Frederic Dannay

Movies

The Three Undelivered Letters
Novel
Noriko had been engaged to marry Toshiyuki Fujimura, who worked at her father’s bank. One day however, Fujimura mysteriously disappears. From that day, Noriko keeps herself locked up in her room. After three years of Noriko shutting herself up like a doll without a soul, Fujimura suddenly returns. Noriko’s family’s first reaction was strong rejection, but Noriko asks no questions and embraces him warmly. One day, as Noriko is cleaning her husband’s room, three envelopes accidentally fall from the pages of one of the books she had picked up. The first letter is dated August 11th, saying that his wife had suddenly taken ill. The second, dated August 20th, says that his wife is now critically sick, and the third letter, dated September 1st, is an announcement of his wife’s death. The wife is obviously Noriko, but she is alive and well. Do the letters then mean a preliminary notice of Noriko’s death?
Ellery Queen: Too Many Suspects
Novel
When a famous fashion designer is found murdered, Inspector Richard Queen of the NYPD is baffled by her dying clue, prompting him to bring in his son, mystery writer Ellery Queen, to help in the investigation. This was the pilot film for the short-lived TV series.
Ten Days Wonder
Writer
A philosophy professor is investigating the sudden demise of one of his students, who had mental problems.
Ellery Queen: Don't Look Behind You
Novel
Detective Ellery Queen has to solve a series of murders where the victims were killed in numerically descending ages, the male victims were strangled with blue cords and the female victims with pink ones.
Enemy Agents Meet Ellery Queen
Story
Detective Ellery Queen aids Free Dutch agents battle Nazi spies over a prize of industrial diamonds.
A Desperate Chance for Ellery Queen
Writer
A man is framed for embezzlement and runs off to San Francisco. His wife hires Queen to try and track him down before the police get to him.
A Close Call for Ellery Queen
Story
Two mysterious seamen come from Alan Rogers' past to blackmail him as he seeks to locate his missing daughters. Ellery Queen is called in by Stewart Cole, Rogers' secretary. Queen goes to the estate and finds one daughter already there and the second one expected. When she arrives, it is Ellery's secretary Nikki Porter posing as the daughter as Ellery had her intercept the real heiress after learning of a plot to swindle Rogers. The blackmailing seamen are killed at a waterfront café after getting the blackmail money, Rogers is suspected and Inspector Queen arrives to arrest him, but he is also found dead.
Ellery Queen and the Murder Ring
Story
Ralph Bellamy made his fourth and final appearance as literary sleuth Ellery Queen in Columbia's Ellery Queen and the Murder Ring. On this occasion, Ellery and his police-inspector father are summoned to a private hospital by its owner, philanthropist Mrs. Stack. There've been some very weird goings-on at the hospital as of late, and Mrs. Stack wants to get to the bottom of things.
Ellery Queen and the Perfect Crime
Writer
Ralph Bellamy makes the third of four appearances as "master detective" Ellery Queen in Columbia's Ellery Queen and the Perfect Crime. The principal villain is crooked stockbroker John Mathews, whose Wall Street manipulations render Ray Jarden penniless. Mathews' chicanery seems particularly coldblooded, inasmuch as his daughter Marian is engaged to Jarden's son Walter. When the latter disappears, Mathews asks Ellery Queen to locate the young man.
Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery
Writer
Like the first entry in Columbia's "Ellery Queen" series, Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery depicts its amateur-criminologist hero as an oafish ignoramus. This time around, Chinese ventriloquist Gordon Cobb (Noel Madison), is murdered by a gang of jewel thieves. Baffled by the contradictory clues, Inspector Queen (Charles Grapewin) asks his son Ellery (Ralph Bellamy) to help out.
Ellery Queen, Master Detective
Story
The mysteriously ill John Braun makes a new will, leaving out his daughter Barbara, over the protests of his wife. The trouble began when the daughter wanted to marry Mr. Braun's doctor, James Rogers. Mrs. Braun asks Inspector Queen to help find the long-missing Barbara. The inspector's son, Ellery, works on the case. He goes to a home frequently visited by Dr. Rogers where the bell is answered by Nikki Porter who Ellery mistakes for Barbara and insists she return to the Braun home. Nikki does, to protect Barbara, and a short time later finds herself alone in a room outside Braun's bedroom. She finds him dead - his throat cut. No weapons are found and the door to the room where Nikki had been is locked, and she is suspected. Ellery hides Nikki in his apartment. Braun's body, sent for an autopsy, disappears and in its place is a life-sized statue of the dead man.
The Crime Nobody Saw
Theatre Play
Three playwrights (Lew Ayres, Eugene Pallette, Benny Baker) develop a plot around a drunk who gets killed in their apartment.
The Mandarin Mystery
Original Story
Ellery Queen solves a mystery involving a valuable stamp.
The Spanish Cape Mystery
Novel
Ellery Queen's vacation is interrupted when murder strikes next door to his oceanside cabin.