Reviews

Obviously, I enjoyed this series, where every character, every scene turns out to be salient. As they become better developed--you enjoy their role--and very few characters turn out to be unimportant. It's a rare series where the "Seasons" (to me) actually become better.

If you're look for a series with a pleasant, uncomplicated, "lovable," central character--Marcella is NOT for you--but this is my third pass through the series--as the spell cast by Anna Friel grows on you--as the characters are all well-cast, and believable--as a U. S. viewer, you've never seen these actors, so you can be "taken in."

If it's a 98% Match on Netflix, what does that say about our household? Truly, we enjoy suspenseful thrillers, but this is one that would have better with some editing, or there are scenes that didn't provide much purpose. I can think of about 15 minutes that could be left out. Cannot blame the acting--Cage and Cusack are good, but even they would be better served if some of their scenes were left out, and the movie became more watchable. Too many "Cindy" scenes, too many scenes of Cage with his family, perhaps true, but unnecessary. I would have liked to see a re-enactment of "Cindy's" "escape," but that important scene probably didn't work out so well. Generally, a severely grim look at Anchorage--there was no "Thank you" to the City for this portrayal either.

Great to see Perry in a blue shirt, drive a blue Lincoln ragtop, or have Paul in a dark blue sports coat. Color filming was the big star in this episode, and why I give it a high rating is because this was the only color episode--and that's it--it makes you appreciate this series in B & W. Victor Buono as mentor to high school boys will never have been larger--opposite the somewhat smaller appearing Perry--as I imagine the producers had given up having Burr lose some weight--so "we had better find some actors that can make him appear smaller." There is this scene where Victor sits down in the middle of couch--and you wonder how it gone done--or the couch was ever used again.

Sometimes the B&W makes you think the series was all made in the 50s--but I believe this episode brought the producers back to their senses--keep it the same so it can be success in syndication. Enjoyable viewing, if you can get past that Batman like dialog that make Perry into a super-human.

Perry & Paul are trying to get some fishing in, but stop at a wealthy client, Dick, in little town of Scarlet, learning Dick's wife has been murdered--and the victim of blackmail. The opening line by Reporter 1 is some case prophetic, as "Maybe Bayler called Perry to help the prosecutor." There are some interesting twists as Cynthia, National Champion Pistol shooter is then the defendant, in Elaine Bayler's murder--firing two .22 shots inches apart through the windshield. If you lost your girlfriend to a musician, you'll like the episode, as apparently, no one had any kind words to say about Don Hobart. I liked it--and I was a musician.

Perry is helping L. A. Safeline, an insurance company executive attempt to determine the unusual number of disability claims being paid to coronary victims, that usually do not live this long, There are still some lose ends regarding motives and financial incentives in the fraud ring uncovered, but Della's acting is a strong point--and she has be believing Paul is dying, and insists at remaining in the hospital.

Perry stands accused of being disbarred, or jailed for manslaughter, stemming from the death of a an old club fighter that has a heart attack in opening scene, watching a prize fight--he's later poisoned, and dies, on the clinic floor of a physician Perry asks him to appear.

My only concern is that if you were asked to follow the money that is behind this fraud ring, you couldn't do it. Specifically--how are the covered parties sharing their windfalls (and L. A. Safeline's demise) with the ring? Are they doing it simply out of vindictiveness?

The story centers around "Gerald Havens" an uncast murder victim that we learn was blackmailing the Devore gallery as to Chinese art reproductions that were being sold in the gallery at full price. Carla Cheney is the defendant that watches, with other women prisoners, a TV program of a society fund raising auction--put on by Leona Devore--who Carla claims was at the murder site, and associates the haunting laugh with her--who she believes killed her old boyfriend, Gerald.

An interesting subplot is that Della interjects about Lenore (Constance Towers) is that "She's beautiful," and Perry ends up being unusually kind in his treatment of a woman who he discovered lied about her alibi, witnessed at the murder scene by his client, and had the motive to kill the blackmailer.

This is the first episode of Season 9, and introduces Dan Tobin as the restaurant/bar owner frequented by Steve Drum (Richard Anderson) and Hamilton Burger.

Not a great episode for a season opener--but an important episode to understand what were the thoughts in production this final year.

