The Bishop Murder Case *** (1929, Basil Rathbone, Leila Hyams, Roland Young) – Classic Movie Review 11,309

‘ALL-TALKING!.. ALL-THRILLS!’

Directors Nick Grinde and David Burton’s 1929 MGM black and white crime thriller The Bishop Murder Case stars Basil Rathbone, who gives a smooth and involving turn in his single outing as S S Van Dine’s debonair detective Philo Vance in this ingenious mystery in which the killer of an archer by an arrow in the heart sends warning notes in nursery rhymes.

It starts when old Professor Bertrand Dillard (Alec B Francis) and his servant see from their balcony the body of family friend Joseph Robin with an arrow in his heart. Dillard calls district attorney John Markham (Clarence Geldart), who brings in private detective Philo Vance and police detective Ernest Heath (James Donlan). A note with part of a nursery rhyme and signed by ‘Bishop’ is found.

Vance finds the arrow scene was staged – the body was placed and not found where he was killed, actually bludgeoned to death inside the house – but no evident suspect, though next-door neighbours Miss Drukker (Zelda Sears) and her brother Adolph Drukker (George F Marion) may have been witnesses. More murders, also accompanied by a nursery rhyme, soon follow.

Director Grinde’s grindingly slow handling is a problem, and so is the early sound production, but it is a good mystery plot, and the cast and the plot keep the film firmly on the rails. Rathbone commands the screen, the character acting is superb and the puzzle thoroughly diverting.

Also in the cast are Leila Hyams as Belle Dillard, Roland Young as Sigurd Arnesson, Alec B Francis as Professor Bertrand Dillard, George F Marion as Adolph Drukker, Zelda Sears as Miss Drukker, Bodil Rosing as Grete Menzel, Carroll Nye as John E Sprigg, Charles Quatermaine as John Pardee, James Donlan as Ernest Heath, Sidney Bracey as Robin Pyne, Clarence Geldart as John F X Markham, Delmer Daves as Raymond Sperling, and Nellie Bly Baker as Beedle.

Writer: Lenore J Coffee (adaptation) from the book by S S Van Dine.

It is of particular interest because Rathbone is playing the debonair detective character ten years before starting his iconic role as Sherlock Holmes in a series of 14 films in 1938 with the 20th Century-Fox adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles.

The Bishop Murder Case is directed by Nick Grinde (screen direction) and David Burton (stage direction), runs 88 minutes, is made and released by MGM, is written by Lenore J Coffee (adaptation) based on the book by S S Van Dine, is shot in black and white by Roy F Overbaugh, is produced by Louis B Mayer, and is scored by William Axt.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,309

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