Ellery Queen, Master Detective
1940 · Movie · 69 min. · United States
The mysteriously ill John Braun makes a new will, leaving out his daughter Barbara, over the protests of his wife. The trouble began when the daughter wanted to marry Mr. Braun's doctor, James Rogers. Mrs. Braun asks Inspector Queen to help find the long-missing Barbara. The inspector's son, Ellery, works on the case. He goes to a home frequently visited by Dr. Rogers where the bell is answered by Nikki Porter who Ellery mistakes for Barbara and insists she return to the Braun home. Nikki does, to protect Barbara, and a short time later finds herself alone in a room outside Braun's bedroom. She finds him dead - his throat cut. No weapons are found and the door to the room where Nikki had been is locked, and she is suspected. Ellery hides Nikki in his apartment. Braun's body, sent for an autopsy, disappears and in its place is a life-sized statue of the dead man. Elley finds the body in a closet, the police prepare to send it downtown but someone drives off with the ambulance. Ellery, with Nikki, visits Braun's bedroom that night and discovers that a pet raven flies in and out taking items.
Direction Kurt Neumann
Cast Ralph Bellamy · Margaret Lindsay · Charley Grapewin · James Burke · Michael Whalen · Marsha Hunt · Fred Niblo · Charles Lane · Ann Shoemaker · Marion Martin · Douglas Fowley · Morgan Wallace · Byron Foulger · Katherine DeMille · Alan Ladd
Screenplay Eric Taylor · Ellery Queen · Manfred Lee
Cinematography James S. Brown Jr.
Original title Ellery Queen, Master Detective
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Not rated (FilmAffinity)
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