On this day in movie history - The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1939 movie & novel):

The Gracie Allen Murder Case

directed by Alfred E. Green,

written by Nat Perrin,

based on the novel by S.S. Van Dine,

was released in the United States on June 2, 1939.
Music by Gerard Carbonara and Leo Shuken.

Cast:

Gracie Allen, Warren William, Ellen Drew, Kent Taylor, Judith Barrett, Donald MacBride, Jed Prouty, Jerome Cowan, H. B. Warner, William Demarest, Sam Lee, Al Shaw, Richard Denning, Irving Bacon, Lillian Yarbo.

Recommended reading:

The Gracie Allen Murder Case

aka The Smell of Murder

By S.S. Van Dine.

Filmed as The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1939), directed by Alfred E. Green.

Published by Felony & Mayhem Press.

First published 1938.

ISBN-10: 1631942069

ISBN-13: 9781631942068

Description:

“Mr. Van Dine’s amateur detective is the most gentlemanly, and probably the most scholarly snooper in literature.”

– Chicago Daily Tribune.

Gracie Allen breaks the Philo Phormula in a number of ways. First is its title: this is the only book in the series to modify “Murder Case” with more than one word, much less with the name of a character. And then there’s that character: Gracie Allen was a very real, much-loved comedienne in the 1930s, famous for her double act with George Burns, and in fact the plot revolves around her. Gracie’s centrality is no accident: Van Dine wrote the story as a vehicle for Allen, and actually created the novel only after the film had come out. So, do all these departures pay off? We’d be lying if we said that Gracie hits every single mark, but Van Dine does a surprisingly entertaining job of translating Ms. Allen’s delicious Ditzy Blonde persona to the page, and she makes a charming foil for Philo’s evergreen erudition.

On this day in movie history - The Killers (1946):

The Killers

directed by Robert Siodmak,

written by Anthony Veiller, John Huston and Richard Brooks,

based on the short story by Ernest Hemingway,

was released in the United States on August 30, 1946.
Music by Miklós Rózsa.

Cast:

Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, Edmond O’Brien, Albert Dekker, Sam Levene, Vince Barnett, Virginia Christine, Jack Lambert, Charles D. Brown, Donald MacBride, Charles McGraw, William Conrad, Ernie Adams, Audley Anderson, George Anderson, Sam Ash, Frank Baker, Brooks Benedict, John Berkes, Edward Biby, Harry Brown, Phil Brown, Jack Cheatham, James Conaty, Jeff Corey, Gino Corrado, Noel Cravat, Oliver Cross, Rex Dale, Neal Dodd, Mike Donovan, Howard Freeman, Dick Gordon, Robert Haines, Michael Hale, Sam Harris, Harry Hayden, Mark Hellinger, Al Hill, George Hoagland, Jimmie Horan, Geoffrey Ingham, Kenner G. Kemp, Paul Kruger, Ethan Laidlaw, Mike Lally, Perc Launders, Nolan Leary, Vera Lewis, Jack Lomas, Therese Lyon, Frank McLure, Charles Middleton, John Miljan, Howard Negley, Garry Owen, Barbara ‘Red’ Powers, Beatrice Roberts, Wally Rose, William Ruhl, Wallace Scott, John Sheehan, Queenie Smith, Ann Staunton, Jack Tornek, John Trebach, Bill Walker, Milton Wallace, Gabrielle Windsor, Florence Wix.