Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Crappy film

Best movie ever!

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

This has to be the most juvenile version of a private detective I've ever seen on screen. Imagine younger versions of Philo Vance, Nick Charles, Boston Blackie, Nick Carter or Dick Tracy, chasing girls and gangsters at the same time, and stopping off to ogle some innocent beauty while en route. That's what happens here, with Ellery Queen at his most collegiate. As played by Eddie Quillan, he's a far cry from what Ralph Bellamy or Jim Hutton would later play. Like those later incarnations of the famous detective, Ellery Queen has his king, and that's his dad Wade Boteler who is tough on him, not just because that's dad's personality (as was the case in the later film and TV series) but because Ellery's got a lot to learn and a lot of toning down to do. That weakens this entry which concerns two murders and a theft, with Charlotte Henry as the heroine whose finances are at risk and who is tied to the murders and the theft. As juvenile as he seems, the methods Ellery uses are smart, more thanks to the script than reality. Franklin Pangborn is amusing as the continuously fainting hotel clerk who can't bear all the dead bodies. Bad editing (over 10 minutes cut out for TV viewing) makes this choppy, but that's the fault of whoever over at Republic pictures decides that their films needed a reel chopped out for TV viewing.

The Mandarin Mystery is what happens when you take a fairly standard locked room mystery, add a little too much romance, and season the mix with an ample supply of humor. Eddie Quillian brings a lot to the role and really makes it his own, despite the fact that his take on Queen is somewhat different from the usual character we are so used to seeing. Quillian's just as bright, not as serious, and apparently has the libido of a teenage boy.Queen spends as much time pursuing the lovely victim of a theft which appears connected to the murder (Charlotte Temple) as he does the murderer and thieves, and a long deductive chain is compressed into a pithy film with an economical script. The acting talent is somewhat uneven. Ms Temple gives a sub-par performance, Quillian is excellent, and Wade Boteler as the senior inspector Queen does well doubling as Ellery's straight man and a gruff old no-nonsense cop.Although made in 1936, The Mandarin Mystery's story, pace, camera work, themes, and sets have the feel of a late 1950s TV mystery show.Because of the way the original novel was adapted, the logic of the deduction which leads to the resolution of the case is not as clearly spelled out as it could have been. Nevertheless, the film will interest mystery fans who enjoy the hardcore analytical aspects of detective work as depicted in traditional mystery novels (Agatha Christie and Conan Doyle fans for example), and, of course, Ellery Queen aficionados.

Eddie Quillan gives one of his worst performances as Ellery Queen. The plot involves the theft of a rare stamp and the murders that occur in its wake. Quillan, as Queen gets involved with the mystery after he meets the owner when she arrives in New York by boat.The mystery itself is fine. I can even live with the cheapness of the production (nothing looks real). What I can't stand are the performances, no one in this cast with the exception of Frank Pangborn gives anything remotely like a performance. Can't anyone on screen act? I guess not. The worst offender is Quillan who turns Ellery Queen into an insufferable twit. I wanted to smack him. Charming or disarming he's not. He ruins what could have been an okay bad movie.I hate this movie, I hate it a great deal.

As a reader of EQ mysteries, and a collector of his films, I have to say that this is the absolute WORST in the entire series!EQ, far from being a "master detective", is portrayed as a bumbling fool who continually gets in his father's way.Not only that, but the background music in this film is totally UNRELATED to the action....it's as if someone off-screen turned on a radio and let it play while the movie was being shot.Pass on this one!