The Bishop Misbehaves

Maureen O'Sullivan recruits Norman Foster to rob Reginald Owens. Owens had cheated her father out of a patent and now they are facing ruin; since Foster is from Chicago, obviously he is a gangster (he isn't). After assembling a gang -- including an improbably cast Robert Greig as a Cockney spiv who does needlepoint -- they carry out a well-planned heist. At this point, Edmund Gwenn and Lucille Watson enter as a bishop and his sister. They are mad for mystery books and take great delight in inserting themselves into what they see as an adventure.

E.A. DuPont's second American movie is a lively mystery from a stage play by Frederick J. Jackson, full of Hollywood's English colony acting against type (except for Gwenn's woolly-minded geniality), with more than a slight touch of screwball in it. Although it subsides into slightly more somber tones in the final third, it roars along at a great pace and shows that MGM's gloss could be well applied to lighter subjects without overwhelming them.

My reason for seeking out this film was the character men Edmund Gwenn and Reginald Owen. After Miracle on 34th Street Gwenn became a star but before this his chances to be a leading man were few so it is delightful to see him playing the titular role of the Bishop here, and he makes the film, bringing his trademark, twinkly avuncularity to a churchman who'd rather be a detective, shades of Father Brown methinks. Rather than bore us with exposition this sprightly 85 minute piece is wonderfully set up by showing us the principal characters with brief carded information about them and the plot. The plot, such as it is, is a bit of a Macguffin regarding a stolen patent to a priceless invention and thus we have the good guys ranged against a characterful gallery of underground rogues, although there are areas of grey in between. On the heroic side we have the spirited Maureen O'Sullivan (perhaps most famous for a series of films starring her as Jane opposite Johnny Weismuller's Tarzan) and a couple of beautiful eccentrics; Lucile Watson as the Bishop's garrulous sister, who desperately wants to be in on the 'fun' and Etienne Girardot as a nervous, superannuated clergyman who has the habit of champing his Jaws at moments of tension. On the distaff side, Dudley Digges makes a mark as a bad guy who isn't that bad really but Reginald Owen, whose work I normally admire, is rather one note of aggressive bluster here. If you're a fan of gentle, silver screen comedy, this is an agreeable enough piece of work.

You'd think that having lured Edmund Gwenn from British Gaumont, MGM would have heralded the arrival of their new star with a big splash, maybe putting him in something special....but no, just this puerile B movie.

You'd think that when MGM lured Ewald DuPont, a director acknowledged to have revolutionised German cinema in the 1920s, they'd herald the arrival of their new artist with a big splash....but no, he was given this puerile B movie to direct.

The story isn't actually too bad but the way it's put together feels very disjointed, some of the scenes and some of the characters don't seem to be from the same film at times. With such random changes in mood, style and lighting, it just doesn't flow. It's only towards the very end that you start to think that this might be made by a director who did have some hidden talent after all.

The one constant attraction is Edmund Gwenn who is delightful and dotty as the oddly charismatic bishop. The massive disappointment however is Maureen O'Sullivan. With the right material, she's an exceptionally good actress (SKYSCANNER SOULS for example) but this isn't good material - her character is so unrealistic and one dimensional that you can't emotionally engage with her at all. Those of you who became fans of the lovely Miss O'Sullivan after seeing her.... seeing A LOT of her in the Tarzan films will also be disappointed by her appearance. Those strait laced, frumpy dresses buttoned up to her neck are just wrong!

I've always loved Edmund Gwenn. He doesn't disappoint in this film. I have always been a fan of Lucille Watson and she really shines in this film in one of her larger parts.

While this isn't a real laugh out loud film, I think you will giggle quite a bit.

The supporting cast is also fun. Reginald Owen is a cantankerous riot as usual.

The only bore is Maureen O'Sullivan but that is typical of her.

This was the height of MGMs screwball comedies. It was has a great cast, good writing and excellent direction. If they only made films like this today.

I cannot imagine anyone having fun with this film.

The Bishop Misbehaves is actually three movies with slightly overlapping casts. Although it is not as extreme a case, it is similar to The Strawberry Blonde (1941) (which I also reviewed) in that it has a first-class comedy section in the middle that is overshadowed by the other parts.

Part 1 is a dopey love story, the kind of which seemingly thousands abound in Hollywood movies of the 30s and 40s. Norman Foster falls in love with a girl solely because of her looks. He feels that the way to win her is to be as grating, obnoxious and persistent as possible, essentially stalking her. Maureen O'Sullivan is cold, put off and off-putting, not the least bit interested, as she rightfully should be. But after knowing this clod who has no redeeming features whatsoever for a few hours, she is completely and permanently in love with him! I wonder if films like this are one reason the divorce rate is so high -- people thinking they should be like that, too.

Part 1 also contains some of the set-up for the other two parts, particularly Part 3. These portions are completely non-comedic. In fact, the only "comedy" at all in Part 1 is Foster's annoying antics. Gwenn is completely absent from this part.

O'Sullivan was clearly one of the women, like Norma Shearer, who was particularly targeted by the Hayes Code, among other things for her eye-popping nude scene in Tarzan the Ape Man (1932). Here she is quite the opposite, obviously on her best behavior. She wears high-necked blouses, and hardly shows even so much as a bare ankle! Much more businesslike than sexy.

Part 2 begins almost 30 minutes into the film with the entrance of Edmund Gwenn. He is good in everything I've ever seen him in (for a couple of more serious roles, I recommend Foreign Correspondent (1940) and Green Dolphin Street (1947)), but he is simply delightful here. And his sister, played by Lucile Watson, is even more so.

Part 2 is a wonderful comedy, unusual, fast-paced and full of plot twists. Gwenn is a bishop (Anglican, one supposes) who obviously spends more time reading detective novels than writing sermons. Watson is his sister, a strait-laced spinster, called in the opening credits, "fourteen times president of the Primrose League," without any further explanation of what that may mean. Contrary to what you might expect from such a woman, she is a full-bore thrill seeker, absolutely fearless, and nothing but highly entertained by all the exciting and dangerous situations that the film brings her.

Gwenn is like a kid in a candy store, tickled pink to have a chance to try out some of the tricks he has read about in the detective stories. Part 2 centers on his smooth, deft, savvy outsmarting of the criminals. It is absolutely hilarious! Foster and O'Sullivan are almost completely absent from this part, only coming in at the very end.

Part 3 ruined the movie for me. It is a straightforward rescue-the-kidnap-victims-from-the-gang-of-underworld-hoods movie. It is almost completely devoid of comedy, unless you count Gwenn's wrongfully being taken to a shelter for homeless skid row bums, which is only funny because such a thing is so absurd. There is certainly nothing comedic about the home, nor his stay there.

He does a complete volte face from his aplomb in Part 2. He screws up everything he touches. At the end, he is being severely chastised by all concerned, including himself. A downer ending to what is supposed to be a comedy!

Watson is absent from Part 3, as are Foster and O'Sullivan, largely. They spend more than half their on-screen time in this part tied up and gagged. The action centers on two rival gangs of thugs and Gwenn's involvement with them and the cops. The only stand-out in Part 3 is Lilian Bond, who appeared briefly in Part 1, a rich, snobbish moll who ends up being surprisingly respectable.

If the movie had all been like Part 2, I would have rated it a 9/10 and kept it. As it is, I taped over it.