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The Bishop Murder Case | |
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![]() Original theatrical poster. | |
Directed by | David Burton Nick Grinde |
Screenplay by | Lenore J. Coffee |
Based on | The Bishop Murder Case 1917 novel by S. S. Van Dine |
Starring | Basil Rathbone Leila Hyams Roland Young |
Cinematography | Roy F. Overbaugh |
Edited by | William LeVanway |
Music by | William Axt |
Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date |
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Running time | 88 min. |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
The Bishop Murder Case is a 1929 American pre-Code mystery film directed by David Burton (credited for stage direction) and Nick Grinde (credited for screen direction) and starring Basil Rathbone, Leila Hyams and Roland Young. Ten years before assuming his role as Sherlock Holmes in a series of 14 films, Rathbone essayed the character of S.S. Van Dine's detective Philo Vance in this single outing. [1]
From his private balcony, elderly Prof. Dillard and his servant see the body of family friend Joseph Robin with an arrow in his chest. Dillard calls district attorney Markham, who brings in private detective Philo Vance and lazy police detective Heath. Vance quickly deduces that the arrow scene was staged (Robin was actually bludgeoned inside the house), but there is no obvious suspect.
Living with Dillard is his niece Belle; Dillard's adopted son, Sigurd Arnesson, who is also Belle's boyfriend, returns from college on hearing of the crime. In the next house are the Drukkers, a brother and sister: she feels responsible for a serious injury he still suffers from, and is now frail and agoraphobic. She could have seen the body from her window, and Mr. Drukker says he heard her screaming in her room; she fearfully says she saw nothing and did not scream. Drukker admits to being in Dillard's house before the murder. Another neighbor is John Pardee, a chess enthusiast, who seems overly interested in the case.
A taunting typewritten note is found, signed "the Bishop". It alludes to the nursery rhyme "Cock Robin". That was Robin's nickname, and another visitor at the house that day was named Sperling—German for "Sparrow"—but he proves to have a solid alibi. Neither Drukker's nor Arnesson's typewriter matches the note, and Dillard does not have one.
Later a friend of Arnesson's, named John, is found murdered. He was shot in the top of the head, an allusion to Jack's injury in "Jack and Jill". Then Drukker, sitting on a low wall in a park at night, is pulled off the wall and murdered: like "Humpty Dumpty", says a note from "the Bishop". Drukker's sister is found dead also, perhaps from fright, with a chess bishop in her hand; a valuable notebook about Drukker's research work is missing from their home.
Heath and Markham become suspicious of Pardee, but find him dead, along with a house of cards (obviously built after he died) with a chess bishop on top: "This Is the House That Jack Built".
Later, Dillard expresses some misgivings about Arnesson, and mentions the Henrik Ibsen play The Pretenders , which Arnesson is fond of.
That night, after Belle says goodnight to Arnesson, she makes her way into the attic and finds the typewriter that "the Bishop" used for his notes. At this point she is jumped from behind.
Mulling over Dillard's words later that night, Vance suddenly realizes that one of the characters in The Pretenders is a bishop—named Arnesson. He rushes back to Dillard's house together with Markham, Heath, and more police. Arnesson's window is open and neither he nor Belle is in their room. Dillard joins the group to search the house. Breaking down the locked door to the attic, they find the typewriter, but not Belle, who is bound and gagged in a nearby cupola.
Downstairs, they are talking to Dillard when Arnesson returns. When Vance accuses him, he acts guilty. Meanwhile, Dillard surreptitiously pours some powder from a poison ring into a wine glass. As things calm down and Arnesson is about to be arrested, Dillard pours wine for Arnesson and himself; but Vance announces that he has switched the glasses.
Dillard is the murderer, and was trying to fake Arnesson's suicide. He was jealous and wanted to be Belle's only friend. He originally only intended to kill Robin and frame Arnesson, but developed the more elaborate scheme when he realized Miss Drukker must have witnessed his actions. Arnesson acted guilty because Vance asked him to. And Belle is fine; after Dillard left the attic, Vance had asked Heath to search the cupola.
Arnesson and Belle embrace. Vance stops Heath from carelessly drinking the poison.
Philip St. John Basil Rathbone MC was an Anglo-South African actor. He rose to prominence in the United Kingdom as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in more than 70 films, primarily costume dramas, swashbucklers, and, occasionally, horror films.
Paul Lukas was a Hungarian actor. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor, and the first Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama, for his performance in the film Watch on the Rhine (1943), reprising the role he created on the Broadway stage.
S. S. Van Dine is the pseudonym used by American art critic Willard Huntington Wright when he wrote detective novels. Wright was active in avant-garde cultural circles in pre-World War I New York, and under the pseudonym he created the fictional detective Philo Vance, a sleuth and aesthete who first appeared in books in the 1920s, then in films and on the radio.
