User Reviews

In almost every Perry Mason episode there will be one scene which is entertaining, but in a way I know would never be filmed today. There's a scene in the courtroom where Perry is cross-examining his client's daughter and slowly takes her through the stages of her own thoughts which caused her to falsely believe her mother murdered her father. It's an intelligent scene, but it would be too slow for anyone to dare do on today's television.

The episode is notable as one of those hinting at romance between Perry and Della since it begins with their returning to Los Angeles on a Cruise boat. Regardless of your interpretation of their relationship it's always nice to see glimpses into their personal lives.

Also appearing is the very attractive Joan Tabor as the nurse and was briefly married to Broderick Crawford only to commit suicide a year after their divorce while only 36.

**SPOILERS** Joan Tabor plays a nurse in this one. Totally hot blonde, and one must ask the question; how on earth did Broderick Crawford ever get her to marry him? The daughter fingers her mom for her dad's overboarditis, nut unless she had X-Ray vision, there is no way she saw anything but a body(?) go overboard. The prosecution's main witness (daughter) is discredited, right there.

Perry and Paul leave fingerprints at Evelyn's (Joan), so the police will examine the whole place. When these are brought out, Perry proves that Hauser was alive AFTER he supposedly got the deep six. His client is in the clear. On the stand, sexpot nurse is dumb enough to be led, tricked, and persuaded by Perry into telling the truth. case closed.

***SPOILERS*** While on a sea cruse from British Columbia to L.A with his private secretary Della Street, Barbara Hale, where it seems that everyone on board is a Perry Mason, Raymond Burr, fan by going up to and asking Perry for his autograph Perry gets involved in what at first seems to be murder case. That's when it's reported by his daughter Laura, Maureen Cassidy, that her father former National Savings and Loan Bank of L.A bookkeeper Carl Houser, Ted Newton, had fallen or was pushed overboard by an unknown woman dressed all in black. It seems that Houser had embezzled his employer of $100,000.00 and his death, if in fact he is dead, had something to do with his being deep sixth off the coast of California.

For some strange reason it's Houser's grieving wife Anna, Lurene Tuttle, who's charged with his murder in being the last person seen with him alive. Things get even stranger when it's discovered hat Houser in fact didn't embezzle the bank that he worked for but was given the $100,000.00 as a bribe by tax cheat someone named Morgan Shreves on who's tax evasion trial in Chicago he was a juror on. Perry seems to have it all wrapped up in the trial for his client Mrs. Houser, who's defense he took up while still on the cruise ship, in that no body was found so with the flimsiest of evidence to convict her it should have been a piece of cake for him. That's until Houser's body is found flouting in the Pacific Ocean a mile off shore!

***SPOILERS*** At the trial Perry uncovers enough evidence to exonerate his client yet instead the judge and prosecuting D.A Hamilton "Ham" Burger, William Talman, keep it unnecessarily going not at all trying to find out who in fact really murdered Ted Houser! That's until right out of the blue the killer, what the hell was he doing there in the first place, is exposed at the trial to everyone's including Perry Mason, who had no idea who he was and why he was there, surprise! That's when he's fingered by Ronald Carter, Ralph Dumke, in the spectators gallery in order to prevent his beleaguered wife Evelyn, Joan Tabor, from being brutally cross-examined by Perry Mason on the witness stand!

Perry Mason and Della Street are on a cruise but trouble is not far away.

Carl Houser falls overboard and is believed to have been shot. His wife Anna is arrested for his murder.

Anna had confessed to Perry earlier that she thought her husband had embezzled his employer. The viewer sees Carl Houser stashing some money into a money belt. However when his employer, a bank carry out an audit there is no money missing.

This is a story based on an Erle Stanley Gardner story that just did not translate well on the screen.

The Houser's daughter states on the witness stand that she saw a figure. It was too dark but she was wearing two bracelets just like her mother does. It makes you wonder that you could not see the faces of the people from a distance but you can make out the bracelets.

Perry Mason sets up a link between Carl Houser and a man who stood trial for tax evasion and got off. It seems Carl Houser was a juror on that trial and the money looked like a bribe.

Perry manages to establish that Anna did not kill her husband but the ending actually made me squirm with its absurdity. What were some of the people doing at the trial in the first place?

Once again, we have Perry Mason and Paul Drake pushing the legal envelope in order to solve a case. Here, they break into a house--but only to leave fingerprints!

"The Case of the Substitute Face" is a decent Mason episode, with first season spontaneity not often seen in following years. One part that is worth seeing: A scene on the ship, where we see the camera angles reflect the vessel's bobbing in the water. I guess that pushed the envelope, albeit in a different (production) manner! It reminded me of Batman, with its crooked angles for the villains!

As for Perry Mason's interrogation of his client's daughter, well, television was a slower-paced medium 50+ years ago, reflecting a world that moved at a much slower pace than in the 21st Century. It is still well worth watching!

Two scene ideas for Substitute Face: 1. Perry almost winning the ship's shuffle board tournament.

2. Perry attending the Captain's costume party as Clarence Darrow.

We'd get to see a different side to Perry. We'd see a Perry who isn't an all-work, no-play kind of guy. We'd see a Perry who enjoys his leisure time just as much as his legal work.

Maybe even have a scene where he has one too many glasses of champagne and tells Della his favorite dirty lawyer jokes.

Anyway, I enjoyed seeing Perry and Paul break into a house. I liked hearing Perry discuss the legal consequences of the particular law he and Paul were going to break (Breaking and Entering sans Theft is a misdemeanor).

Since I checked the spoiler alert, I can, free of guilt, tell you Perry wins the case.