User Reviews

(As usual, I declare a potential spoiler even when I hope I don't spoil anything. However, in this case, and for Mason fans who may not have seen this episode, this spoiler will definitely give away the guilty party. For that reason, I relegate it to the final paragraph.)

Entertaining in spite of being one of the most melodramatic and convoluted plots in the Perry Mason series. As others have pointed out, this episode mostly takes place outside of LA.

Enter cantankerous Charles Sabin, husband to Stephanie Sabin and stepfather to Helen Watkins. It's clear from the opening scene that Charles is not skilled in the tender art of diplomacy, so it comes as no surprise that he is the script's chosen victim.

Sabin is in a fit over a number of things, including some missing checks. He and the family have plans to leave the next day to go to their fishing cabin in Logan City but Sabin abruptly changes the departure date to RIGHT NOW. Of course, his wife and stepdaughter are not ready which only agitates him more and leads to a bitter argument in which he accuses his stepdaughter, Helen, of stealing money from him by forging checks. This is the final straw for Stephanie who decides to get a divorce. Once Sabin has stormed out of the house, she drives Helen to school, which she later says is not far from Logan City. She then drives back to L.A., but instead of going home, she rents a room at a hotel. A few days later she receives the news that her husband has been murdered--found dead on the floor of his cabin. Probably more disturbing is the news that Casanova, Sabin's beloved parrot, was patrolling the body and repeating a cute new phrase he had learned, namely: "Helen, give me the gun, don't shoot."

Needless to say, for Helen and Stephanie, Casanova's verbal accomplishment falls on less than appreciative ears. So... fast forward two or three seconds and we find mother and daughter sitting in Perry Mason's office. Stephanie Sabin is worried about more than Casanova's words, or the fact that her daughter's hatred for her stepfather is common knowledge, or even that Sabin had accused Helen in front of a witness, of forging checks. While that would be enough to get most of us arrested, if not executed, Stephanie wrings her tear-soaked hanky and proceeds to finish sealing Helen's coffin by piling on yet another reason why her daughter could be a murder suspect. If you are attentive during this tale of woe, you will notice some unanswered questions. But alas, we don't care about unanswered questions because they sink slowly (and I do mean slowly) into a lake of lachrymose melodrama.

When the tear fest finally ends, Perry and Della set off for Logan City to visit the cabin where Sabin's body was found. Upon arriving, they meet the sheriff who introduces them to Edward Langley, a man who teaches criminology at their local college. Langley is there to lend his academic, albeit highly methodological, expertise in gathering and interpreting evidence. (The character of Langley is played to pompous perfection by actor Joseph Kearns.)

Another wonderful actor is Edgar Buchanan who plays the no-nonsense coroner presiding over the coroner's inquest which, in this episode, substitutes for the usual courtroom preliminary hearing. During the inquest the criminologist humorously details the events seriatim concluding, of course, that the killer could be none other than Mason's client. By the way, if you think Helen is Mason's client, you're wrong. It seems that the parrot might have been saying Ellen instead of Helen, which leads us to Sabin's wife - - Not Stephanie, not that wife: The other one. I'm sorry, didn't I mention his other wife?

Let's face it, you'll just have to watch for yourself. By the time it's over, you will feel like you sat through a Tom Lehrer lecture on "New Math."

SPOILER ALERT, SPOILER ALERT: Most Perry Mason fans can't help but notice that the hidden revelation of guilt in this episode is almost a mirror image of the one used in "The Case of the Angry Mourner." The similarity was so obvious, I checked to see if the episodes were written by the same person. Not quite. As it turns out, "The Case of the Angry Mourner" was written by Francis M. Cockrell and aired in 1957. "The Case of the Perjured Parrot" was written by his wife Marian Cockrell and aired in 1958.

Trivia: Both Jody Lawrance (Ellen) and actor Joseph Kearns died at age 55.

**SPOILERS** The best summary title I saw in a long time was Zensorsock's "Polly Wants a Plea Deal" great thought, and words. Maurice Manson plays two roles in this one and I was surprised to actually see him smile; he plays almost the same character in "The Dead Ringer", and is totally unlikable in both roles. That's what character actors are for. Della was beautiful, as usual, and the scene with her feeding a squirrel, and then chiding Perry when he frightened it off was great. This is one story in which Edgar Buchanan didn't irritate me - ever since his snarky, cowardly, insult to Alan Ladd in "Shane", well, anyway ....

This episode actually HAS a "naughty librarian", the client; ya gotta love her. I have a problem with every episode in which someone gives or lends a gun to someone else for "protection" with no training, and no permit; anyway you cut it, it's bad news.

There was plenty of wry humor in this show; of course Mel Blanc's parrot was amusing, even IF the parrot never opened it's mouth when it was supposed to be speaking. One high point in this episode was Perry disassembling the "expert Witness" about ALL of his assumptions. Normally, that's called an alternate version of the crime, and casts heavy doubt on the prosecution's case. I don't think they ever did fingerprints on the gun, but in an earlier episode, Lt Tragg said that it very hard to get usable prints off a gun. (I like Tragg). This was a very good episode and well deserving of the "10"that I gave it.

