USA, 1930
88m, 2408 metres
35mm film, black and white, 1.33:1
mono, English
An American borderline horror film directed by Nick Grindé.
Plot Summary
Detective Philo Vance investigates the killing of Robin whose body appears to have been carefully placed at a certain location after death. A note with the body, signed by The Bishop, contains a fragment from a nursery rhyme and it's just the beginning of a series of killings. Vance races against time to unmask The Bishop as the bodies continue to pile up.
Credits
Crew
Director: Nick Grindé
MGM
Script: Lenore J. Coffee
Novel: S.S. Van Dine
Director of Photography: Roy Overbaugh
Editor: William LeVanway
Music: William Axt; Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (The Nutcracker Suite)
Recording Director: Dr Donald MacKenzie
Sound Recordist: Gavin Burns
Western Electric System
Wardrobe: Henrietta Frazer
Titles: Fred Niblo Jr
Art Director: Cedric Gibbons
Stage Director: David Burton
Cast
Basil Rathbone (Philo Vance)
Leila Hyams (Belle Dillard)
Roland Young (Sigurd ‘Erik' Arnesson)
George F. Marion (Adolph Drukker)
Alec B. Francis (Professor Bertrand Dillard)
Zelda Sears (Miss Drukker)
Bodil Rosing (Grete Menzel)
Carroll Nye (Johnny Sprigg)
Charles Quartermaine (John Purdee)
James Donlan (Sergeant Ernest Heath)
Sidney Bracey (Pyne)
Clarence Geldart (District Attorney John Markham)
Delmer Daves (Raymond Sperling)
Nellie Bly Baker (Beedle)
Richard Cramer [detective in park] *
Marcia Mae Jones [hungry child] *
Broderick O'Farrell [Doctor Van Pelt] *
Douglas Scott [child with book in park] *
References
Books
- Reference Guide to Fantastic Films by Walt Lee p.36 – credits
Periodicals
- The Bioscope vol.82 no.1220 (19 February 1930) p.29 – review
