Highly Overrated But Still Good

It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Great title, "The Spanish Cape Mystery." It carries a double meaning too. The location at which Ellery Queen and his elderly companion are vacationing is named Spanish cape. And the first murder victim among the dozen or so guests at the estate is found near the beach, wearing only bathing trunks, and covered by an opera cloak, which is some kind of cape, although not a Spanish one, as far as we know.It's pretty routine as these 1930s murder mysteries go. Donald Cook is Ellery Queen and Berton Churchill, a great windbag, is his partner. They put up at an estate on the California coast. The other guests are in cahoots or in conflict over money or love. The butler eavesdrops. The first body shows up shortly after Queen's arrival. Then, at twelve-hour intervals, two more bodies show up. The clues point all over the place. Ellery Queen solves the mystery not so much by detection as by fulgurating intuition.There's not much to be said about it. Cook is inoffensive as Queen. He wears a condescending smile, almost amounting to a smirk, as he watches the hapless Chief of Police try to untangle the web of clues and suspicions. Ellery Queen is sarcastically referred to by the cops as "Sherlock", "Philo", "Mr. Chan," and so forth. But he's not them, because there's nothing distinctive about Cook's Ellery Queen. He doesn't shoot dope like Sherlock, doesn't speak with an accent like Chan, and never gets tipsy like Nick Charles.It's an inexpensive entertainment, diverting for the audience. It couldn't have been more than that.

The Spanish Cape Mystery (1935) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Detective Ellery Queen (Donald Cook) and his buddy Judge Macklin (Berton Churchill) decide to go on vacation to get away from all the crime but once they arrive in Spanish Cape, CA they get mixed up with a murder case. THE Spanish CAPE MYSTERY isn't going to go down in history as one of the greatest murder-mysteries ever made but it's mildly entertaining thanks in large part to the cast. Cook is in fine form playing the slick, laid back Detective who always has something smart to say about everything. I really liked the way Cook played Queen as he managed to bring a fun style to the character and he also managed to be smart, give rude remarks and be in-your-face without becoming annoying. Churchill is also very good in his bit and I thought the two had some good comic timing together that really paid off in their scenes. Helen Twelvetress plays the love interest/suspect and she adds a lot to the picture as do the rest of the supporting players who are all basically just suspects. Like many mysteries from this era, I think the screenplays could leave a lot to be desired but for the most part what we get here is entertaining. The mystery actually works and while there might be a few questionable points, for the most part you're able to buy and enjoy the outcome of the case. There's also a very fun, pre-vacation sequence where Queen shows off his Detective skills.

Little read today, Ellery Queen mysteries were highly popular in their day. In this outing, Donald Cook plays Ellery Queen. While he is suave enough and occasionally shows a spark of humor, Cook lacks the pizazz of other B mystery series detectives, (such as Warren William, Chester Morris, George Sanders, or Tom Conway) which is probably why it didn't become a series with Cook as the lead (a few years later, Ralph Bellamy starred as Ellery Queen in a series of movies). The plot is typical of many 30s mysteries – a big house filled with odious relatives and guests with murder after murder happening and the survivors continuing to stay in the house. And it has the young pert ingénue as well as the dumb loud-mouthed police chief flitting from one suspect to another with each suspect then cleared by the detective. Queen traps the killer and all the loose ends are nicely tidied up. There are a few notable character portrayals such as Berton Churchill and the always humorous Ed Gargan. It was kinda cool seeing George Cleveland in a small role – to me, he will always be Gramps in the Lassie television show. This movie is mildly enjoyable and worth a watch, but it is not a top notch mystery even for a B movie.

"The Spanish Cape Mystery" is much more fun than you'd expect from a low-budget 1935 murder mystery that failed to launch the series it was probably intended to (an Ellery Queen film series WAS made a few years later, but with a different actor as the title character). A likable hero (who shows his crime-solving credentials early on), a cute heroine, a clueless sheriff, a suspicious butler, and all the other eccentric and shady characters you'd expect - and want - from the genre are here, exchanging lively and often humorous dialogue. I have to admit that the identity of the murderer becomes quite guessable after a point, but several hows and whys remain appropriately baffling. Fans of the genre will enjoy this one. **1/2 out of 4.