The Case of the Stuttering Bishop (1937) Review - Not Your Grandma's Perry Mason

If you have seventy minutes to spare and love fast-talking guys in oversized 1930s suits, then yes, The Case of the Stuttering Bishop is worth a lazy afternoon watch. But if you are expecting the cozy, slow-burn courtroom drama of the classic Raymond Burr TV show, you are going to absolutely hate this. 🕵️‍♂️

This is 1930s B-movie energy at its most chaotic. It is incredibly loud, people talk like they are trying to beat a kitchen timer, and the plot makes almost no sense if you stop to think about it for even a single second.

Wait, That is Perry Mason?

Donald Woods plays Perry Mason here, and honestly, he is way too cheerful. He spends the first ten minutes grinning like a guy who just won a free ham, not a serious defense attorney handling a major case.

And then we get the bishop. This guy shows up from Australia, and he stutters. But here is the thing: his stutter is so incredibly fake. It sounds like a bad high school actor who forgot his lines and is trying to play it off.

Perry immediately suspects something is off because, apparently, real bishops do not stutter? It is a weirdly specific piece of detective logic, but we just roll with it because the movie is moving too fast to care.

The Cheap Set Vibes

You can tell Warner Bros. did not throw a lot of cash at this one. It has that hurried, shot-on-a-backlot look that reminds me of Tugboat Princess or even Town Terrors from the same era.

The rooms look like they were dressed with whatever furniture was left over from a much better movie. In one scene, Perry is talking on a desk phone that is not even plugged into the wall. I swear you can see the loose cord just dangling near the desk leg if you look closely.

And the extras! There is a scene in a hotel lobby where the same three people walk past the camera in a circle about four times. It is hilarious once you spot it.

Ann Dvorak is the Real Hero

Ann Dvorak plays Della Street, and she is easily the best part of this whole mess. She actually looks like she is doing real work while Perry just stands around looking handsome and smug.

She gets to do some actual sleuthing, which is nice. Most of the other characters just yell at each other in small, dark rooms.

There is this one guy, Edward McWade, who plays a grumpy old millionaire. He spends his entire screen time looking like he just swallowed a lemon, and he is easily my favorite character.

A Messy Climax

The whole thing wraps up so fast you might get actual whiplash. Perry basically gathers everyone in a room, points a finger, and explains the whole mystery in about two minutes flat.

It is not a masterpiece. But if you like old-school detective yarns where nobody takes a breath between sentences, it is a fun little time capsule. Just do not expect anything deep.