{"id":7265,"date":"2009-06-08T10:28:52","date_gmt":"2009-06-08T17:28:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=7265"},"modified":"2021-01-28T21:21:39","modified_gmt":"2021-01-29T04:21:39","slug":"canary-murder-case-the-1929","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=7265","title":{"rendered":"Canary Murder Case, The (1929)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;I have a strange premonition that the Canary is headed for disaster.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/Canady-Murder-Case-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/Canady-Murder-Case-Poster-191x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"191\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-66638\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/Canady-Murder-Case-Poster-191x300.jpg 191w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/Canady-Murder-Case-Poster-81x128.jpg 81w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/Canady-Murder-Case-Poster-172x270.jpg 172w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/Canady-Murder-Case-Poster.jpg 580w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 191px) 100vw, 191px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nDetective Philo Vance (William Powell) investigates the mysterious murder of a blackmailing showgirl known as the Canary (Louise Brooks), who accumulated countless enemies and\/or jealous lovers just before her death.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Detectives and Private Eyes<\/li>\n<li>Louise Brooks Films<\/li>\n<li>Murder Mystery<\/li>\n<li>Showgirls<\/li>\n<li>William Powell Films<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\n<em>The Canary Murder Case<\/em> was the first cinematic translation of an S.S. Van Dine <a href=\"http:\/\/www.answers.com\/philo%20vance\">Philo Vance detective novel<\/a>, but is even more notable today as the film that destroyed Louise Brooks&#8217; career in Hollywood. A so-called &#8220;transitional talkie&#8221;, it was originally shot as a silent film, then later dubbed; but Brooks, who was in Europe at the time making <em>Diary of a Lost Girl<\/em> with G.W. Pabst, refused to return to America, and her character was dubbed by Margaret Livingston instead. While it&#8217;s jarringly obvious that Brooks herself isn&#8217;t speaking, she nonetheless manages to project a memorable hussy within her brief period on-screen, and we miss her striking presence once she&#8217;s gone. Indeed, the remainder of the film falls mostly flat, thanks largely to its awkward &#8220;silent film&#8221; pacing, in which characters speak, then pause briefly before responding; not even William Powell emerges unscathed. The murder mystery is mildly interesting, but far too talky &#8212; and it takes so long for Vance to figure out the identity of the murderer (which most audience members will have guessed long before) that impatience finally sets in. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Louise Brooks in a too-small role as &#8220;the Canary&#8221;<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/canary-brooks.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/canary-brooks.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-7268\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, unless you&#8217;re a die-hard Louise Brooks fan; for a much more engaging and creatively filmed Philo Vance flick, see <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=6091\"><em>The Kennel Murder Case<\/em> (1933)<\/a>. Listed as a film with Historical Importance in the back of Peary&#8217;s book. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0019745\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/1929\/03\/11\/archives\/the-screen-lupe-velez-again-the-roar-of-a-city-who-strangled-the.html\">NY Times Original Review (scroll down to third review)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thestopbutton.com\/2007\/03\/29\/the-canary-murder-case-1929\/\">The Stop Button Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;I have a strange premonition that the Canary is headed for disaster.&#8221; Synopsis: Detective Philo Vance (William Powell) investigates the mysterious murder of a blackmailing showgirl known as the Canary (Louise Brooks), who accumulated countless enemies and\/or jealous lovers just before her death. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Detectives and Private Eyes Louise Brooks Films Murder Mystery Showgirls William Powell Films Review: The Canary Murder Case was the first cinematic translation of an S.S. Van Dine Philo Vance detective novel,&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=7265\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7265"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66642,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7265\/revisions\/66642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}