The Westland Case is a 1937 American mystery film directed by Christy Cabanne and starring Preston Foster, Frank Jenks, and Carol Hughes.
Cast
Preston Foster as Bill Crane
Frank Jenks as Doc Williams
Carol Hughes as Emily Lou Martin
Barbara Pepper as Agatha Hogan
Astrid Allwyn as Bentine
Clarence Wilson as Charlie Frazee
Theodore Von Eltz as Robert Westland
George Meeker as Richard Bolston
Russell Hicks as Woodbury
Selmer Jackson as Warden
Production
In 1937, Universal Pictures made a deal with the Crime Club who published whodunnit novels. Universal were granted the right to select four of their yearly published novels to adapt into films. The unit responsible for these films was producer Irving Starr. Eleven films were made in the series between 1937 and 1939. The Westland Case was the first in the series and was based on the Jonathan Latimer novel Headed for a Hearse.
The first films in the series featured Preston Foster as Bill Crane and Frank Jenks as Doc Williams were cast as the wisecracking New York city detectives. These characters would appear in two other films in the series: The Lady in the Morgue and The Last Warning.
Release
The Westland Case was released on October 31, 1937.