Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The second Philo Vance film with William Powell in the central role was made in the same year as the first ("The Canary Murder Case"), but it is somewhat less of an antique. It's still often static, but at least there are a few panoramic shots of the house of the Greenes, and a more cinematic finale. Perhaps more importantly, the mystery is much more complicated than that of "Canary"; having read Maltin's comment about an obvious killer and remembering how easy it was to spot the killer in "Canary", I was certain I had it all figured out but I was fooled; I found the ending thoroughly surprising. Fans of Jean Arthur (she also appeared very briefly in "Canary") will be glad to know that her part is much bigger this time. **1/2 out of 4.

The Greene family is abiding by a strange will that required them to stay in their mansion. The problem is that SOMEONE there is a maniac and is killing people! Can Philo Vance (William Powell) get to the bottom of this and prevent more killings?"The Greene Murder Case" played a lot better back in 1929 than it does today. Today, it seems very dull and much of this can be attributed to the way they made movies back in 1929. Like most films of the day, this one lacked incidental music and was very low energy--probably because actors were stuck standing near hidden microphones. Additionally, all too often, our hero, Philo Vance makes insane guesses and makes them seem true when he's really just pulling it out of thin air!.

The Greene Murder Case was William Powell's second of four ventures in the role of society detective Philo Vance. In this film, he's called in as a whole family named Greene, rich society folks like Vance himself keeps getting knocked off one at a time. As Eugene Palette as Sergeant Heath says, they'd have to be crazy to keep committing the crimes while Vance and he are actually in the house investigating. Insanity is a key element in The Greene Murder Case.The house itself holds a few clues as to the identity. And it plays a part in the crimes as they unfold because as we learn right at the beginning of the film, the terms of the late Mr. Greene has that the whole family has to live together, if not happily under the same roof for fifteen years before they can inherit. Only in these old murder mysteries do they come up with wills like that.The Greene family is an interesting lot in and of themselves. Mother Gertrude Norman is bedridden, but keeps a tyrannical reign over her kids who consist of flapper Florence Eldridge, doormat Jean Arthur, and a pair of worthless trust fund baby sons in Morgan Farley and Lowell Drew. The Greene Murder Case is probably the weakest of the four William Powell Philo Vance cases. It relies on some really way out solutions for Powell to identify the culprit. And if you're any kind of fan of these films you will know about a third of the way through who the murderer was. Let's say the culprit has what looks to be an airtight alibi for all the murders, especially the second of the three.Powell of course is as debonair and smooth as always. As I did in seeing The Canary and Benson Murder Cases, I do marvel at the way Powell was able to immediately adapt almost by instinct to the requirements of talking pictures. Definitely a film if you are a fan of his.

Following the sensational success of The Canary Murder Case (1929), William Powell was soon asked to reprise his role as Philo Vance in The Greene Murder Case (1929). Powell was again joined by Eugene Palette as Sergeant Heath and E.H. Calvert as the D.A. Jean Arthur was also cast, but this time as one of the main participants. S.S. Van Dine's 1928 novel (actually the third in the series) served as a basis for Louise Long's wordy screenplay, while Frank Tuttle again directed in the same studiously static, sound-bound style (aside from a brief flourish after the credits, obviously filmed with a silent camera). One point of major interest, however, and the secondary reason (Tuttle's uninvolved and uninvolving direction is reason number one) for rejecting this movie as a film noir is the toning. Whereas Canary was issued on tinted stock, for this entry Paramount opted for toning instead. Tinted stock, as the name implies, involved using film stock of different colors, e.g. blue for night scenes, yellow for interiors, etc. Toning, on the other hand, was accomplished by adding pigments to the emulsion itself. In this movie, only one color, a light pink, is used throughout. The color has been added to almost every scene, particularly to the frilly costumes worn by Miss Arthur. The effect is certainly most attractive but it does not enhance a film noir mood.As for the mystery itself, few connoisseurs will have any difficulty selecting the guilty party. The fiend is obviously not the beautiful, super-charismatic Florence Eldridge on whom all the suspicion is cast. More than that I will not reveal.Acting is of a high standard throughout. Eugene Palette is especially heartening in this one, and Powell, of course, makes for the perfect Philo. Ullrich Haupt as the doctor and Gertrude Norman as the bedridden mother also make a significant impression.