Meet Nero Wolfe (1936) DVD-R

Starring Edward Arnold, Lionel Stander, Dennie Moore, Victor Jory, Nana Bryant, Rita
Hayworth
Directed by Herbert J. Biberman

Print: black/white
Runtime: 73 min.
Genre: mystery
Print Quality: B

Rex Stout's overweight, under-exercised detective Nero Wolfe was first brought to the
screen in 1936 in the portly person of Edward Arnold. As brusque and short-tempered as
ever, Wolfe tackles the case of a college professor who met his doom while playing golf, a
tragedy followed by the seemingly unrelated death of a young mechanic. Dispatched to do
Wolfe's leg work is his acerbic aide Archie Goodwin (Lionel Stander), who manages to
discover that both deaths were tied in with a new weapon which silently shoots poisoned
needles. Rex Stout wasn't too pleased with the expurgated screen treatment of his fictional
sleuth, whose fondness for imported beers was changed by the censors to a predilection
for hot chocolate! Well directed by Broadway vet Herbert Biberman, Meet Nero Wolfe was
followed in 1937 by The League of Frightened Men, with Walter Connolly as Wolfe.