 Though the charges were eventually dropped, Rathbone was very angry about the censorship because he believed that homosexuality needed to be brought into the open.He commenced his film career in 1921 in silent movies and appeared in 1923's "School for Scandal", later appearing in "The Masked Bride", appeared in a few silent films, and played the detective Philo Vance in the 1930 film "The Bishop Murder Case", based on the best selling novel.In the film there is a coincidental reference to Sherlock Holmes.