Great Cinema Detectives: Best Movies of Mystery, Suspense & Film Noir

John Howard Reid

at 10:52 am

I guess nearly everyone has their favorite fictional detective, whether it be in books or movies. In books, my Number One detective is Merryll Manning; but in movies I go for Sherlock Holmes every time. My favorite Holmes is Basil Rathbone, and in “Great Cinema Detectives” we find him at his best in “The Scarlet Claw”. My second choice of cinema detective is Miss Marple, particularly as played by the great Margaret Rutherford. This book details all four of her wonderfully entertaining Miss Marpling outings. The Falcon is another premier preference, and here he revels both in Hollywood and San Francisco. Of course, it would be impossible to go past Charlie Chan — at the race track, on Broadway, or in “The Chinese Ring”. And “The Thin Man” is extensively featured too. In fact, all William Powell’s Thin Man adventures are discussed at length. Powell also plays the lead (Philo Vance) in “The Kennel Murder Case”. In addition to the Bulldog Drummonds and the series detectives, many outstanding individual films are discussed from “The Maltese Falcon” to “Johnny Apollo”, from “Hangover Square” to “The Clouded Yellow”, from Hitchcock’s “Saboteur” and “Notorious” to Seth Holt’s “Scream of Fear”.
Rating: 5 / 5