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Murder on a Bridle Path

1936 film by William Hamilton

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 10, 2026
Entity authorityQ6938121 ↗
Source-derived summary

Murder on a Bridle Path is a 1936 American mystery film directed by Edward Killy and William Hamilton, and starring James Gleason, Helen Broderick, and Louise Latimer. This film was the fourth production in the Hildegarde Withers series, and the only one in which Broderick played Hildegarde Withers.

Plot

Violet Feverel is found dead in New York's Central Park early one morning. She had been riding a horse, and was apparently trampled to death. Inspector Oscar Piper of the homicide squad takes charge of the case, with schoolteacher and amateur detective Hildegarde Withers on the scene. Hildegarde notices blood on the horse, spoiling the "trampling" theory. They track the movements of Violet, described as an "evil woman" by one of her family circle, and find that several people were involved with Violet immediately before her death. Violet had quarreled with her sister Barbara; with Barbara's boyfriend Eddie; and with the raffish owner of the stable, Latigo Wells. Another suspect is Violet's ex-husband, Don Gregg, who is in jail for non-payment of alimony. Pat Gregg, Don's father, is a bedridden old man who keeps his own counsel.

Editorial summary

Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Murder on a Bridle Path” is 1936 film by William Hamilton. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Murder, Bridle and Path, not as a finished interpretation.

Editorial reviewA productive route into publication, performance and collection histories when the underlying object or edition remains clearly identified. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1936—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1936-01-01. For this dossier, Murder, Bridle and Path is the immediate research focus.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The phrase “1936 film by William Hamilton” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.

Evidence profile

Object files, edition statements, performance records and contemporary criticism preserve different stages of the work’s history. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6938121. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1936.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Murder on a Bridle Path”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Murder on a Bridle Path primary sources, Murder on a Bridle Path archive and Murder research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Murder on a Bridle Path”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Murder on a Bridle Path” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.