User Reviews

Perry is called in to help legally breakup the partnership of Dwight Garrett (Douglas Henderson) and Austin Lloyd (Gerald Mohr, at his despicable best!). Garrett is the engineering brains of the business, while Lloyd is the grifter who's trying to play whatever angle he can.

Seeing he's about to lose the only asset of his company in Garrett, he sets his partner up to look like he tried to poison him and run away to Mexico with Bonnie Lloyd (Gloria Talbot) Austin's own wife. But when Austin really turns up dead--strangled--all signs point to Garrett because of the frame Lloyd built and a real murderer took advantage of.

Is there anyone better at being despicable and oily than Gerald Mohr? He's one of the many highlights in this episode, which also features the very attractive Gloria Talbot and Elaine DeVry as Lloyd's secretary. The script is good and the direction crisp, while Burr and the rest of the regular cast are in top form.

Perry uses one of his patented "lawyer's tricks" and "courtroom theatrics" when he proves to an astounded Lt. Anderson how one electric typewriter can leave its signature on another electric typewriter by merely switching the ball. Amazing in those days when the electric typewriter was new; amazing today as audiences ask: "what's a typewriter?".

**SPOILERS** You know, I could swear that I'd seen Perry use that typewriter trick in another episode, but, I could be full of beans, I guess. One thing I'm NOT full of beans on is that Gloria Talbott is very good looking, and if the directors, and casting department can do it, they'll find a way to hook her up with a goofy weirdo in every show. Doubt me? Just go to IMDb, look up the Perry Mason stories that she appears in and watch them (the whole series is available from Amazon, and it's a great investment), THEN tell me I'm full of beans. About Gloria, that is.... I'm probably full of beans about a lot of stuff, BUT NOT THIS.

Concerning her husband, he had to be completely insane to ruin all that he had going on with a good business, and a great wife. Also, I can't recall if he actually had an escape for himself. Even if Dwight had been caught with what Austin had set up, there would still have been a long wrangling season in the court system before he could realize any benefit, and they were already planning an investigation of the books, weren't they? Now, I'll admit that Ms. Clover was good looking and all, but not in Gloria's league.

Icing on the cake was Perry digging up the truth about what the fact were on the subordinate with the second company in question. You're gonna have to check it out for yourself, but, in my opinion, the guy knew he was caught, and just threw in the towel. Probably Murder 2; so long turkey.

This is one of the best episodes of the whole series. It's clever, easy to follow and believable. My only concern is about the future of the absent minded professor and the bad guys widow. We know the professor is scatter brained so he needs a sharp focused woman to keep him on track. We also know that the widow is a bit flakey herself for being stupid enough to marry the creep she did. The professor would do better to hook up with Miss Clover. She is single, smart and better looking than the widow woman.

***SPOILERS*** Playing fast and loose with the company's money that's financing his aerospace operation Austin Lloyd, Gerald Mohr, has finally reached the end of the line. With his shenanigans about to be exposed to his boss Roscoe Pearce, George Macready,as well as the federal authorities Lloyd has to come up with something fast to prevent him from being arrested tried and jailed for embezzlement of the company. Desperate to escape a long jail sentence and at the same time determined to stick it to his cheating wife Bonnie, Gloria Talbott, for good measures Lloyd concocts a fool-proof plan for him to escape justice.

Lloyd plans to set up his top hot shot but absent minded engineer, the brains of the outfit, Dwight Garrett, Douglas Henderson, and his old lady Bonnie, who's having an affair with Garrett, on a murder attempt on is life. Lloyd goes as far as getting the two lovebirds to check out of the country with his money to Mexico to make it look like they tried to off him! This desperate lunatic has Garrett give him a bottle of pills that would only knock him out and then call the police claiming he tried to poison him yet still be able to recover from his "ordeal". The trouble for Lloyd is that his fool proof plan didn't work! But it wasn't the drugs that did him in. It was someone who had it in for him and used that opportunity of him being disabled, from the drugs, to strangle Lloyd!

Perry Mason,Raymond Burr, who's defending both Garrett & Bonnie in their murder trial notices right away that Lloyd never planned to kill himself. The drugs he took were too slow acting and it would have taken a few days for them to do him in. That's more then enough time for the medical unite to come and save his life by pumping out his stomach. There had to be a third party who did the creep in and that third party was someone who worked for him! But who was he or she who murdered the guy?

***SPOILERS*** As the truth came out it became evident that it wasn't Bonnie & Garrett's relationship that was the reason that had motivated the person to murdered Lloyd. It was Dwight Garrett himself who by becoming the top man or engineer in Lloyd's company,a job he was about to quit anyway, that had Lloyd done in. A job that his killer was after and felt betrayed and outraged,to the point of murder, in Lloyd passing him up for the far more experienced and competent Garrett.