Best movies like Calling Philo Vance

A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like Calling Philo Vance Starring James Stephenson, Margot Stevenson, Henry O'Neill, Edward Brophy, and more. If you liked Calling Philo Vance then you may also like: Yukon Gold, The Naked Face, Night of Mystery, Jaws of Justice, Journey into Fear and many more popular movies featured on this list. You can further filter the list even more or get a random selection from the list of similar movies, to make your selection even easier.

Philo is in Vienna working for the US Government to see if Archer Coe is selling aircraft designs to foreign powers. He grabs the plans with Archer's signature, but is captured by police before he can escape. Deported he comes back to America and plans to confront Archer, but Archer is found dead in his locked bedroom with a gun in his hand. While it looks like a suicide, Vance knows better and the coroner finds that Archer has been shot, hit with a blunt instrument and stabbed - making suicide unlikely. But Vance is on the case and is looking to see if government secrets have been sold and who has murdered Coe. This is a remake of "The Kennel Murder Case" using aircraft designs and espionage instead of Chinese porcelain and dog shows.

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Yukon Gold

In this Yukon adventure, a gold mining community is rocked by a murder. A Mountie investigates and encounters a female gambler. Action ensues, but justice prevails.

The Naked Face

Chicago psychiatrist Judd Stevens is suspected of murdering one of his patients when the man turns up stabbed to death in the middle of the city. After repeated attempts to convince the cops of his innocence, Dr. Stevens is forced to go after the real villains himself.

Jaws of Justice

Seeker Dean has found the gold he has been looking for for 15 years. Heading for the Government office, Boone Jackson kills him. Kickabout finds a cryptogram as to the gold's location and Sergeant Kinkaid solves the puzzle. But Jackson learns of the gold's location and to get it, he sets out to dynamite the dam that would flood the entire communuty.

Journey into Fear

An American ballistics expert in Turkey finds himself targeted by Nazi agents. Safe passage home by ship is arranged for him, but he soon discovers that his pursuers are also on board.

The Kennel Murder Case

Philo Vance, accompanied by his prize-losing Scottish terrier, investigates the locked-room murder of a prominent and much-hated collector whose broken Chinese vase provides an important clue.

Accused of Murder

A police detective finds himself entangled in the web of the underworld when he falls in love with a nightclub singer accused of murdering a crooked lawyer.

After the Thin Man

Nick and Nora Charles investigate when Nora's cousin reports her disreputable husband is missing, and find themselves in a mystery involving the shady owners of a popular nightclub, a singer and her dark brother, the cousin's forsaken true love, and Nora's bombastic and controlling aunt.

The Lone Wolf Meets a Lady

A hardworking secretary for a rich woman finds herself engaged to the woman's son and accused of a murder she didn't commit.

Eyes in the Night

Blind detective Duncan Maclain gets mixed up with enemy agents and murder when he tries to help an old friend with a rebellious stepdaughter.

The Fat Man

A innocent dentist is murdered and the only apparent motive seems to be to steal a set of dental x-rays. To the police it looks like an accident, but private eye Brad Runyan thinks there's more to it.

The Bishop Murder Case

The murders start with the body of Robin. He is found with a arrow through the heart, but Vance deduces that the body was placed and not found where he was killed. The note found dealing with the murder was part of a nursery rhyme and signed by 'Bishop'. The only witness may have been Mrs. Drukker and Adolph, but they are not talking. As the murders progress, each one is accompanied by a nursery rhyme. It is up to Philo Vance to unravel the clues and unmask the identity of the murderer 'Bishop'.

Three on a Ticket

A private detective, who has been shot, stumbles into the office of Michael Shayne (Hugh Beaumont), and dies before Shayne can question him. Shayne finds a baggage ticket in his hand. He claims it and finds the checked-bag contains the loot from a robbery. Now, he has about fifty minutes left of the running time to find the crooks, bring them to justice and return the money to the rightful owners. And needs all of it.

The Greene Murder Case

Philo Vance investigates when a murderer preys upon members of a wealthy family on New York's Upper East Side.

Escapement

An insurance investigator tumbles onto a series of similar deaths, by brain hemorrhage, of patients of a psychiatric clinic in France where therapy involves a device which can implant visual imagery in the minds of patients, ostensibly to help them relax.

Follow That Woman

A private detective's wife takes over his business when he enters the Army.

