The producers spent a lot of money on stock footage for this case, starting in Mexico, where young Rick Scott (Hank Brandt) is recovering while under the watchful eye of his nurse Johanna (Anne Whitfield) who's also fallen for him. When Scott's brother Ben (Mark Roberts) and his wife Elayna (the marvelously catty Barbara Bain) show up along with Pamela Blair (the eternally smoking hot Lisa Gaye) on a port call during their cruise, Rick decides to go back to Los Angeles to check up on his uncle Harvey (Tom Tully, solid as usual) who has been running their company while Rick recuperates. Rumor has it, something fishy is going on. Uncle Harvey's turning up dead kind of confirms that rumor.
This case is one that is improved considerably by its supporting cast: Tully, Gaye, Whit Bissell are all marvelous, as is the guy playing a cranky old prospector, Pegleg Pete. But Barbara Bain takes the cake with her wonderfully suspicious and catty performance. Oddly, the only people who don't bring much to the party are the lovebirds. As Rick, Hank Brandt is pretty forgettable and uninteresting. Anne Whitfield isn't much better as his love interest and the accused. But apparently Burr didn't agree. Whitfield is one of the few performers to do multiple "PM" episodes (3) and multiple "Ironsides" (4).
Who am I to argue with Perry Mason?
This case is one that is improved considerably by its supporting cast: Tully, Gaye, Whit Bissell are all marvelous, as is the guy playing a cranky old prospector, Pegleg Pete. But Barbara Bain takes the cake with her wonderfully suspicious and catty performance. Oddly, the only people who don't bring much to the party are the lovebirds. As Rick, Hank Brandt is pretty forgettable and uninteresting. Anne Whitfield isn't much better as his love interest and the accused. But apparently Burr didn't agree. Whitfield is one of the few performers to do multiple "PM" episodes (3) and multiple "Ironsides" (4).
Who am I to argue with Perry Mason?
