***SPOILERS*** Seemingly rushed and idiotic Perry Mason episode involving a kidnapping and murder where the kidnapper turns out to be not the person that you at first thought did the kidnapping and were the dead, or murdered, man seems to have come out of nowhere just to end up dead at the bottom of a pier! And where the supposedly kidnapper whom we assumed was dead turns out to be quite alive and replaced by someone who happened to be murdered before all the actions even began!
Perry Mason , Raymond Burr, who's handling the case of his friend accused murderer Gregory Pehlam, Peter Hobbs, who's son David, Tom Lowell,is the so-called kidnap victim just goes through the motions, as if he's on automatic pilot, in him solving the case without Perry having any idea of what's going on. And how could he when even at the end of the episode when the murderer is exposed in the courtroom we and Perry, with his tongue squarely in his cheek, can't quite figure out exactly why he murdered the guy!
It so happened that the murder victim Joe Velvet, Ron Gans, who for a while we were lead to believe was the very alive but with a bandaged head, from the fall in the shipyard, David's good friend Michael Da Vinci! It's Michael Da Vinci whom we later find out is actually Michael Manning, Mark Slade, who's mom is the once big time but now washed up alcoholic actress Mary Manning, Regina Gleason. It's Mary who's being treated by Gregory Pehlam who was being blackmailed by Joe Velvet who threatened to release a list of his famous clientèle to the news media who wanted to have their names kept private.
With the story so confusing and unbelievable that by the time Velvet's killer is finally exposed by Perry Mason for his crime you as well as himself have no idea what he's talking about, in him confessing, that whatever surprises is left to explain this entire mess have completely evaporated from sight! By now the Perry Mason series had just about run out of gas and was just running on its reputation that it earned itself after six years on the air. With only the dead pan acting of Raymond Burr keeping it alive and on life support which he did for the next two years. That until it finally ran out of any worth while stories or episodes and was humanly put to sleep or canceled by the CBS TV Network.
Perry Mason , Raymond Burr, who's handling the case of his friend accused murderer Gregory Pehlam, Peter Hobbs, who's son David, Tom Lowell,is the so-called kidnap victim just goes through the motions, as if he's on automatic pilot, in him solving the case without Perry having any idea of what's going on. And how could he when even at the end of the episode when the murderer is exposed in the courtroom we and Perry, with his tongue squarely in his cheek, can't quite figure out exactly why he murdered the guy!
It so happened that the murder victim Joe Velvet, Ron Gans, who for a while we were lead to believe was the very alive but with a bandaged head, from the fall in the shipyard, David's good friend Michael Da Vinci! It's Michael Da Vinci whom we later find out is actually Michael Manning, Mark Slade, who's mom is the once big time but now washed up alcoholic actress Mary Manning, Regina Gleason. It's Mary who's being treated by Gregory Pehlam who was being blackmailed by Joe Velvet who threatened to release a list of his famous clientèle to the news media who wanted to have their names kept private.
With the story so confusing and unbelievable that by the time Velvet's killer is finally exposed by Perry Mason for his crime you as well as himself have no idea what he's talking about, in him confessing, that whatever surprises is left to explain this entire mess have completely evaporated from sight! By now the Perry Mason series had just about run out of gas and was just running on its reputation that it earned itself after six years on the air. With only the dead pan acting of Raymond Burr keeping it alive and on life support which he did for the next two years. That until it finally ran out of any worth while stories or episodes and was humanly put to sleep or canceled by the CBS TV Network.