The Case of the Stuttering Bishop

1937
Approved
1h 10m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Ann Dvorak and Donald Woods in The Case of the Stuttering Bishop (1937)

An improbable stuttering bishop from Australia asks for Perry's help in proving the identity of the legitimate heir to a millionaire.An improbable stuttering bishop from Australia asks for Perry's help in proving the identity of the legitimate heir to a millionaire.An improbable stuttering bishop from Australia asks for Perry's help in proving the identity of the legitimate heir to a millionaire.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.2/10

608

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
Author Erle Stanley Gardner objected so vehemently to what he felt was the miscasting of Ricardo Cortez as Mason, that Warners replaced him with Donald Woods.

Goofs
Near the end, when Mason and his crew are having lunch during a court recess, Della drops her fork on her plate and reaches out across the table to break off some bread (after giving Mason the inadvertent hunch about Stella Kenwood). When the camera cuts back to Mason, Della has fork in hand again, but not the bread.

Quotes
Perry Mason: [to Della] Bishops don't often need lawyers. Show him in.

Connections
Featured in The Big Sleep (1946)

Soundtracks
When Irish Eyes Are Smiling
(1912) (uncredited)
Music by Ernest Ball
Lyrics by Chauncey Olcott and George Graff
Sung a cappella with a phony Irish brogue by Donald Woods

User reviews24

Review

Featured review

5/10

Bishop to king

Donald Woods takes over the role of Perry Mason in the last of the Mason series that Warner Brothers did in the 30s with Ann Dvorak as Della Street in The Case Of The Stuttering Bishop. Erle Stanley Gardner's lawyer/sleuth would have to wait for television and Raymond Burr for its next incarnation.

Edward McWade, a bishop who stutters comes from Australia to see Woods about a possible fraud being perpetrated on millionaire Gordon Oliver regarding a fake granddaughter being foisted upon him. Later on Myra McKinney, Oliver's estranged daughter-in-law is arrested and it's Perry Mason for the defense.

Hamilton Burger played by Charles Wilson and Joseph Crehan as Paul Drake also appear. Burger for his one and only time in the movie series and Drake is a more traditional private eye. Previously Drake was "Spudsy Drake" played for comic relief by Allen Jenkins in previous films.

Viewers of the classic TV series will note that this observes the Perry Mason paradigm about never having guilty clients and the killer being unmasked in court. Previous films strayed from that somewhat.

I have to mention Tom Kennedy who took a leave from the Torchy Blaine series and brought his usual thick as a brick detective character with him. He's a favorite so incredibly droll and so naive.

Watch it for Tom Kennedy alone.