The Spanish Cape Mystery

This is the only chance to see Donald Cook as Ellery Queen. I reckon he did a good job as the detective who takes a vacation on the Californian coast in this story. He flirts with Stella Godfrey whose parents own a big estate at Spanish Cape. She seems to resist him quite easily like she does her would-be suitors. She is quite a catch for fortune hunters as she is the obvious heir to the estate.

Male characters in their swimming trunks get murdered at Spanish Cape. Then the murders spread to a different type of victim. The favorite weapon of the murderer is cutting wire which is used extensively in the great amount of flower beds on the estate. There is a rivalry between the local Sheriff and Ellery Queen to solve the crimes. The Sheriff claims to have read every detective story written and is dismissive of Ellery Queen's theoretical methods of the literary world.

This is a good whodunit. Some fans of the genre don't always like such a big body count of murder victims which this story certainly has. But I reckon it works well in this case. And I didn't detect the murderer myself so I must give this one my recommendation.

1935's The Spanish Cape Mystery is an Ellery Queen story starring Donald Cook as Ellery and Helen Twelvetrees. Now, that's a name out of the past! She stopped working in 1939.

Ellery Queen goes on vacation to California with one Judge Macklin. They stay at a rented cabin, and before they know it, they are engulfed in murder and mystery. It all involves the Godfrey family who live on the Spanish Cape in a fabulous showplace.

Ellery, smitten with Stella (Twelvetrees) tries to stay out of it, but too many murders, and the police detective arresting a new person every day, means he must step in.

I have seen Ralph Bellamy do Ellery, and he's a warmer actor, more sarcastic, and more interesting than Cook, who nevertheless enjoyed a prolific career in film and on stage. Considering this film was probably made in a few days it's not bad. It's a little stagy, and the police detective yells at the top of his lungs through the whole movie, which is annoying.

I enjoyed the opportunity to see Helen Twelvetrees. I found Donald Cook on the bland side, but Ellery is a cerebral detective, and it's easy to see why he wouldn't register much personality.

I did like it, though not as much as some of the other Ellery Queen films.

Since a few years already, I've been deliberately delaying my viewing of "The Spanish Cape Mystery". Not because it's old and clearly low-budgeted, but merely due to my own personal wonderment if I needed yet another franchise revolving around an all-knowing, cocky, and despotic detective. After all, there's already Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot, Mr. Wong, Jules Maigret, Miss Marple, etc. What possible added value could Ellery Queen bring to the table? Short answer: nothing, but it was a surprisingly amusing acquaintance nonetheless!

Much more so than I expected, this little sleuth-tale is compelling, inventive, and fast enough moving to keep you glued to the screen. The super-detective character, Ellery Queen, is clever and deductive, but he's often also called upon his arrogance by the supportive characters, and this never happens to Holmes or Poirot. The denouement of the mystery is fairly easy to predict, but well built up to for a mid-30's movie. Harry Stubbs has a terrific role as the local police Sheriff who goes around accusing random people of the murders without any tangible evidence.

PS: the answer to the riddle in the review's subject line is: twelve. Helen Twelvetrees was an exquisite starlet of cinema in the 1930s. Sadly, though, her career ended rather abruptly at the end of the decade and she passed away at the (too) young age of 49.

The first Ellery Queen story to hit the big screen was The Spanish Cape Mystery and it starred Donald Cook as the intellectual crime solver and mystery writer. After solving a jewel theft, Cook decides he needs a vacation and he and Judge Berton Churchill take a cottage on the California coast.

But no sooner do they get there than they get involved with a whole series of murders perpetrated against the Godfrey family who have gathered together. All the possible heirs to a fortune are there as the bodies start dropping.

Cook develops a special interest in the family, especially in regard to Helen Twelvetrees. He also as a nasty antagonistic relationship with the local sheriff Harry Stubbs who finally has come begging for Cook's help.

I have to say that Cook was all right in the part, not as bad as Eddie Quillan the following year. This film and Quillan's were made by Republic Pictures, but when the Ellery Queen series was picked up again it was by Columbia where Ralph Bellamy took over the part. Bellamy was far better in what my conception of Ellery Queen was.

Still this one is all right and competently made.

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.