I imagine there was an urge to do an "Agatha Christie" type episode without a courtroom scene in the creepy mansion sets on the studio--but this episode did go find Louise Latham to do a genuine job as the creepy aunt Matilda, to her pretty niece Helen, played by Julie Sommars--that I don't remember ever caring for her worthless Siamese cat--which should be the murder victim in a subsequent episode--where Paul Drake gets accused of doing it.

When Burger tells Perry, "Andy is way ahead of you on this one, Perry,." you know this will backfire, there is never an arrest, so there's no one to prosecute, and of course, no trial for him to appear in--and he's made the foil again. One thing it does have--that I think is unique for the series in a meaningful dialogue between Perry and Sgt. Brice, Lee Miller, who appears in 120 episodes, the only policeman to appear in each of the 9 seasons (my hero).

Jeanne Bal's scenes, along with H. M. Wynant, make this episode memorable, knew their time in this episode would be limited--and give it their best. Jeanne plays the psychotic executive secretary, in love with the new controller, Clyde, who is having a relationship with the C. E. O.'s niece--that was previously screwing the fired former controller. Add this to the phone-conversation recording and the leaking of the advance information regarding stock purchases by a mutual fund--this becomes an important historical episode.

There is courtroom exchange with Burger & Perry arguing the admissibility of wire-tapped conversation in a murder trial, with Burger arguing they can, if the they were taped by the murder victim, and Perry arguing that they are illegal in California (and therefore, non-admissible), and that gives some importance to the timing of the episode, as the technology was keeping ahead of the courts. Give the writer some credit for having having the one that's sets up the "Telltale Tap" finished off, by being "clubbed" with HER OWN PHONE! All the way around, a good episode to record, and re-watch, although MeTV has cut out some scenes containing actors listed on IMDB.

No Perry Mason episode is perfect, but I'm going to round my score up to a 10. For an hour-long show--this one is timely, has good acting, and the determination of the killer--who was in it from the opening scenes.

Perry is called to help a client injured in a chemical plant accident--owned by the truly disagreeable Abner Gordon, who "is so filled with hate, even death despises him," whereby in 272 episodes--he would have rank in top 10 of most likely to be killed--that he ends up killed multiple times. In comes Perry to see a former client that ends up as the defendant, and Perry is perplexed that all that work in the household are taken in by sorrow they so readily exude for the "Sleepy Slayer." If I were to watch this episode again, I'd count the number of times Rachel has others express sympathy for her--or the number of prescriptions distributed by Dr. Lambert--who is not on drugs of some sort. There is not one small fact that doesn't lead to the final courtroom decision--and it ranks among the best episodes.

I've read the reviewer that said I'd re-watch this series on Netflix--as I have rewatched thrillers--but getting me to watch the sixth episode after seeing the fifth makes you question watching the first, then the second, hoping to learn what the excitement is about. To me, It's about expectations--viewers are drawn into supernatural stories, such as I was in "The Exorcist," because there is a grain of "believability" in the story line combined with appropriate special effects. Here, they're not a match to the production--which maybe aesthetically pleasing, but simply are inappropriate animations introduced to the realism of the production. In the end, it all makes sense if you were paying attention-- "A hah!"--but I doubt you'd watch it again. You could easily begin with episode three, and then finish with 1 & 2, if necessary.

Sue Randall portrays the "Garrulous Go-Between" out to find the truth about her father's suicide--which drives the plot--and finds herself the defendant in the the murder of someone she believes to the "sweetest, kindest, gentlemen." This is well-written episode were there doesn't appear to be any of shortness of time for all the motives to fall into place--where the surprise isn't a surprise at all, but the process of elimination of characters--and there's the appropriate amount of characters in this episode. Lori March--who looks much better as a witness than in psychic weeds--and that is a good thing for the viewers. Much of the episode is attempted to be filmed outside, with ample sounds of birds mixed in--as opposed to its sullen inside opening scenes.

An important episode to watch due to the public's fascination with skiing, as to the 1964 Innsbruck Winter Olympics, perhaps. But the old culprit, "barbiturates in the Thermos bottle" causing the death of Andre--loathed by every man in this episode, as to prowess over all the good looking women in this episode. Think of David McCallum's career with CBS, and the early stages where he plays a naive, bumbling, giant glass wearing, nerd to a an ongoing career as medical examiner--I don't know if there is an actor in TV that has had a longer run on TV. Maybe this part was the first to launch him as the sexy, cerebral, foil that he played through out his career.

