Ellery Queen And The Murder Ring came out in 1941 and it's the 6th of the Ellery Queen films in the 30s and 40s. It's based on the 1931 Ellery Queen novel The Dutch Shoe Mystery. Eric Taylor and Gertrude Purcell wrote the screenplay and James P Hogan directed. I haven't read many of the novels, never got to be a fan of the series.
Ralph Bellamy and Margaret Lindsay returns as Ellery and Nikki Porter. It's the last EQ film for Ralph. Charley Grapewin returns as Ellery's dad Inspector Queen and James Burke returns as Sergeant Veile. George Zucco, Mona Barrie, Paul Hurst, Ton Dugan and Leon Ames were the names I recognized.
The movie is mostly set in a hospital, the owner asks the police to investigate what she thinks are suspicious goings on. Ellery helps out his dad by going undercover. Shortly after a patient dies and the autopsy reveals it's murder. There's plenty of running about and yelling before Nikki and Inspector Queen figure it out. It seems like it's played more for laughs than sleuthing. Still, I enjoyed it. Three more to go.
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