Release CalendarTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV News
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsABFFPride MonthOutfest OutfrontsSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • All
  • Titles
  • TV Episodes
  • Celebs
  • Companies
  • Keywords
  • Advanced Search
Watchlist
Sign In
Sign In
New Customer? Create account
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
IMDbPro

The Bishop Misbehaves

  • 1935
  • Passed
  • 1h 25m
IMDb RATING
6.6/10
309
YOUR RATING
Maureen O'Sullivan, Norman Foster, and Edmund Gwenn in The Bishop Misbehaves (1935)
ComedyCrime

On a walking tour of English cathedrals, Donald Meadows meets Hester Granthem in church. Hearing he is from that hot-bed of crime, Chicago, Hester asks Donald to help her in a robbery she ha... Read allOn a walking tour of English cathedrals, Donald Meadows meets Hester Granthem in church. Hearing he is from that hot-bed of crime, Chicago, Hester asks Donald to help her in a robbery she has planned. Thinking it a joke, he plays along; but Hester is serious, and hearing that she... Read allOn a walking tour of English cathedrals, Donald Meadows meets Hester Granthem in church. Hearing he is from that hot-bed of crime, Chicago, Hester asks Donald to help her in a robbery she has planned. Thinking it a joke, he plays along; but Hester is serious, and hearing that she plans to rob Mr. Waller, the man who has cheated her father out of thousands of pounds, D... Read all

  • Director
    • Ewald André Dupont
  • Writers
    • Leon Gordon
    • Frederick J. Jackson
    • George Auerbach
  • Stars
    • Edmund Gwenn
    • Maureen O'Sullivan
    • Lucile Watson
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    6.6/10
    309
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Ewald André Dupont
    • Writers
      • Leon Gordon
      • Frederick J. Jackson
      • George Auerbach
    • Stars
      • Edmund Gwenn
      • Maureen O'Sullivan
      • Lucile Watson
    • 9User reviews
    • 1Critic review
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Photos

    Edmund Gwenn in The Bishop Misbehaves (1935)
    Maureen O'Sullivan, Norman Foster, and Edmund Gwenn in The Bishop Misbehaves (1935)
    Maureen O'Sullivan and Edmund Gwenn in The Bishop Misbehaves (1935)
    Add photo

    Top cast

    Edit
    Edmund Gwenn
    Edmund Gwenn
    • Bishop
    Maureen O'Sullivan
    Maureen O'Sullivan
    • Hester
    Lucile Watson
    Lucile Watson
    • Lady Emily
    Reginald Owen
    Reginald Owen
    • Guy Waller
    Dudley Digges
    Dudley Digges
    • 'Red'
    Norman Foster
    Norman Foster
    • Donald
    Lilian Bond
    Lilian Bond
    • Mrs. Waller
    Melville Cooper
    Melville Cooper
    • Collins
    Robert Greig
    Robert Greig
    • Rosalind
    Charles McNaughton
    • 'Frenchy'
    Etienne Girardot
    Etienne Girardot
    • Brooke
    Ivan F. Simpson
    Ivan F. Simpson
    • Mr. Grantham
    • (as Ivan Simpson)
    Lumsden Hare
    Lumsden Hare
    • Constable
    Andy Clyde
    Andy Clyde
      Charles Coleman
      Charles Coleman
      • Commissionaire
      • (scenes deleted)
      William Austin
      William Austin
      • Percy Cloud, Man Reading Book
      • (uncredited)
      Orrin Burke
      Orrin Burke
      • Greek
      • (uncredited)
      Leonard Carey
      Leonard Carey
      • Office Man
      • (uncredited)
      • Director
        • Ewald André Dupont
      • Writers
        • Leon Gordon
        • Frederick J. Jackson
        • George Auerbach(uncredited)
      • All cast & crew
      • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

      More like this

      Skyscraper Souls
      7.2
      Skyscraper Souls
      Dear Ruth
      7.2
      Dear Ruth
      Woman Wanted
      6.5
      Woman Wanted
      Maisie Was a Lady
      6.7
      Maisie Was a Lady
      For the Love of Mary
      6.6
      For the Love of Mary
      The Devil and Miss Jones
      7.6
      The Devil and Miss Jones
      The More the Merrier
      7.7
      The More the Merrier
      Walk Softly, Stranger
      6.5
      Walk Softly, Stranger
      The Big Clock
      7.6
      The Big Clock
      Sealed Cargo
      6.7
      Sealed Cargo
      The Ex-Mrs. Bradford
      7.0
      The Ex-Mrs. Bradford
      My Dear Miss Aldrich
      6.3
      My Dear Miss Aldrich

      Storyline

      Edit

      Did you know

      Edit
      • Trivia
        The play originally opened in New York on 20 February 1935 at the Cort Theatre (renamed the James Earl Jones Theatre in 2022), 138 W. 48th St. and ran 121 performances. Walter Connolly played the bishop, and Jane Wyatt and Alan Marshall were the romantic leads.
      • Goofs
        After Donald photographs, then meets Hester in church, he leaves to continue to take pictures. In the next scene, Donald's shadow can be seen on the backdrop as he takes more pictures.
      • Quotes

        Donald: Everything would've been all right if you'd stayed where I told you.

        Hester: And let you do it alone? That wouldn't be cricket.

        Donald: Whaddya mean, "cricket"?

        Hester: Wouldn't be sporting.

        Donald: So you disclose your identity, stick your head behind prison bars just to make it cricket and sporting? You English give me a pain in the ear.

        'Red': Hey, what's the matter with England, I'd like to know.

        Donald: Nothing, it's the people that live in it.

        'Red': Ehh.

        Lady Emily: England's an acquired taste, but it's very pleasant.

        Donald: Well, I only said -...

        'Red': Well, England's good enough for me!

        'Frenchy': You foreigners don't have to come over here, you know!

      • Crazy credits
        The five leads are billed at the top with optical credits giving not only their names but a brief description of their characters.
      • Connections
        Version of The Bishop Misbehaves (1951)
      • Soundtracks
        Abide with Me
        (1861) (uncredited)

        Music by William H. Monk

        Hymn by Henry F. Lyte (1847)

        Sung a cappella by Etienne Girardot

      User reviews9

      Review
      Review
      Featured review
      7/10
      A Mixed Bag
      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.
      helpful•4
      7
      • reader4
      • Sep 14, 2010

      Top picks

      Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations
      Sign in

      Details

      Edit
      • Release date
        • September 13, 1935 (United States)
      • Country of origin
        • United States
      • Language
        • English
      • Also known as
        • The Bishop's Misadventures
      • Filming locations
        • Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA(Studio)
      • Production company
        • Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
      • See more company credits at IMDbPro

      Technical specs

      Edit
      • Runtime
        1 hour 25 minutes
      • Color
        • Black and White
      • Aspect ratio
        • 1.37 : 1

      Related news

      Contribute to this page

      Suggest an edit or add missing content
      Maureen O'Sullivan, Norman Foster, and Edmund Gwenn in The Bishop Misbehaves (1935)
      Top Gap
      What is the English language plot outline for The Bishop Misbehaves (1935)?
      Answer
      • See more gaps
      • Learn more about contributing
      Edit page

      More to explore

      Recently viewed

      Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
      Get the IMDb App
      Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
      • Get the IMDb App
      • Help
      • Site Index
      • IMDbPro
      • Box Office Mojo
      • IMDb Developer
      • Press Room
      • Advertising
      • Jobs
      • Conditions of Use
      • Privacy Policy
      • Your Ads Privacy Choices
      IMDb, an Amazon company

      © 1990-2023 by IMDb.com, Inc.