The Philo Vance Collection Blu-Ray Review – William Powell Charms In Early Hollywood Murder Mysteries

Based on S.S. Van Dine’s bestselling novels, these classic Pre-Code murder-mysteries showcase the case-cracking prowess of the debonair detective Philo Vance, as portrayed by cinema’s icon of gentlemanly sleuthing, William Powell (The Thin Man, Take One False Step). THE CANARY MURDER CASE (1929) – Who silenced The Canary? A scheming showgirl known as The Canary turns up dead, and so does the lone witness to the killing. Only Philo Vance stands a chance at cracking this case. Directed by Malcolm St. Clair (A Woman of the World); co-starring screen great Jean Arthur (Easy Living) and the legendary Louise Brooks (Beggars of Life) as the conniving Canary.

THE GREENE MURDER CASE (1929) – Members of the wealthy but loathsome Greene family gather at a spooky old castle to establish the terms of a will, only to be mysteriously murdered one-by-one. Philo Vance scrutinizes the clues and suspects. Directed by Frank Tuttle (This Gun for Hire); co-starring the dazzling Jean Arthur (A Foreign Affair) and Florence Eldridge (An Act of Murder). 

THE BENSON MURDER CASE (1930) – When a ruthless, crooked stockbroker croaks at his luxurious country estate, Philo Vance just so happens to be there to investigate. Directed by Frank Tuttle (Lucky Jordan); co-starring acting ace Paul Lukas (By Candlelight) with William “Stage” Boyd (The Locked Door) and one of Powell’s Thin Man suspects, Natalie Moorhead (Private Detective 62).

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Video Quality

The Canary Murder Case, The Greene Murder Case, and The Benson Murder Case make their Blu-Ray debut thanks to Kino Classics with brand new 1080p presentations. The Canary Murder Case and The Greene Murder Case have been given new 4K restorations, while The Benson Murder Case is derived from a 2K restoration. These three transfers maintain a consistency that keeps them on par with one another. All three films have been included on a single disc, which would be a bigger issue if the films were not so short. We did not spot any major shortcomings in terms of compression artifacts, so this release gets by relatively unscathed. 

The transfers experience some of the expected issues for films of this vintage, but the presentations are good for films that are over 90 years old. The black-and-white photography is luminous in high definition with natural grain intact. There is a consistent layer of minor nicks and scratches, along with a few bigger stretches of damage, but it is clear that it has been spruced up immensely. The new transfers reveal a surprising amount of depth and enhanced detail within the film’s composition. There is a semblance of texture in the clothing and within the production design. Black levels are decent with no overwhelming occurrence of crush or milky shadows. The contrast is in fighting shape, and the track only experiences a minor amount of flicker and density fluctuation in the print. Kino Classics has kept this in as good of shape as the material will allow. 

Audio Quality

The Blu-Ray comes with a passable DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio track that serves the movies well considering their place in early talkies. The Canary Murder Case is an especially interesting title since it was developed as a silent film and changed later in the process to a talkie. Due to this, the voice sync is not perfect by any means, but it goes with the territory. Music is rarely a factor throughout these three films outside of the opening credits and fanfare. This does sound a bit strained, but it is not egregious. Otherwise, this track only presents with a small amount of expected age-related wear and tear and some light hissing and crackles. Competing elements do not overshadow dialogue and background noises. Kino Classics has done good work to make this sound as pleasant as the material will allow. There are optional English (SDH) subtitles included for the feature films. 

Special Features

• The Canary Murder Case Audio Commentary: Novelist/Critic Kim Newman and Writer/Journalist Barry Forshaw provide a deeply informative commentary track in which they discuss the history of the character, how this was conceived as a silent film, the history of the performers involved in the film, the art direction of the film and more. This provides a great deal of context that is very valuable. 

• The Greene Murder Case Audio Commentary: Novelist/Critic Kim Newman and Writer/Journalist Barry Forshaw return for another incredibly informative commentary track in which they discuss the technical upgrades in this follow-up, the new and returning faces in this outing, the nebulous narrative timeline, and more. 

• The Benson Murder Case Audio Commentary: Professor and Film Scholar Jason A. Ney provides the commentary track for the final film in this set that explores how the censors impacted the narrative, how this fares as an adaptation, what author S.S. Van Dine thought of the film, the performers, and more. 

• Trailers: There are trailers provided for Blackmail, Lucky Jordan, and The Hour Before The Dawn. 

Final Thoughts

The Philo Vance Collection provides three early Hollywood murder mysteries that bring William Powell’s charisma to the forefront. These cases are not reinventing the wheel, but they provide a comforting familiarity as you attempt to deduce the perpetrators and how they are going to be smoked out by our protagonist. The stories are clever and the performances are good. If you like the genre, you can’t ask for much more. Kino Classics has delivered a Blu-Ray release that sports a pretty good A/V presentation and a few great commentary tracks. Recommended 

The Philo Vance Collection is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray. 

Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.

Disclaimer: Kino Classics has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.