Berlin Correspondent

Dana Andrews plays Bill Roberts, an American radio commentator station in Berlin in the months before Pearl Harbor. Having witnessed Nazi brutalities first hand, Roberts hopes to alert his listeners of impending dangers, and does so by sending out coded messages during his broadcasts. The Gestapo begins to suspect something and assigns glamorous secret agent Karen Hauen (Virginia Gilmore) to spy on Roberts. When she discovers that her own father (Erwin Kaiser) is supplying Roberts with vital secrets, she turns her back on the Nazis and joins our hero in his efforts.

Submarine Alert

Nazi spies use a stolen shortwave transmitter prototype to broadcast top secret shipping info to an offshore Japanese sub. To nab the spy ring, the Government has the West Coast's top radio engineers fired and shadowed to see if the Nazis recruit them to complete work on the prototype radio. Radio engineer Lew Deerhold, a resident alien without a job to pay for his adorable little ward Gina's life-saving operation, falls prey to the spy ring, and is swept up in a maelstrom of deceit and danger.

Flying G-Men

Four flying G-Men protect America against enemy spies; one of the four assumes the identity of The Black Falcon, to befuddle the saboteurs even further.

The Long Night

City police surround a building, attempting to capture a suspected murderer. The suspect knows there is no escape but refuses to give in.

Terror by Night

Holmes and Watson board a passenger train bound from London to Edinburgh, to guard the Star of Rhodesia, an enormous diamond worth a fortune belonging to an elderly woman of wealth; but within the first hour of the trip, the woman's son is murdered and the diamond stolen and any of the passengers in their car could be the killer thief.

Inside Information

Lloyd Wilson, trusted employee of an investment firm, is suspected of theft when $20,000 in security bonds is stolen from his office. Tarzan, the Famous Police Dog, has an intuitive dislike of an apparently respectable citizen, and this leads Wilson and the police to the gang headquarters. Tarzan wins a public citation for his leading part in breaking the case against a desperate gang of criminals.

Diplomatic Courier

During the Cold War, diplomatic courier Mike Kells must retrieve a dispatch containing top-secret intelligence. But when he arrives at the meeting point, a train station in Salzburg, his contact turns up dead, and the message is nowhere to be found. With no clear suspect in sight, Kells must sort through his uncertain relationships with two women, while sidestepping the pitfalls of subterfuge, sabotage and spies in his search for the documents.

The Falcon's Brother

A gentlemanly detective known as The Falcon calls on his brother to help him stop the Nazis from assassinating a key diplomat.

Murder in the Air

Enemy agents are everywhere and they are sabotaging all important war deliveries. The body of a hobo found in a train wreck had a money belt with $50,000 and a tattoo of a circle and arrow. This is a tattoo for saboteurs for hire and Brass must impersonate the dead man to find out what his orders are. As Steve Coe, he meets with the band of enemy agents in California and everything goes well until the wife of the dead 'Hobo' shows up. Luckily, Gabby is able to save Brass and Brass learns what is his assignment. He is to board the USN airship 'Mason', which is testing the super secret Inertia Projector, and destroy the airship.

The Garden Murder Case

Detective Philo Vance is in charge of the investigation of several mysterious murders. Things take a turn when he gathers evidence against Major Fenwicke-Ralston.

The Case of the Howling Dog

A very nervous man named Cartwright comes into Perry's office to have the neighbor arrested for his howling dog. He states that the howling is a sign that there is a death in the neighborhood. He also wants a will written giving his estate to the lady living at the neighbors house. It is all very mysterious and by the next day, his will is changed and Cartwright is missing, as is the lady of the house next door. Perry has a will and a retainer and must find out whether he has a client or a beneficiary.

Mystery House

When a banker is found shot dead with a gun in his hand, his daughter refuses to believe it is a suicide. With the help of a detective, she hopes to get to the bottom of the case.

Pier 23

Pier 23 was one of three hour-long mysteries produced by Lippert Productions for both TV and theatrical release. Each of the three films was evenly divided into two half-hour "episodes," and each starred Hugh Beaumont as San Francisco-based amateur sleuth Dennis O'Brien. In Pier 23, O'Brien first tackles the case of a wrestler who has died of a suspicious heart attack after refusing to lose a match. He then agrees to help a priest talk an escaped criminal into returning to prison. The film's two-part structure leads to repetition and predictability, but it's fun to watch TV's "Ward Cleaver" making like Philip Marlowe.

