Meet Nero Wolfe

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Movie
Original title Meet Nero Wolfe
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1936
length 73 minutes
Rod
Director Herbert J. Biberman
script Joseph Anthony ,
Howard J. Green ,
Bruce Manning
production BP Schulberg
music Howard Jackson
camera Henry Freulich
cut Otto Meyer
occupation

Meet Nero Wolfe is an American crime film from 1936 starring Edward Arnold as the hero of the novel, Nero Wolfe . The novel Die Lanzenschlange ( Fer-de-Lance , 1934) by Rex Stout served as a literary model .

action

At the Westchester Golf Club, E. J. Kimball and his son Manuel are invited to a game of four by elderly Professor Barstow and his future son-in-law, Claude Roberts. After Barstow sent his caddy with his clubs to the clubhouse to get his hat, he spontaneously borrowed the club from Kimball. When he hits the ball, he feels a sharp pain and jokes that he was bitten by a mosquito. As the quartet nears the first hole, Barstow suddenly collapses and appears to die of a heart attack . Shortly afterwards, a young woman named Maria Maringola visits the leisure detective Nero Wolfe in his office in New York . She offers him $ 50 in the hope that he can find her brother Carlo. Despite his good qualities as a metalworker, he had difficulties finding a job in the United States. So he wanted to go back to his home country, but on the eve of his departure he surprisingly informed Maria that he had still found a job. They wanted to celebrate the occasion together, but Carlo did not appear at the agreed celebration and disappeared without a trace.

Nero Wolfe takes over the case and immediately sends his assistant Archie Goodwin to Carlos' apartment to do initial research. Archie finds evidence there that suggests Carlo Maringola is no longer alive and that his death is linked to Professor Barstow's alleged heart attack. Wolfe concludes that Barstow was killed by a custom-made golf club and that it was Carlo who prepared that club with a poisonous needle that stabbed the player in the flesh when he hit the ball. His theory is soon confirmed by Barstow's autopsy and the discovery of Carlos' body. As a result, Wolfe is offered $ 50,000 to solve the Barstow murder. But his interviews with Barstow's daughter Ellen, the widow Sarah Barstow and personal physician Dr. Nathaniel Bradford provide no new information. After interviewing the golf caddies, Wolfe finally realizes that it was not Barstow who should be the victim, but E.J. Kimball. He doubts that his life is in danger until his crashed car is found - including his chauffeur, who was killed while driving by the bite of the Terciopelo lance viper , a highly venomous species of Latin American snake. It's the same poison that killed Barstow and Carlo. Now Kimball desperately asks Wolfe for help and tells him about his adventurous past in Latin America .

Wolfe is convinced by Kimball's stories that at least five people are possible killers and that Barstow's family also appears suspicious. Archie then moves in with Kimball and his son Manuel to take care of them. When the three of them spend an evening on Kimball's terrace and are preparing to go into the house for dinner, gunshots suddenly rang out. After this incident, Wolfe calls on everyone involved to come to his house and spend the night there. The next evening Wolfe receives a package with a bomb that luckily does not go off. In order to expose the murderer, he has the package brought to his guests again. Manuel Kimball suddenly takes up Wolfe's weapon and announces that he wanted to kill his father because he had his mother on the conscience, who once died in South America under mysterious circumstances. In order to silence Carlo, he also had to get rid of him. Wolfe's weapon is not loaded, however, and so those present manage to overpower Manuel. After the murder case is solved, Archie can finally marry his long-time fiancée Mazie Gray. Wolfe pays them the honeymoon in Paris as a wedding present. Before the trip, Wolfe familiarizes his assistant with the next case.

background

Meet Nero Wolfe is based on Rex Stout's novel The Lance Snake (1934), in which the overweight private detective Nero Wolfe solves his first case together with his assistant Archie Goodwin. 32 novels and 41 short stories were to follow from the pen of Stout. Columbia Pictures therefore planned to start a Nero Wolfe series and initially bought the rights to three novels and one short story from Stout. Actor Edward Arnold was considered the ideal cast of Nero Wolfe. However, he did not want to be tied to just one role, which is why he declined to participate in other parts. Columbia then tried it in the sequel The League of Frightened Men (1937) with Walter Connolly as Nero Wolfe. However, with Connolly suffering from severe asthma , Columbia decided to discontinue just two parts in a row.

