Calling Philo Vance (1940)

Renowned detective Philo Vance (James Stephenson) is on international assignment for the United States government. His assignment is to investigate the selling of aircraft designs and plans to foreign governments. Based on the novel THE KENNEL MURDER CASE by S.S. Van Dine (previously filmed in 1933) and directed by William Clemens (NANCY DREW, DETECTIVE). The plot of the 1933 movie (which starred William Powell as Philo Vance) has been slightly altered for this version. Instead of the art world background, we have the world of international espionage. James Stephenson (who received an Oscar nomination for THE LETTER released the same year) was going to be the new Philo Vance but he died the next year at the age of 41. As to the film itself, it's not as interesting as the 1933 movie, possibly because Stephenson lacks the charisma and wit of William Powell and most likely because the movie just seems tired and the supporting players with one exception don't bring much to their parts. The one exception is Bo Ling as a Chinese maid working for the Japanese government. With Margot Stevenson, Henry O'Neill, Edward Brophy, Sheila Bromley, Martin Kosleck and George Reeves.