The Casino Murder Case

When Philo Vance receives a note that harm will befall Lynn at the casino that night, he takes the threat seriously while the DA dismisses it. At the casino owned by Uncle Kinkaid, Lynn is indeed poisoned under the watchful eye of Philo. However, he recovers, but the same cannot be said for Lynn's wife Virginia, who is at the family home. Only a family member could have poisoned Lynn and Virginia and everyone has their dark motives. Philo will follow the clues and find the perpetrator.

The Canary Murder Case

A beautiful showgirl, name "the Canary" is a scheming nightclub singer. Blackmailing is her game and with that she ends up dead. But who killed "the Canary". All the suspects knew and were used by her and everyone had a motive to see her dead. The only witness to the crime has also been 'rubbed out'. Only one man, the keen, fascinating, debonair detective Philo Vance, would be able to figure out who is the killer. Written by Tony Fontana

The Benson Murder Case

A ruthless, crooked stockbroker is murdered at his luxurious country estate, and detective Philo Vance just happens to be there; he decides to find out who killed him.

Philo Vance Returns

Playboy Larry Blendon introduces his grandmother Stella Blendon to his fiancée, radio singer Virginia Berneaux. Despite Larry's record of broken romances and divorces, Virginia decides she will marry him. Virginia is slain that night and Blandon telephones his friend, Philo Vance, to help find the killer.

Murder in Three Acts

In Acapulco, Hercule Poirot attends a dinner party in which one of the guests clutches his throat and suddenly dies. The causes seem to be natural until another party with most of the same guests produces another corpse.

The Killing Mind

Isobel Neiman, a former FBI agent turned cop, is assigned to catch a ballerina's murderer, but runs into resistance by fellow cops who don't think a woman detective can handle the case.

The Gracie Allen Murder Case

The zany plot follows nitwit Gracie Allen trying to help master sleuth Philo Vance solve a murder.

Shanghai Chest

Charlie attempts to solve a triple murder in which a dead man's finger prints show up at all three murder sites, and all three victims were connected with the conviction and execution of an evidently innocent man.

The Nurse's Secret

An apparent suicide by a rich woman leads her nurse and a policeman to an insurance scam.

The Devil Plays

A mystery novelist's detective skills are put to the test when he attends a party where a murder is committed.

The Falcon Strikes Back

The Falcon is framed for the murder of a banker and the theft of war bonds. He makes his escape into the mountains where he hides out in a rustic lodge. From here he uncovers a phony war bond operation.

Guard That Girl

Attorney Joshua Scranton hires "Budge" Edwards and Larry Donovan, who has just bought into Edwards' detective agency, to protect Estelle Hudson, a client of his who is to inherit three-million dollars the next Thursday. He tells them he has reason to believe the girl is in danger from five relatives who stand to benefit from her death.

The Dragon Murder Case

Wonderful idea to give a party with people who dislike each other. Late at night, everyone decides to go into the pool, except Stamm, who is drunk. Montague dives in as does Greeff and Leland, but only Greeff and Leland come out. Montague is no where to be found so Leland suspects foul play and calls the cops. Luckily, Philo is with the D.A. and comes along, but they do not find Montague. When they drain the pool the next day, they find nothing except what looks like dragon prints. Philo has his suspicions and tries to piece the clues together to find out what has happened.

Park Plaza 605

Suave private investigator Norman Conquest intercepts a secret message and meets a beautiful but foreign blonde lady in room 605 of the Park Plaza hotel. But when Conquest wakes up in the room the next morning he is lying next to a dead body. With the mysterious blonde nowhere to be seen, Conquest soon becomes the police s number one suspect with Inspector Williams following his every move. In order to clear his name, Conquest enlists the help of Pixie Everard (Joy Shelton), but the going gets rough when he discovers that the murder is connected to a stash of stolen diamonds. As gun-happy gangs of communists and Nazi sympathizers turn up the heat, Conquest has to solve the murder whilst staying one step ahead of both the gangs and the police.

Mark of the Phoenix

A jewel thief finds himself a target when a smuggled cigarette case made from a stolen new metal falls into his hands.

Philo Vance's Secret Mission

Philo Vance is hired to write a true-crime mystery... but when the facts about an unsolved crime are about to be brought out into the open a murder takes place.

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