IMDb meta-data is 1 hour and 6 minutes, rated 5.3 by 286 cinematizens.
Genre: Krimi
Verdict: Snappy
Hidden in the title is Ellery Queen played to a ’T’ by Eddie Quillan. A rare Chinese Mandarin stamp is stolen and the body count starts. The courier delivering the stamp from China is robbed in her hotel room, and the Inspector Queen comes to investigate with Ellery in his wake.
Her intention was to sell the stamps to a private collector. When a rival collector offers twice as much the courier, strangely, declines. Meanwhile the offspring of the first collector oppose the purchase of another useless stamp which they see as squandering their inheritance.
There are locked rooms, posed cadavers, shadows lurking outside windows, and bumbling coppers. The dialogue is brisk; the direction is crisp; the players are engaging.
There is much coming and going, and more than one set of villains are on the prowl to confuse things, and me.
EQ comes to the rescue with smart alec remarks, and a keen eye for detail.
Spoiler: Turns out Collector One found that forgery paid better. His plan was to buy the Chinese stamp and them make forgeries and sell each on the black market for the purchase price. I think.
Franklin Pangborn, as ever, superbly plays the flighty hotel manager.
Ellery Queen stories were multi-media at the time, in print, over the radio, and on the silver screen.
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