''A Close Call for Ellery Queen'' is a 1942 American
mystery film
A mystery film is a genre of film that revolves around the solution of a problem or a crime. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur Detective, sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of an issue by means ...
directed by
James P. Hogan and written by
Eric Taylor and
Gertrude Purcell. It is based on the 1939 novel ''The Dragon's Teeth: A Problem in Deduction'' by
Ellery Queen
Ellery Queen is a pseudonym created in 1929 by American crime fiction writers Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee and the name of their main fictional character, a mystery writer in New York City who helps his police inspector father solve ...
. The film stars
William Gargan
William Dennis Gargan (July 17, 1905February 17, 1979) was an American film, television and radio actor. He was the 5th recipient of the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1967, and in 1941, was nominated for the Academy Award for B ...
,
Margaret Lindsay
Margaret Lindsay (born Margaret Kies; September 19, 1910 – May 9, 1981) was an American film actress. Her time as a Warner Bros. contract player during the 1930s was particularly productive. She was noted for her supporting work in success ...
,
Charley Grapewin
Charles Ellsworth Grapewin (December 20, 1869 – February 2, 1956) was an American vaudeville and circus performer, a writer, and a stage and film actor. He worked in over 100 motion pictures during the silent and sound eras, most notably port ...
,
Ralph Morgan
Raphael Kuhner Wuppermann (July 6, 1883 – June 11, 1956), known professionally as Ralph Morgan, was a Hollywood stage and film character actor, and the older brother of Frank Morgan.
Early life
Morgan was born in New York City, the ei ...
,
Kay Linaker
Mary Katherine Linaker (July 19, 1913 – April 18, 2008) was an American actress and screenwriter who appeared in many B movies during the 1930s and 1940s, most notably Kitty Foyle (film), ''Kitty Foyle'' (1940) starring Ginger Rogers. Linaker us ...
,
Edward Norris and
James Burke. The film was released on January 29, 1942, by
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the multi ...
.
Plot
Cast
*
William Gargan
William Dennis Gargan (July 17, 1905February 17, 1979) was an American film, television and radio actor. He was the 5th recipient of the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1967, and in 1941, was nominated for the Academy Award for B ...
as
Ellery Queen
Ellery Queen is a pseudonym created in 1929 by American crime fiction writers Frederic Dannay and Manfred Bennington Lee and the name of their main fictional character, a mystery writer in New York City who helps his police inspector father solve ...
*
Margaret Lindsay
Margaret Lindsay (born Margaret Kies; September 19, 1910 – May 9, 1981) was an American film actress. Her time as a Warner Bros. contract player during the 1930s was particularly productive. She was noted for her supporting work in success ...
as Nikki Porter
*
Charley Grapewin
Charles Ellsworth Grapewin (December 20, 1869 – February 2, 1956) was an American vaudeville and circus performer, a writer, and a stage and film actor. He worked in over 100 motion pictures during the silent and sound eras, most notably port ...
as Inspector Queen
*
Ralph Morgan
Raphael Kuhner Wuppermann (July 6, 1883 – June 11, 1956), known professionally as Ralph Morgan, was a Hollywood stage and film character actor, and the older brother of Frank Morgan.
Early life
Morgan was born in New York City, the ei ...
as Alan Rogers
*
Kay Linaker
Mary Katherine Linaker (July 19, 1913 – April 18, 2008) was an American actress and screenwriter who appeared in many B movies during the 1930s and 1940s, most notably Kitty Foyle (film), ''Kitty Foyle'' (1940) starring Ginger Rogers. Linaker us ...
as Margo Rogers
*
Edward Norris as Stewart Cole
*
James Burke as Sergeant Velle
*
Addison Richards
Addison Whittaker Richards, Jr. (October 20, 1902 – March 22, 1964) was an American actor of film and television. Richards appeared in more than three hundred films between 1933 and his death.
Biography
A native of Zanesville, Ohio, Richa ...
as Lester Young
*
Charles Judels
Charles Judels (August 17, 1882 - February 14, 1969) was a Dutch-born American actor.
Early years
Judels was born on August 17, 1882, in Amsterdam as a third generation in a family of actors. His grandfather owned several theatres throughout t ...
as Corday
*
Andrew Tombes
Andrew Tombes (29 June 1885 – 17 March 1976) was an American comedian and character actor.
Biography
The son of a grocer, originally from Ashtabula, Ohio, Tombes was educated at Phillips Exeter Academy. Early in his career, he worked as a v ...
as Bates
*
Claire Du Brey
Claire Du Brey (born Clara Violet Dubreyvich, August 31, 1892 – August 1, 1993) was an American actress. She appeared in more than 200 films between 1916 and 1959. Her name is sometimes rendered as Claire Du Bray or as Claire Dubrey.
Ear ...
as Deborah
*
Micheline Cheirel as Marie Dubois
*
Ben Welden
Ben Welden (born Benjamin Weinblatt; June 12, 1901 – October 17, 1997) was an American character actor who played a wide variety of Damon Runyon-type gangsters in various movies and television shows.
Early years
Welden was born in Toledo, ...
as Watchman
*
Milton Parsons
Ernest Milton Parsons (May 19, 1904 – May 15, 1980) was an American character actor. He appeared in more than 160 films and television shows between 1939 and 1978.
In 1927, Parsons performed with The Strolling Players of Boston acting co ...
as Butler
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Close Call For Ellery Queen
1942 films
1940s English-language films
American mystery films
1942 mystery films
Columbia Pictures films
Films directed by James Patrick Hogan
American black-and-white films
1940s American films
Ellery Queen films