As the theme of this year's CMBA (Classic Movie Blog Association) blogathon is "Movies are Murder," the Louise Brooks Society join's in with a post devoted to the celebrated 1929 film,
The Canary Murder Case.
Things you may or may not have known about 1929 film, The Canary Murder Case, starring William Powell, Jean Arthur, Louise Brooks, James Hall, Eugene Pallette and Gustav von Seyffertitz. Production on the film took place between September 11 and October 12,
1928 at Paramount’s studio in Hollywood. Sound retakes took place on
December 19, 1928.
— The film was initially shot as a silent, and shortly thereafter reworked for sound. The film's credited director is Malcolm St. Clair – although retakes for the sound version were directed by Frank Tuttle. (Both had worked with Louise Brooks in the past.) The sound version was listed at 7 reels (7,171 feet) or 80 minutes – while the silent version was listed at 7 reels (reported as 5,843 feet). Both versions are extant. (The silent version, so far unreleased on home video, is said to be the better film.)
— Look-alike actress Margaret Livingston, who would marry bandleader Paul Whiteman in 1931, was the uncredited, body and voice double for Louise Brooks in sound version.
— S.S. Van Dine, the author of the novel on which the film was based, is the pseudonym used by art critic Willard Huntington Wright (1888 –
1939) when he wrote detective novels. Wright was an important figure in
avant-garde cultural circles in pre-WWI New York, and under the
pseudonym (which he originally used to conceal his identity) he created
the once immensely popular fictional detective Philo Vance, a sleuth and
aesthete who first appeared in books in the 1920s, then in movies and
on the radio in the following decades.
— Willard Huntington Wright’s brother
was the American avant-garde painter Stanton Macdonald-Wright. Willard’s
portrait, painted by his brother in 1914, hangs in the permanent
collection of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. (link to portrait)
— Wright was one of the best-selling authors in the United States. The Canary Murder Case was
the second book in a popular series featuring Vance — though the film made
from it was the first in a series to feature the character. William
Powell revived his role as Vance in four additional films, including The Greene Murder Case, released later in 1929. Other actors who played Vance include Basil Rathbone and Edmund Lowe.
— S.S. van Dine’s novel was loosely inspired by / based on the real-life murder of showgirl Dot King, which was never solved. King was among those nicknamed “Broadway Butterflies.” (George Kibbe Turner, who wrote the story "The Street of the Forgotten Men," the basis for Brooks' first film, also wrote a series of stories about Broadway Butterflies.)
— Glenn Wilson, a Federal investigator
attached to the bureau of criminal investigation for Los Angeles county,
reportedly served as an adviser on the film.
— Louise Brooks was especially popular in Japan in the late 1920s. And those films in which she played a modan gāru, or modern girl, proved to be a success. Not suprisingly, The Canary Murder Case was a HUGE hit in Japan, where it opened in April 1929 at the Hogaku-Za Paramount Theatre in Toyko as part of a double bill with the UFA film, Metropolis. (Imagine that!)
— In a 1931 article on the cinema in Singapore, the New York Times
notes that “Asiatics love the gangster film, but very few are shown,
owing to the censorship regulations which bar gun battles and will not
tolerate an actual ‘kill’ on the screen. The first cuts made before they
decide to ban all films of this type were very clumsy and made a
mystery story a bigger mystery than ever. For instance, in the Canary Murder Case.”
— Under its American title, documented screenings of the film took place in Australia (including Tasmania), Bermuda, British Malaysia (Singapore), Canada, China, Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), India, Ireland, Jamaica, Japan, New Zealand, Trinidad, and the United Kingdom (England, Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales).
— Elsewhere, The Canary Murder Case was shown under the title Die Stimme aus dem Jenseits (Austria); O drama de uma noite (Brazil); El Crimen de la Canaria (Cuba); Die Stimme aus dem Jenseits and Kanárkový vražedný prípad (Czechoslovakia) and Hlas Ze Záhrobí (Slovakia); Die Stimme Aus Dem Jensits (Danzig); Hvem dræbte Margaret O’Dell? (Denmark); De Kanarie Moordzaak (Dutch East Indies – Indonesia); Hääl teisest maailmast and Hääl teisest ilmast (Estonia); Salaperainen Rikos and Ett hemlighetsfullt brott and Det hemlighetsfulla brottet (Finland); Le meurtre du Canari (France); Die Stimme Aus Dem Jensits (Germany); Kandari Gyilkosság and Gyilkossag a szailoban (Hungary); La canarina assassinata and Il caso della canarina assassinata (Italy); カナリヤ殺人事件 (Japan); 카나리아 머더 케이스 (Korea); De Kanarie Moordzaak (The Netherlands); I Kanarifuglens Garn and I fristerinnens garn (Norway); Kryyk z za Swlatow (Poland); Die stimme aus dem Jenseits (Poland, German language publication); O Drama duma Noite (Portugal); Kdo je morilec? (Slovenia); ¿Quién la mató? (Spain, including The Canary Islands); Midnattsmysteriet (Sweden); and Дело об убийстве канарейки (U.S.S.R.).
A previous post, Movies are Murder CMBA Blogathon - The Canary Murder Case (1929) part 1, had appeared on November 7 at 9:29 am.
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