Body Vanished, The

2740. THE BODY VANISHED (1939-England). Tall and handsome Rodney Paine and short and roly-poly Pip Piper are a pair of London pals who arrive in a rural English village where they hope to enjoy a peaceful fishing vacation. Rodney is a Scotland Yard inspector who modestly describes himself as “a very small bulge in a very large machine.” Pip is a reporter for one of London’s more prestigious daily newspapers. No sooner do they come onto the scene than word arrives of the murder of a Mr. Gosling. Snelling, the butler, has just discovered the corpse “in a heap on the sofa.” This tragedy raises the eyebrows of both cop and reporter. They become further intrigued upon the discovery that the corpse has mysteriously disappeared! Sergeant Hopkins, the local constable, clearly is an incompetent twit who is incapable of conducting a thorough murder investigation. So, the fishing will have to wait as Rodney takes it upon himself to step in and head up the investigation. He is closely followed by Pip, who senses the makings of a fiery-hot news story. A corpse finally does turn up, only it is not that of the missing Mr. Gosling! Together Rodney and Pip cross paths with a series of odd and enigmatic characters, including a mystery woman named Miss Casson and a really strange sort who is known as Hobbleberry. You really will have to put on your thinking cap in order to keep up with Rodney as he sniffs out the culprit in this provocative mystery yarn. 46 minutes. Crime Mystery Suspense