The Bishop Murder Case (1929)
Director: David Burton, Nick Grinde
Starring: Basil Rathbone, Leila Hyams, Roland Young
Synopsis:
A young man is killed with an arrow through the heart, the first in a string of murders only Philo Vance can solve.
Impressions:
I'm a fan of Basil Rathbone and I like murder mysteries, but this movie doesn't have much going for it. It's not particularly well made from a technical perspective, with a fair bit of choppy editing (but maybe that could be due to lost filmstock), and neither the story or characters are all that compelling. I will say that the gimmick of the murderer using nursery rhymes for his crimes was kinda neat, but that's about it. There's not much compelling reason to see this beyond its historical value, but it's not so bad that you need to go out of your way to avoid it either.
50/50