Philo Vance

Created by muzzlehatch.

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The Philo Vance series, based on a character created by S.S. Van Dine, was one of the first in a very popular genre or subgenre in Hollywood during the Depression era - the amateur detective, usually a fashionable and wealthy man who doesn't need to pursue a career and just solves crimes for fun. See also the Lone Wolf and Falcon series, and for a twist, the Thin Man films in which the solitary male becomes a couple. Apart from the Thin Man, most of these series were low-budget b-pictures running 55-75 minutes, and in most cases the lead role changed hands over time as the originator of it got bored, or got to be a bigger star. Philo Vance is no exception, and he is played by in succession

William Powell (films 1-3 and 5)
Basil Rathbone (4)
Warren William (6, 11)
Paul Lukas (7)
Edmund Lowe (8)
Wilfrid Hyde-White (9)
Grant Richards (10)
James Stephenson (12)
William Wright (13)
Alan Curtis (14-15)

NOTE: The Scarab Murder Case, the only British-produced film in the series, is considered a lost film but I have included it for completion's sake.