“We'll go out on a limb and suggest that The Kennel Murder Case, the 6th Philo Vance novel (and the 5th to be filmed) is one of the very best films of its genre, and that Powell, flawlessly cast, was by far the most satisfactory of the ten players who took on the role between 1929 and 1947. The beauty of the film is that it succeeds despite the limitations of its breed, and without really departing from what was then a popular formula, but which would date very badly if the film hadn't had real style to begin with. For a start, Van Dine's novel is beautifully worked out, and unlike many movie adaptations, this one follows it to the letter.... From its impressive opening titles, The Kennel Murder Case has real zip and pace. Potentially slow scenes are broken up via camera movement, interesting lighting and a stress on low angles which seem to put the audience in the position of being an eavesdropper. There are some unusually good miniatures of the adjoining houses which figure so prominently in the action, and a frequent resort to swish-pans to keep the tempo lively. The foreground dialogue is suave, polished and informative, as it should be in these mystery circles, while the background dialogue, often all but thrown away, is both naturalistic and crackling. The first reel, with its marvelous collection of suspects, positively works overtime in setting up motives for the murder, since the victim-to-be never seems to open his mouth unless it is to renege on a deal, issue a racial insult (the Chinese have quite a rough time of it in this picture!) or befoul the path of young love. If the identity of the murderer is all too obvious even before the killing has taken place...in 1933, his perfidy was less well-known, so this hardly constitutes a weakness of the picture, which not only has an unusually intriguing mystery, but a logical and well-arrived-at solution too.”