English text below

Margaret O’Dell macht im Varieté Furore, wenn sie sich in einem gefiederten Kostüm als «Kanarienvogel» aufs Trapez schwingt. Nebenher ist sie allerdings als Erpresserin aktiv, womit sie sich gefährliche Feinde schafft. Als sie ermordet wird und der junge Jimmy Spottswoode, der mit Margaret liiert war, unter Verdacht gerät, ruft Jimmys Vater seinen Freund, den Amateurdetektiv Philo Vance, zu Hilfe.
The Canary Murder Case beruhte auf dem gleichnamigen Roman von S. S. Van Dine, dessen Krimis um Philo Vance sehr beliebt waren. William Powell, der später in den Thin Man-Filmen als smarter Schnüffler Erfolge feiern sollte, gibt hier seinen Einstand als Detektiv. Von Malcolm St. Clair als Stummfilm inszeniert, wurde die Produktion hinterher von Frank Tuttle mit Ton versehen, was einen Nachdreh und Synchronarbeiten erforderte. Louise Brooks weigerte sich, dafür nach Hollywood zurückzukehren, womit sie ihren verbliebenen Kredit bei Paramount verspielte. Sie wurde dann in einzelnen Szenen von der ungenannten Margaret Livingston notdürftig vertreten und synchronisiert. (mb)

Kopie: George Eastman Museum. Preservation funded by Hugh M. Hefner

Margaret O'Dell, dubbed "the Canary", is an acclaimed stage artist with a sideline in blackmail, which has made her a lot of enemies. When she is killed and young Jimmy Spotswoode, who was her lover, becomes the prime suspect, Jimmy's father enlists the help of private eye Philo Vance.
"This thriller was still, to some extent, playing off the novelty of sound when it was released, and the elements of the silents are still prevalent – no surprise as the movie was conceived and originally shot as a silent and converted to a talkie. Some of the editing, especially of the scenes depicting the stage act of the eventual victim, is straight out of the silents, which is a good thing; those sequences flow beautifully and gracefully, and give a larger-than-life veneer to Louise Brooks' character. That effect is helped in no small measure by the fact that many of those shots are beautifully staged as well as assembled and, indeed, are another demonstration of how advanced screencraft – especially editing – had gotten in the closing years of the silents. Those sequences were the work of Malcolm St. Clair, who handled the silent sequences in the original cut of the movie; the sound sequences were credited as the work of Frank Tuttle, who would go on to greater things after the transition. (...) All of this is not to say that The Canary Murder Case is not enjoyable – filmmaker and filmgoers alike were fortunate to have actors such as William Powell and Eugene Pallette on hand, who had distinctive voices and knew how to use them, and even if we're not hearing Louise Brooks' voice, she is still something to look at and also appreciate as an actress in this movie. All of that, plus the presence of extremely young screen incarnations of Jean Arthur, Charles Lane, and Ned Sparks, among others, make this curio of the late '20s well worth tracking down for at least one really good look." (Bruce Eder, allmovie.com)

Drehbuch: Albert S. Le Vino, Florence Ryerson, S. S. Van Dine, nach dem Roman von S. S. Van Dine
Kamera: Harry Fischbeck, Cliff Blackstone (ungenannt)
Musik: Karl Hajos (ungenannt)
Schnitt: William Shea (ungenannt)

Mit: William Powell (Philo Vance), Jean Arthur (Alice LaFosse), Louise Brooks (Margaret O'Dell/The Canary), James Hall (Jimmy Spottswoode), Charles Lane (Charles Spottswoode), Lawrence Grant (John Cleaver), Gustav von Seyffertitz (Dr. Ambrose Lindquist), Margaret Livingston (Margaret O'Dell)

82 Min., sw, 35 mm, E