User Reviews

**SPOILERS** Yes, Yvonne Craig looks really cute, but the real hottie in this episode is Frances Helm. She flirts seductively with Perry; probably to keep him guessing, while her boyfriend Harry Townes tries to slide under the radar and out of trouble. No doubt, she is a babe, as well as a very good actress. Perry would have had no trouble outmaneuvering Fleetwood for her attentions, but we then have to ask "Is this lady the equal of Della"? (Answer: NOPE). This episode does point out what Perry's job is, and how well he does it. First, eliminating his client from the suspect list, Next, in this case, throw it all back to the prosecution. BOTH Fleetwood, and Overbrook blame each other. Confusion to the enemy. Perry has a great last line. when asked by Della why not tell Hamilton who the real killer is, he replied "It might set a dangerous legal precedent". Hilarious.

Great scene setups, acting, and direction, with good courtroom drama, and a little challenge for Burger at the end make this a terrific story. Thanks to IMDb for the history of these actors/actresses. Once again, the depth of the Screen Actors Guild talent is shown from all the performers, but Harry Townes takes the cake with a very fine piece of acting.

This episode starts out fairly strong when the body of a man (harry Townes) is discovered in the driveway of the Archer home. The teenage daughter (Yvonne Craig) is convinced she accidentally hit the man while pulling out of the driveway. Both her mother Bonnie (Frances Helm) and her step father (Neil Hamilton) are anxious to keep it quiet. When they bring the body in, they discover the man is Robert Fleetwood (Harry Townes) and he's still alive. After this interesting beginning this then settles down becomes is a fairly stock Perry Mason episode in which a wealthy woman Bonnie Archeris accused of killing her husband who she was in the process of divorcing. To be clear, a stock episode of Perry Mason is still better than most shows. However, this is not the series best, really dragging in the courtroom when PE Overbrook (James Bell) testifies using a map. The most interesting thing is the casting. Yvonne Craig is playing the step daughter of Neil Hamilton. Ten years later she would again play his daughter (who is secretly Batgirl) on "Batman" as Barbara Gordon. Keith MacDonald who plays the judge was a frequent villain and con man in "Three Stooges" short subjects and its always a little amusing to see the former "Mr. Slick" play a judge. Harry Townes also later appeared with Burr on a couple of "Ironside" episodes.

Holy Footprints.

Patricia Faxon might have unwittingly run over a man in front of her house. The man Robert Fleetwood works with her stepfather Bertrand Allred.

Allred and her mother took Fleetwood who claims to have lost his memory to a motel and cover up the incident.

Only for the mother to be later charged for murder. To the killing of Allred.

Fleetwood is later found in a farmhouse by Perry Mason. It comes to light that Allred was not a nice man who was involved in a lot of crooked deals. It seems Fleetwood has an agenda of his own.

After the set up, the plot gets muddied in a chalk map on a board with lots of footprints.

Hamilton Burger effectively uses a witness who is a tracker as an expert witness.

Even by the end it is unclear why Mrs Allred was being framed for murder by Fleetwood.

It might just be that this was an adaptation of a Perry Mason book and the adaptation was a bit messy.

****SPOILERS**** Crazy is right like this Perry Mason title says about this episode. This has to be one of the most confusing and complicated of any of the 250 over a nine years run of Perry Mason episodes with so many side plots in it it made completing, in finding out who the killer in it is, a 10,000 piece jigsaw puzzle a piece of cake in comparison. Perry, Raymond Burr, for his part is his usual cool self never showing his true emotions in what a confusing mess of a case he's involved in and just plays it by ear or the script. And acts like he's in charge of things here which we, those in the audience, know that he isn't.

The person charged with the murder of her creepy husband Bertrand Allred, he's red all right, played by "Batman's" Neil Hamilton his abused wife Bernice, Frances Helm, isn't even suspected in his murder at first and he's not even the murder victim! It's her lover the fleet footed, who's always a step ahead of everyone in the cast, Bob Fleetwood, Harry Townes! It Fleetwood who' killed twice here and comes back from the dead with only a loss of memory. It's the now having his memory back Fleetwood who wakes up from his slumber to end this crazy Perry Mason episode by fingering the killer who's victim wasn't himself, whom we were at first lead to believe, but non other then Bertrand Allred!

****SPOILERS*** All this after were forced to sit through a boring demonstration by Perry of a map of the Overbrook, James Bell, residence about foot and dog prints leading back and forth from the murder scene! As for Mister Overbrook he also had it in for the by now very much murdered and disliked Bertrand Allred who as it turned out robbed him out of the rights of a gold mine the two had equal ownership of. At the very end of the episode Perry tries to explain who the killer of Bertrand Allred was but instead fall flat on his face doing it. That in him not leaving things as they were by Perry not making any sense at all in his shyster-like explanation!