Very well executed

From my favorite movies..

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The setup is intriguing (a man dives into a pool and never comes up again; when they drain the pool he's nowhere to be found! I've seen a lot of mysteries and I don't remember ever seeing anything like this before), the mystery is challenging (of course you know that the killer is not really a dragon, but that does not help you much), the spacious sets are great, and the underwater camera shots are impressive for a 1934 film. However, Warren William is a little too dry in the role of Philo Vance (he is more relaxed in his second Vance appearance, in the semi-spoof "The Gracie Allen Murder Case"), and the film is not quite as much fun as it could have been. I would still recommend it to fans of early whodunits. **1/2 out of 4.

Dragon Murder Case, The (1934) *** 1/2 (out of 4) William Warren takes over the role of Philo Vance in this entry, which plays more like a horror film than just a mystery. A world class swimmer jumps into a pool during a party and never comes up. The next day the pool is drained but there isn't a body so various people are looked at as suspects but certain clues lead to a legend dealing with an Indian dragon monster. The Kennel Murder Case is the best known film in the series but this one here is just as exciting and entertaining. Warren is terrific in the role of Vance bringing his usual charm and brains to the role. The supporting cast including Lyle Talbot, Margaret Lindsay, Robert McWade and George E. Stone are all terrific but it's the overweight and funny talking Eugene Palette that steals the show. The mystery behind the killing remains interesting throughout the entire film and all the horror elements ranging from ghosts to dragons to a crazy old woman play out very well. This is certainly one of the better mysteries I've seen from this period.

S. S. Van Dine's sophisticated, witty, "gentleman" detective Philo Vance is back once again in this murder mystery about a group of rich people who have hidden/outward dislikes for each other attending a party and then deciding to take a dip in a naturally-made pool called the dragon pool. One man goes in and never comes out, and soon, with a host of suspects, Philo Vance, the district attorney, and the ever affable, blunderbuss of a policeman - Sergant Ernest Heath(Eugene Palette) arrive to take aim at cracking the mysterious disappearance and later death that is discovered. As mysteries go, this one really is not that bad, it has some real red herrings laced throughout and never gives too many obvious indications of just who the guilty party is. Warren William plays Vance and I thought he was adequate, though not in the league of previous Vance William Powell(who is?) or Basil Rathbone even before him. As with most Vance film, the best lines go to Eugene Palette who never seems to tire of making wonderful wisecracks and not thoroughly thought-out observations. The things that caught my attention more than anything else was the fish room in the palatial house with all of its aquariums. It really showed how the fish-keeping hobby had been started(through wealthy men tracking down different species abroad and bringing them back here). The collection was most impressive. A good period mystery all in all.

This is a rather aimless mystery, with an implausible murder and an utterly impossible solution, requiring the witnesses to the murder to be death dumb and blind, and the corpse of the murdered to be light as a feather. But that's not especially unusual in mysteries of the era.The problem is that this one is, by its story, stuck on a limited number of sets, and the dialog is not enough to sustain interest over the rather brief run time. Performances are fine -- no better than one would expect -- on par with an average episode of Murder She Wrote.It's really not worth sitting through this one to get to the solution. (Nor is it worth searching out the book -- which is just as implausible and dull) If you really like SS Van Dine, and are determined to stick it out, there is one virtue -- the components of the murder plot that don't relate to the dragon and the swimming pool are neatly done.