There are two trials in this episode, and as such, a surplus of time in court--my recollection, within the first 20 minutes. Hamilton Burger gets ample camera time--and this might be his BEST episode--where Perry advises his client, in the presence of Burger offering a plea deal, of how a stern cross-examination of a defendant would proceed--in this episode, Burger "wins" in his role as a prosecutor--Talman can scare sense into the defendant--and Perry Mason viewers will not forget this.

This is not a perfect episode, as we're never clear about Paul Drake's reference to a "nervous neighbor," and there is plenty of attention paid in the early part of to amnesia from brain trauma--which transitions to the actions of an unscrupulous underling that can corrupt the entirety of the firm, here, through undervaluation of the partnership, the problems in probate court for the executor, and the dilemma for the surviving partner. It's an episode I'd watch again.

This episode shows everyone using everyone else in Hollywood, as it begins with author Dearborn, writing a book with stories told to her about her boyfriend's stepmother, Stephanie Carew (the most evil stepmom ever), slugged on the beach, drowned in the ocean, and then dumped into the North's pool. A fitting end to someone figuring out how to cash out on her sociopathic career. If you can get past some of the self-assured witnesses, the ending tells the story about what this show's writers and producers thought of the movie business.

The episode features Ryan O'Neal, playing an earlier version of the role he played in Paper Moon.

The episode ends with a complicated set of facts concerning the numbering of bills--which is incongruous to the ridiculous acting of "bubbly" Joyce Builfant in her final of two Perry Mason appearances (thankfully). I would blame MeTV for their editing of the episode, but we never know too much about the relationships of the characters, until the courtroom--or their places of "business," just the omnipresent Dabs Greer who has some accounting relationship with Martin, the decedent, that knows "Lorraine" and her boy friend, Rodney. I don't know if watching this again would solve any question. In short, "Nancy" is trying to protect her big brother from embezzlement charges, and bet's everything she has on a long-shot, so there $14,250 winnings with Rodney's $50 bet--that have little or nothing to do with $30,000 missing which we never see recovered. I still don't know why Nancy's hands were "ice-cold."

Cleverly written episode, with very good-looking actresses--you would really stand out if you were an actress that wasn't in great shape. That said, Perry's conscience regarding his legal responsibilities to the Court and his client ruin the perfect murder. In his last episode, Lt. Tragg shares with Andy Anderson the secret to his successfully investigating murders involving Paul and Perry ("When do they ever act as if they don't know anything")--as though he knew this was his final episode, and the end to his most enjoyable character. There are some wonderful lines written for the the repeat performers that hold up well nearly 60 years later--further, there's nothing that technically dates the writing in this episode--you could film it today, and it would be just as good.

Very good, ENJOYABLE, episode for the following reasons: (1) The killer is introduced earlier, and as an important character--AND acted consistent with being the killer. (2) The CEO, though not apparently the sharpest knife, is screwing the hottest woman on memory in Perry Mason episode --and hatches a plan to to determine the embezzler. (3) The gorgeous Dee Hartford playing "Leslie Ross" (4) Richard Anderson's debut in a PM--he goes on to replace "Andy Anderson" in season 9. (5) Paul Drake being easily infatuated with a good looking woman. (6) Della recites a passage from Proverbs 1:10 in some attempt to dull criticism of the numerous adulterous relationships in the series (I counted 3 in this episode)--it is such a surprise that I imagine it was a way for the producers to offer a defiant rebuttal to families writing-in that wanted this "godless" show off the air.

Phil Stewart won't speak to his wife after former insurance investigator Mallory lies to him about his wife of only a month, Katherine, was screwing David Reed, which justified him killing Reed, and not speaking to Katherine. That motive makes him the defendant again. It's another case centering on stolen diamonds, and diamond smuggling, mixed in with a double-murder. Great performances by the entire cast--and I must say that Lisa Gaye and Marie Windsor look very good. The technology star of this episode is the modern elevator--building to a "creepy" final scene. A good episode where the killer is introduced early, has an obvious motive, where viewers are drawn to other character's motives.