Philo Vance is a fictional amateur detective originally featured in 12 crime novels by S. S. Van Dine in the 1920s and 1930s. During that time, Vance was immensely popular in books, films, and radio. He was portrayed as a stylish—even foppish—dandy, a New York bon vivant possessing a highly intellectual bent. "S. S. Van Dine" was the pen name of Willard Huntington Wright, a prominent art critic who initially sought to conceal his authorship of the novels. Van Dine was also a fictional character in the books, a sort of Dr. Watson figure who accompanied Vance and chronicled his exploits.
The "Canary" Murder Case (1927) is a murder mystery novel which deals with the murders of an attractive nightclub singer known as "the Canary," and, eventually, her boyfriend, solved by Philo Vance. S. S. Van Dine's classic whodunnit, second in the Philo Vance series, is said by Howard Haycraft to have broken "all modern publishing records for detective fiction." The earliest editions give the title with quotation marks around the word "Canary", but most subsequent editions omit them.
The Bishop Murder Case (1929) is the fourth in a series of mystery novels by S. S. Van Dine about fictional detective Philo Vance. The detective solves a mystery built around a nursery rhyme. The Bishop Murder Case is believed to be the first nursery-rhyme mystery book.
The Kidnap Murder Case is a 1936 murder mystery novel by S. S. Van Dine, the tenth of twelve books featuring fictional detective Philo Vance.
The Benson Murder Case is the first novel in the Philo Vance series of mystery novels by S. S. Van Dine, which became a best-seller.
George O. Petrie was an American radio and television actor.
William Clemens was an American film director.
Walburga Oesterreich, nicknamed "Dolly" and "Queen of Los Angeles", was a German-born American housewife, married to a wealthy textile manufacturer Fred William Oesterreich, who gained notoriety for the shooting death of her husband and the subsequent bizarre revelation that she had kept her lover, Otto Sanhuber, hidden in the attic of the home she shared with her husband for ten years.
The Canary Murder Case is a 1929 American pre-Code crime-mystery film based on the 1927 novel of the same name by S.S. Van Dine. The film was directed by Malcolm St. Clair, with a screenplay by Wright, Albert Shelby LeVino, and Florence Ryerson. William Powell starred in the role of detective Philo Vance, with Louise Brooks co-starred as "The Canary"; Jean Arthur, James Hall, and Charles Lane also co-starred in other principal roles.
The Kennel Murder Case is a 1933 American pre-Code mystery film adapted from the 1933 novel of the same name by S. S. Van Dine. Directed by Michael Curtiz for Warner Bros., it stars William Powell and Mary Astor. Powell's role as Philo Vance is not the actor's first performance as the aristocratic sleuth; he also portrays the character in three films produced by Paramount in 1929 and 1930.
Calling Philo Vance is a 1940 American mystery/comedy film released by Warner Bros. and starring James Stephenson as the dilettante detective Philo Vance, his only appearance as the character; Margot Stevenson co-stars. The film also features Henry O'Neill, Edward Brophy, Sheila Bromley and Ralph Forbes. It was directed by William Clemens from a screenplay by Tom Reed, based on the 1933 novel The Kennel Murder Case by S.S. Van Dine, which had been made into a film in 1933, starring William Powell and Mary Astor.
The Casino Murder Case is a 1935 American mystery film starring Paul Lukas and Alison Skipworth. Rosalind Russell is in the supporting cast. It was directed by Edwin L. Marin from a screenplay by Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf, based on the 1934 novel of the same name by S. S. Van Dine. It was the ninth film in the Philo Vance film series.
The Garden Murder Case is a 1936 American mystery drama film, the tenth in the Philo Vance film series, following after 1935's The Casino Murder Case. In this entry to the series, Vance is played by Edmund Lowe, and Virginia Bruce co-stars. The film also features Benita Hume, Douglas Walton, and Nat Pendleton. It was directed by Edwin L. Marin from a screenplay by Bertram Millhauser based on the 1935 book of the same name by S. S. Van Dine.
The Dragon Murder Case is a 1934 mystery film adaptation of the novel of the same name by S. S. Van Dine, starring Warren William as private detective Philo Vance, Margaret Lindsay, Lyle Talbot and Eugene Pallette, and featuring Helen Lowell, Robert McWade, Robert Barrat, Dorothy Tree, George E. Stone and Etienne Girardot.
The Benson Murder Case is a 1930 American pre-Code crime film directed by Frank Tuttle and written by S. S. Van Dine and Bartlett Cormack. The film stars William Powell, William "Stage" Boyd, Eugene Pallette, Paul Lukas, Natalie Moorhead, Richard Tucker and May Beatty. The film was released on April 13, 1930, by Paramount Pictures. The film was based on the 1926 novel of the same name by S. S. Van Dine. The film had initial copyright notice, and it was renewed in 1957. Under the terms of Title 17 of the U.S. Code, the film will enter the public domain in 2026.
The Gracie Allen Murder Case is a 1939 American comedy mystery film taken from the Philo Vance series by writer S.S. Van Dine and directed by Alfred E. Green from a screenplay by Nat Perrin. The film stars the female member of the comedy duo Burns and Allen Gracie Allen, Warren William, Ellen Drew, Kent Taylor, Judith Barrett, Donald MacBride and Jed Prouty. The film was released on June 2, 1939, by Paramount Pictures.