of the
characteristics of the Wolfe in the books than the second film (The League
of the Frightened Men) - he hates going outside, drinks beer throughout the
film, is very tight with his money, loves his orchids, is very personable
and is as sharp as a newly honed blade - though perhaps he is a bit too jovial
here for the Wolfe of the books. It is a good robust performance for a fairly
small film, but apparently Arnold had no desire to do more and becoming identified
as Nero Wolfe in the public mind. He was an A cast actor.
A man is murdered on the golf course in a rather clever manner and everyone
but Wolfe thinks it is a heart attack. Another "heart attack" later and Wolfe
is on the case when the attractive sister of the second victim shows up to
ask him to find her brother (who is already dead). Then she sadly leaves
the film until near the very end when she pops in again. Played by Rita Cansino
- who within a few months was to change her name to Rita Hayworth. Just two
years earlier she was in Charlie Chan in Egypt and she was nearly unrecognizable
but by this time you can see that the process to make her a star was well-underway
- her eye brows that were so thick have now been thinned down and her hairline
pushed back. Quite lovely. So as is the usual scenario in the mysteries of
that period - a group of suspects are created and at the end Wolfe calls
them all together to reveal the killer. I was actually surprised but in fact
they could have played musical chairs to pick a killer and it would have
been just as believable.
One kind of fun note - while Wolfe's assistant Archie Goodwin (Lionel Stander)
is baby sitting a potential victim and his son, they play a game of Monopoly
for a while. It had just been created in 1935 by Parker Brothers and it made
me want to play again. I never won in the family contests and want to try
again.