Not the worst episode to watch, as the killer is in early scenes (which I prefer), but until Perry reveals surprise facts to viewer in the closing courtroom scenes, you're pretty much clueless as to what's happened--and you could anticipate there being a conflict with the brothers, and Peter Walker's single Perry Mason episode has him well cast with the "Badgered Brother," as they do appear to be brothers. Everyone seems to have a motive, and this has the viewer thinking that certain "secret marriages" needed to be written in late, or that having one main actress check on another ("she's asleep"), as that only and the writer and producer agreed on who the murderer would be in the end. Ask yourself, what was really involved in the writing of this episode so that this actor could confess? Watch it for the "eye-candy" at the fashion shows, and Paul Drake's behavior--but not to learn too much about retail business.

Here, a nifty plot on paper, with a hot "Eula" (Dianna Millay), meets the reality of a one-hour time-slot, and we never get a chance to see how they're all related, much less, Eula, who always seems to have a headache, fighting her way off camera. Some of it is just a trick on the viewer--where you believe one character will be important, until replaced by discovering someone of seemingly little importance is at the center of it all. I blame this on MeTV. The defendant? Who cares? Today, this sloppy assemblage of scenes/actors would be a "lost episode."

Usually, there is the final scene of the episode where Paul, Della, & Perry discuss the motive--and resolve all the viewers' questions, I guess there wasn't time for this. Otto Kruger is the grandfather, the ONLY character that shares a believable motivation for his grandson--but if you know this, I think you can enjoy the remainder of the characters. I might have given this episode a lower rating, but I have not viewed any with a lower rating. Difficult to follow--and no, it's not challenging--it's one where Hamilton Burger is left with the most interesting motive in the episode. When you're producing 28 episodes a season, at least one has to be filmed in "the mansion set." Blame it on MeTV editing, but it just doesn't work for me.

I imagine Perry Mason lovers, such as myself, enjoy the surprises and twists that come out in courtroom scenes, but this episode "sets the bar" on the number of backstories, which makes you wonder what is the central story. Prepare yourself--and keep wondering who is the "Festive Felon?" Certainly, you're fixated by the opening death-bed scene of the passionate appeals by BeBe to by the most shallow, unfeeling, family members ever (that should be a sufficient hint) . I guess for that reason, watch this episode--but take Perry's lead, don't get too drawn into the central plot; remain evasive and mysterious to Paul and Della.

I only watched this film on Netflix for the first time last night, and the production quality (and costs) are tiny with respect to Scorses's budget today--but everyone has to start somewhere. The story begins weakly, and comes to a merciful end, but would audiences today watch De Niro's character with as much patience today, not knowing the actor he'd become? You would have thought Keitel would have become the bigger star (as there magnitude is reversed in Taxi Driver). If anything, Scorsese recognition of De Niro's talent should get most of the attention--as having him act as nut-case, free-loading, unemployable punk should have scarred him for life. Watch it for this important point in film-making history, but if you're waiting for an important scene, don't get your hopes up. The best part of the film was watching this group of small time hoods taking what ever money they scored--and going to ... the movies! If you want to see small time hoods in action, in probably the bleakest picture of New York around, this is it. If you want to see the De Niro's first big part--a far cry form Taxi driver--or a light year away from the quiet, smart, honorable man that he was in Godfather II--check this out--but as I stated earlier--don't feel the need to watch the whole film waiting for his character to change into something watchable.

Filming dog excrement, or dog excrement on film? Those of you with Netflix, why not teach them a lesson--and please think twice about squandering two hours to watch this garbage. It would have merited one-star, but the cinematography caused me to double its rating. Films do not have to be commercially successful to be nominated, but it's nice when word-of-mouth drives theater sales. Here, there is no word-of-mouth necessary to view something in your homes.

This is a thriller that provides home entertainment, and is preferred alternative to what competes with it today on TV screen. The performance of Jeff Daniels, Kelly McGillis, and Mandy Potemkin live up to expectations --and there are good supporting performances provides as well. The Korean war was going on that time this movie was framed (1951), and if you can accept the absence of this, you'll probably be wondering about the timing/intent of bringing former Nazi physicians into the country. The scenes from Grand Central Station are some best parts of the movie--and compare favorably with all others I've seen. An aside point, the sound recording level is poor--we cranked it up while watching it--and was shocked at the regular volume when we switched back to regular TV. Record this on your digital recorder.