Scanialara You won't be disappointed!

Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Onlinewsma Absolutely Brilliant!

DipitySkillful an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

utgard14 Philo Vance (Basil Rathbone) is on the case of a killer who is leaving clues related to Mother Goose nursery rhymes. The first victim is named Robin but his friends call him Cock Robin. Philo Vance was never one of my favorite movie detectives. I haven't read the books so I can't compare how his film treatment holds up to those. But Vance always seemed to lack the distinct personality traits that all the great movie detectives of the '30s and '40s had, like Charlie Chan or Nick Charles.This movie creaks but there is some effort to make it less stagey than most films of the time, which I appreciate. Rathbone obviously would go on to a bigger and better detective series with Sherlock Holmes. The acting ranges from stiff to decent. That's future writer/director Delmer Daves as Raymond Sperling. There are some decent elements to this and if it had been made a few years later it might have been really good. But it drags badly. It needed a shot of adrenaline somewhere. Again, the bland personality of Rathbone's Vance doesn't help matters at all.

gridoon2018 "The Bishop Murder Case" may seem antiquated to modern audiences, but it's worth sitting through for some very effective camera shots (examples: the second and the fourth murder), a twist-and-trick-filled ending, as well as Basil Rathbone's terrific performance as Philo Vance; taller than everyone else in the cast, he is authoritative, suave and convincingly intellectual. Some of the other actors still have the tendency to do grimaces and gestures more befitting of silent films (which is understandable, it was 1930 after all), but others (Philo's two sidekicks, for example) are more modern. Now more widely available for viewing, "The Bishop Murder Case" does require some patience, but it has its rewards. **1/2 out of 4.

blanche-2 Basil Rathbone is a dashing, intense-looking Philo Vance in "The Bishop Murder Case," an early talkie that shows signs of the painful transition from silents. I actually had quite a bit of trouble with the sound. I saw it on television and had difficulty understanding what was being said at times.The film, nevertheless, is very interesting, if only to see Rathbone, with those amazing eyes of his, in his pre-Sherlock Holmes days. His acting is excellent. It was also delightful to see Roland Young. Leila Hyams plays the professor's niece, and she was quite beautiful and effective. It has a good plot as well.Parts of this film came off like a stage play, probably because some of the actors were still adjusting to film technique. And the sound was darned strange. In one of the outdoor scenes, the actors sounded as if they were speaking through megaphones. Nevertheless, Philo Vance fans should certainly enjoy it, as will others from a historical perspective.

krorie "The Bishop Murder Case" is one of the best in the Philo Vance film series. The mystery seems a bit silly at first when children's nursery rhymes are used by the perpetrator of the crimes to publicize his murders, not unlike methods used by present-day serial killers. But once the plot unfolds the nursery rhyme angle makes complete sense. The Bishop is a key figure in solving the mystery as the title indicates. So keep your eyes focused on that clue. I won't say any more except to add that this is a complex mystery.Basil Rathbone is second only to William Powell in breathing life into S.S. Van Dine's famous private investigator. It's obvious from this performance why Rathbone was chosen at the end of the decade to play Sherlock Holmes. The other actor who shines in this movie is Roland Young. Though much of the acting hearkens back to the silent era which was coming to an end, Rathbone and Young seem modern in their approach. From playing on stage and in silent pictures, actors were used to wild exaggerations and outlandish gesticulations which were no longer needed now that movies could talk. Several of the characters in "The Bishop Murder Case" have not yet adjusted to working with sound. Not so Rathbone and Young.Another early talky distraction for modern viewers is the absence of music for dramatic effect. Since live music was used to accentuate the silent screen action and mood, it seems strange that music was not immediately utilized for the same purposes on the talky screen. Producers were misinformed that music coming from nowhere would puzzle and confuse the audience. So it took a few years for Hollywood to rid itself of this misconception. The decision not to use music plus fairly primitive sound effects (the viewer will readily recognize the sound of thunder as the sound of huge sheets of metal being snapped)take away from the overall effects of this otherwise clever and well-written murder mystery.