All you have to know about this episode is that the key witness in the case is a parrot, voiced by voice artist Mel Blanc. The outrageous scene of Perry Mason bringing the parrot into a court of law and then using it to find the real murderer (above all Berger's objections) is something any Mason fan should NOT miss. It sounds like something the Lucy or Jack Benny Show (where Blanc was a semi-regular) might do in parodying the Mason show. The fact that the show producers had the guts to go with an idea that is so comical in conception (and frankly quite a bit in practice) is amazing. Remarkably enough, they actually pull it off.

I like this episode mainly because of the "dressing down" Mason gives the so called expert on the witness stand. A few points that seem vague, though include: Where is the original parrot? He seems to be missing at the end. Also, when Arthur and Ellen are married, where did he go for like two weeks, and why didn't he even contact her? Not the way newlyweds behave. And, why didn't anyone pursue the point that it takes weeks or months to train a parrot, and any parrot quoting a line supposed to only have been said once at the murder scene would certainly be doubted more than it was when it was first heard. And last, it seems unlikely that a jury would sit in on a coroner inquest. The episode is a fun watch despite the flaws, though. Raymond Burr was so perfect as Perry Mason.

An episode with familiar faces—Edgar Buchanan (Green Acres, Petticoat Junction), Frank Ferguson (Peyton Place, Petticoat Junction), Joseph Kearns ( Dennis the Menace)—and a parrot called as a "witness." More of a humorous Perry Mason vs the rubes but still serious as there is a murder to solve. And while it is a fun episode you may find yourself shaking your head at all the twists. It's a good thing that at the conclusion Perry answers the questions of a rather perplexed local coroner Andy Templet (Buchanan) to tie together all the loose ends. Of course the real fun is watching Perry's cross examination of the parrot as that really gets the ball rolling to drop on the guilty party.

**SPOILERS*** Hysterically funny Perry Mason episode with Perry ,Raymond Burr,dueling in court with this annoying parrot named Cassanova who seems to have been an eye witness in a murder that his client Logan City librarian Ellen Monteith, Jody Lawrance, has been indited for. With Charles Sabin, Maurice Mason, found dead in his country cabin his pet parrot Cassanove was heard saying over and over again: "Ellen give me the gun don't shoot!" It fact it was first thought that Cassanove was accusing Sabin's step daughter that he suspected of forging checks in his name Helen Walker, Pamala Branch, until it was discovered that Ellen, the librarian Ellen , with her clothes and a library book found at the murder scenes who very likely did the guy in!

Things get even more complicated when it's discovered that Ellen, the librarian ,was in fact secretly married to Sabin whom she knew as George Wallman a sweet loving and caring kind of fellow who was the complete opposite of the nasty and vindictive Charles Sabin: Was Sabin in fact a Doctor Jkeyll and Mister hide type of guy? And to make things even more ridicules the parrot Cassanova who eye witnessed Sabin's murder and lived to tell about it turns out to be an impostor! In him, Cassanova the parrot, being replaced by an identical parrot and taught what to say,or had put words in his mouth, that Ellen killed him by the person who actually murdered Charles Sabin!

***SPOILERS*** As usual Perry Mason gets to the bottom of this baffling murder case by exposing the real killer of Charles Sabin in testimony that he unknowingly gave at the trial that implicated him in Sabin's murder. But we the audience as well as those at the trial never get to know just why he did it! Unlike in almost every Perry Mason episode this guy never had a chance to be cross-examined by Perry by him checking out of the courtroom and possibly taking a plane to South America before anybody ever noticed that he was even gone! And what was even worse then all that is Perry letting him get away in a half baked way of proving that he did in fact murder Sabin by not informing the judge that he was the prime suspect in Sabin's murder!

I love Perry Mason, but this episode just isn't up to snuff. It was clearly written by someone who had never seen the show and knew nothing about courtroom procedure. The victim's wife and daughter, whose parts are mercifully small, were both pretty terrible. The action takes place in the fictitious town of Logan City where they apparently don't have any judges. This means it's up to the coroner, Petticoat Junction's Uncle Joe, to run the inquest, browbeat the DA, and instruct the jury. A jury for a coroner's inquest? Sure, but it's still not as stupid as watching Mason cross examine a parrot (yes, there's a parrot in this one and both Uncle Joe and the DA are perfectly willing to accept what it says as evidence). I could go on, but why beat a long dead horse? It was still fun to watch, just not one of the more intelligent episodes.

Charles Sabin is unlikeable businessman and family guy. His wife and daughter dislike him.

So when he is found dead. His wife goes to see Perry Mason, she thinks the police will arrest their daughter as she has a flaky alibi. Sabin thought his daughter was forging cheques.

The police later arrest Ellen Monteith. She admits to have married Sabin and she has a contrasting view of him.

There is a coroner's inquest in Logan City. A kind that is the no nonsense folksy type. Well apart from the testimony from a parrot. However has the parrot been switched?

What was a promising story, gets both silly and convoluted.

Well at least Ellen was not married to a bigamist. She married Sabin's brother who looked a bit like him.

It was just a shame that it all spins out of control by the end.