Director: Ralph Staub
Cast Includes
EQ: Eddie Quillan
Inspector Queen: Wade Boteler
Josephine Temple: Charlotte Henry
Mellish: Franklin Pangborn
Martha Kirk: Rita La Roy
Dr. Alexander Kirk: George Irving

Source: novel "The Chinese Orange Mystery"
63 min, 54 min TV-version Black & White

In retrospect this movie was even worse than the first one. It seemed obviously practicable to treat it as a comedy of the absurd. Famous sleuth Ellery Queen solves two murders - both committed in impenetrably locked rooms and recovers stolen stamp worth $50,000. The primary suspect is Jo Temple, the original possessor of the stamp. Falling in love with Jo, Ellery sets about to retrieve the stolen goods and solve the murders. There was some novelty value in the fact that an actor whose initials were E.Q. was cast as intellectual sleuth but it seemed a misstep.Eddie Quillan, who though a talented and appealing performer was woefully miscast as Queen. Perhaps realizing that Quillan could never be taken seriously in the leading role, Republic opted to play 'The Mandarin Mystery' for laughs -- another big mistake. Hopelessly muddled script and fatal miscasting of diminutive Quillan as Ellery Queen sabotages this low-budget mystery. Although the film contains the bare bones of the book, it was played for laughs, and the childish acting and ineffective direction brought the first series of EQ films to a halt after just two entries.

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