Remarks

  • The film begins with a shot showing an issue of The American Magazine that published an abridged version of Rex Stout's novel The Lance Snake in November 1934 . The said newspaper is opened and the line "Edward Arnold in Meet Nero Wolfe " appears as the title sequence.
  • The greatest deviation of the film from the novel was the addition of the character Mazie Gray, played by Dennie Moore, who also starred as the talkative manicure Olga in George Cukor's film The Women in 1939 .
  • Actor Lionel Stander played the role of Archie Goodwin in both Meet Nero Wolfe and The League of Frightened Men . Author Rex Stout said, however, that Stander was wrongly cast.
  • Rita Hayworth can be seen in a supporting role under her then name Rita Cansino. Meet Nero Wolfe was the first of five films in which she appeared as a freelance actress after her contract with 20th Century Fox was terminated and before she was re-signed by a studio with Columbia Pictures in 1937.

Reviews

According to Weekly Variety , the elements of comedy and guesswork in the film are "cleverly woven together". The “well-knitted story”, in turn, prevents “any boredom” and the cast enjoy themselves “in first-class crime film manner”. "Melodrama and comedy are cleverly balanced under Herbert Biberman's direction," said the Motion Picture Herald . B. P. Schulberg's production also fulfills “all the requirements of the plot for the setting, the cast and the technical aspects”. It is also desirable to see Nero Wolfe more often on the screen.

The New York Times described Meet Nero Wolfe as "a very comforting crime film for rainy days". Nero Wolfes conclusions are in his first case on the screen "entirely in the style of Sherlock Holmes ". The film critic Leonard Maltin said in retrospect that Edward Arnold played the role of the “demanding and difficult” and thus “not too lovable” Nero Wolfe “faithfully”. The murder case was "not bad in itself either". As a “bonus”, the “young and beautiful” Rita Hayworth appears in a small role.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Gene Ringgold: The Films of Rita Hayworth . Citadel Press, Secaucus 1974, pp. 69-70.
  2. ^ A b John McAleer: Rex Stout: A Biography . Little Brown and Company, 1977, pp. 254-255.
  3. ↑ "The comedy and the guessing elements have been deftly mixed, the well-knit narrative precludes any drooping in interest and the cast disports itself in crack whodunit fashion." See Weekly Variety cit. after Gene Ringgold: The Films of Rita Hayworth . Citadel Press, Secaucus 1974, p. 70.
  4. ↑ “Melodrama and comedy are adroitly balanced under Herbert Biberman's direction and B. P. Schulberg's production is wholly adequate to story requirements as to settings, cast and technical aspects. Now that we've met Mr. Wolfe, we hope to see more of him. " Cf. Motion Picture Herald quoted. after Gene Ringgold: The Films of Rita Hayworth . Citadel Press, Secaucus 1974, p. 70.
  5. ↑ "A most comforting sort of detective for synthesis humid days is Nero Wolfe [...]. Mr. Wolfe's deduction in the first of his cases to receive cinema attention is nothing short of Sherlockian. " See 'Meet Nero Wolfe' Brings a New and Engaging Gumshoe to the Rivoli . In: The New York Times , July 16, 1936.
  6. ^ “With Arnold faithfully playing him as demanding and difficult - in short none too endearing [...]. The mystery itself […] is not bad. Bonus: a young and beautiful Rita Cansino (later Hayworth) in minor role. " Leonard Maltin : Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide . Plume 2010, p. 424.