Lively, entertaining reviews of, and essays on, old and newer films and everything relating to them, written by professional author William Schoell.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

PERRY MASON SEASON 3

 

PERRY MASON Season 3.

"You know what we go through downtown before we indict someone -- we've got the guilty party!" -- the always-wrong D.A. Hamilton Burger. 

This memorable program was still going strong in its third season. Notable cases include "The Spurious Sister," "The Watery Witness" [with Kathryn Card, Lucy's mother on I Love Lucy, Malcolm Atterbury, and Fay Wray of King Kong]; "The Singing Skirt" with Allison Hayes; "The Madcap Modiste" [John Conte, Marie Windsor, Leslie Parrish and Les Tremayne], which has one of the most clever murder devices I've ever seen; the super-suspenseful "Flighty Father," in which two men show up to claim they are an heiress' long-lost daddy; "Paul Drake's Dilemma" ["only the weakest of people have strong stomachs"], in which Perry's private eye pal actually becomes the defendant; and "The Artful Dodger," with William Campbell [Dementia 13], Jerome Cowan, and Patricia Donahue [Michael Shayne], all of whom are excellent. The rest of the episodes rarely descend below a B+ level.

Verdict: Can't beat that Perry! ***1/2.

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