User Reviews

Barbara Eden, in a pre-Jeannie role, plays Carla Adrian, a beautiful woman who for some reason has agreed to go over to Mark Cushing's (Eric Sinclair) house to watch movies of him water skiing. Cushing has quite the reputation as a rake and a ladies man, and when he inevitably comes on to the gorgeous Carla, she resists and her blouse is torn in the struggle. Fortunately Cushing is in no position to overpower her as his leg is in a cast, having been injured in a water ski incident.

Later that night, the neighbors hear a scream and see Carla's mom Belle (Sylvia Field) at Cushing's house. When the Sheriff comes to investigate, they discover Cushing dead and they make Belle their prime suspect (though they could have probably flipped a coin and charged Carla).

Burr is quite forceful and aggressive in this early episode. Perhaps he made a decision to play Perry that way since his quiet vacation in the mountains was interrupted by this murder. Sadly, we do not get to see much of Eden in this as her part is mostly limited to the opening scene. Paul Fix is good as rustic District Attorney William Hale, but stealing the show for me is Jamie Forster as the Judge. Most Judges on the Mason show are pretty quiet. But this time Forster is allowed to react to the proceedings, create a real character and is very entertaining!

SPOILER ALERT: Everyone has already told the story, so I prefer to talk about the actors. The entire cast performed very well and the story was good even if it left some unanswered questions.

Malcolm Atterbury and Dorothy Adams as Mr. and Mrs. Burris, the couple who first call the police, were exceptional. It's really their presence in the episode that makes it one of my favorites.

Eve McVeagh had a small part as the overly sexy "housekeeper," but she took the part and flew with it. And this might be the SPOILER. Actress Joan Weldon, a woman who had once been in grand opera in real life, came across as way too elegant, smart, and sophisticated to be in love with the scumbag who got murdered. Nevertheless, she was good and fun to watch.

Sylvia Field as Belle Adrian, the murder suspect and mother of Carla (Barbara Eden), played her part very well. Although, in my opinion, her arrest was on rather flimsy evidence and stood out as a weak point in the episode.

Barbara Eden had more to say with her eyes than her mouth but she did it well. Jamie Forster as the judge was great, even though he delivered a couple of lines rather awkwardly and wasn't given credit. Nevertheless, his obvious interest in the proceedings made his role very entertaining. "No further questions?" He yells at Perry Mason. It seems to me there should be a lot of questions." He then turns to the D.A., "Mr. Hale, did you know anything about this?" To which the D.A. replies, "Naturally not, your honor." "Well, you know it now!" The judge bellows.

I even liked the inevitable wrap-up scene, which always tried to end each episode on a laugh but was never funny to anyone but the main characters. Of course, I liked it for all the wrong reasons. The idea of an hors d'oeuvre party after a man had been murdered and another person was probably going to the gas chamber, seemed so callous and cringeworthy it made me chuckle.

Acknowledged here by others of course is the short and effective presence of Barbara Eden. As I recall the guy in the wheel chair who rips her blouse has the wrong idea. I would have just been happy to have been in the same room with her and look at her. She does a great job reacting to an unwanted advance. I agree though her role is much too short.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the rest of this guest cast has a lot of Western experience on their resumes. Paul Fix, the sheriff and several of the others are definitely good in their roles. The judge is excellent. The thing with this one is the way it lays out the evidence. That is the hallmark of an actual Erle Stanley Gardner novel as they are always very detailed. There are times where this series does pretty well at setting up things like the novels. This episode is one of them.

We have an Mason who pounds witnesses. We have a Judge who is more there than in many trials. The elements are the main reason this episode works very well. It also adds an extra lawyer and an antagonist client to the court room mix. The results, like many of the first season episodes are outstanding.

Della looks very young here as this is a first season episode. She gets the tag line that only clients represented by Mason are innocent. In this case it takes a lot of leg work and some lovely legs too, but yes Mason's client is innocent, even though she hides a pile of information from Mason until after the trial begins. Mason gets to be angry and forceful with his client as well.

**SPOILERS** Too bad about Barbara Eden not having many lines, but we DID get to look at her; surely one of the most beautiful actresses. One other thing I've always loved about her is her voice; very rich and melodious. Maybe there just wasn't any point to her competing against Barbara Hale. Not too many people have pointed out the fact that she was a leading lady in several movie productions, and in my opinion the most beautiful of the brunettes in Hollywood. Paul Fix is in this as prosecutor, and he is kinda like Hamilton Burger. One thing that I can't ever recall anyone mentioning is the fact that Ray Burr plays the attorney that always shoots down Hamilton. Now, I know it's a stretch, but so is the plot of this episode.

Della drives up in Perry's Cadillac, a beautiful Eldorado convertible, and Perry not only doesn't thank her, he asks her to start checking license plate numbers with Paul (who conveniently flew up to Bear Lake, where the crime occurred), and then she has to make her own breakfast. Marion Keats is driving a 1957 Pontiac when she is pulled over by a motor officer, and ya just gotta wonder HOW Paul arranged that little trick.

Perry reads his client and a witness the riot act just before dropping a ton of verbal bricks on the murderer. You've gotta see it - it's great.

****SPOILERS**** Perry Mason, Raymond Burr, has his vacation interrupted when a frantic Bella Adrian, Sylvia Fields, came knocking at his bungalow door asking him to help her daughter Carla , Barbara Eden, who's soon to be indited in the murder of womanizing playboy Mark Cushing, Eric Sinclair. Mark who was immobilized due to a surfing accident tried to put his hands all over Carla's bra and panties only to end up dead some time later. With Carla being the last reported person to see Mark alive it was a given that she may well have murdered him or killed in self defense; that's after he got a bit too friendly with her.

It soon turns out that Bella not Carla is the one that all the evidence to Mark's murder points to with Perry now her defense attorney. Everything hings on the testimony of next door neighbor Sam Burris, Malcolm Atterbury, who claimed he heard a shot at Mark's place and went down to investigate. It was discovered that Bella was there a bit earlier trying, she says, to eliminate all evidence that he daughter Carla was there around the time Mark was murdered. Or better yet was there at the time,unknown to everyone, the person who murdered him made his or her escape!

Perry is at his aggressive best in this episode as he lays into Mark's girlfriend Marion Keats, Joan Weldon,breaking her down on the witness stand admitting that she in fact discovered Mark's body before Bella arrived and in tampering with the evidence ended up framing her. In fact it was someone else who gunned down Mark who in his arrogant, not womanizing, nature was playing his TV and hi-fi stereo at all hours of the night and day making life a living hell to all those within earshot of his house. Mark was an arrogant creep who couldn't keep his hands to himself but the reason for his murder had nothing at all to do with that. It was his bragging about himself and his exploits as well as trying to relive them, at Carla's expense, that did!