Show122
This is yet another episode where violence against women, particularly husband against wife, has hardly any consequences for the perpetrator. Assault and battery, anyone? Submitted by gracep, 11/18/2010.
+ Once again, please do not Judge the 50s and early 60s by what is considered to be the norm in 2010. The two time periods are like night and day. What you see in Perry Mason, and other popular shows of the time is HOW THINGS WERE, PERIOD. The whole reason things are so different now is because of the many changes our society has gone through between then and now.
Back then NO WOMAN EVER CALLED THE POLICE over domestic violence; there wasn't even such a term back then. Women were considered to be the property of their husbands; they had no rights in the workplace; they were considered fair game to office wolves, etc. If they complained, suspicion was automatically cast upon them and they were labeled a troublemaker.
So, enjoy the show, and just try very hard to accept things as they were during that point in time. This is simply how it used to be; no one is condoning anything. We all know almost everything has changed drastically since then. If you've ever seen SOME MadMen episodes; yep, that's exactly how things used to be although MM was toned down considerably (so was PM). Submitted by Arisia, 03/18/18.
++ An example of the second-class status of women in that era: My mom bucked the usual "get married right out of high school" way of things and actually was a professional single woman, with her own credit account at the department store in her hometown. She met and married my dad while living and working elsewhere. While passing through her hometown, in 1955, on their way to married life in Los Angeles, she went to add him to her account. Nothing doing. He had to apply for an account on his own, then she would HAVE TO CLOSE HERS and be "wifey" on his account. She was understandably furious and closed her account. OLEF641 3/16/21
Interesting that in 1961 we have a still-married couple, the wife of which is named "Dorine Hopkins" while the husband's name is "Tony Montgomery". Pretty progressive. jfh 17Oct2019
I may have seen an edited version, but I don’t recall another episode that went immediately from crime to hearing - no police investigation at all. Also, do we ever learn the exact cause of death? It would be interesting to know how our murderer successfully staged a suicide. DOD 10/04/18
Things have, alas, changed very little. Sexual assault against women continues to go unpunished. 10/05/18
For all the folderol made concerning the age difference between Dorine and David, at the time of the episode Patricia Barry was 40 and Karl Held 30, hardly the "child" he is made out to be. cgraul 10.20.11
Ah, Patricia Barry, once again with that voice that probably worked (on men) better than steroids, playing another role, as a Noir film once put it, "Like the 60 cent special at the local diner, pure poison under the gravy." Submitted by MikeReese, 12/28/2016
Bad Accent Dept.: PM (like other shows of the time) is full of actors doing bad foreign accents. In this episode, French-Canadian actress Fifi D'Orsay's accent sounds like she must have come from the Italian part of France. Strangely unconvincing for someone who actually must have spoken French. Submitted by francis, 4/21/12.
Minor Anomaly When David Gideon rouses in the dark after being knocked out we see him immediately turn on the light. However, later when speaking with Perry, he said he had to light matches to see the envelope's contents after being knocked out. Submitted by ace, 8/9/12.
Quick healer: After Dorine was pushed out of the car her eye was either completely healed or she did a better job covering it with make-up. Submitted by H. Mason 11/10/14 minor correction: her eye is actually already healed one scene earlier when she's on the phone with David.
I found Phil Arthur's acting on the stand to be quite unusual. His slow comments "Let me think, I do not want to lie" was quite odd. I would say it is bad acting but not sure if that is what the director wanted. It just seemed completely inconsistent with everyone else. Submitted by Perry Baby 1/10/16
A rare episode with a full jury - but, since all we see of them are a few brief shots from behind, one wonders why they bothered. DOD 12/19/23
When Perry shows up at the hearing, Burger says that Perry won't be able to get Gideon off, "not even one of your tricks will save him." This doesn't make sense. I wouldn't consider Perry to be a sly trickster lawyer, getting guilty clients off on technicalities, since he always figures out who the real murderer is and gets them to admit it in open court. Several times they have tried to make Burger and Mason seem like arch rivals, with Burger acting like he was foiled again, but Mason always stays above the law and finds the true criminal. Are we supposed to believe that Burger is the snake, who wants a conviction, even if it's the wrong person? He doesn't seem that unlikable either.--yelocab 01MAR19
Bad Name First off, the grandson character is bad - dull and hardly compelling. And he was brought back to PM 8 more times! (BTW, Karl Held just just turned 90.) Secondly, the episode title is insipid; no one would say "yeah, let's watch about the grumbling gandfather!" Not a particularly good episode IMHO. Rick P 12/1/21
Character (In)Consistency we find out at the end, not only that Dorine killed her husband, but that she had already killed him when she phoned David; yet on that call she was thoroughtly composed, seemed light-hearted, laughing lightly...granted, we also find out she's a serial killer, and so perhaps a psychotic, but even given all that I don't find the emotions she showed believeable - I think if the killing was unplanned (an argument) she would have seemed flustered and if premeditated she just would have been calm and unemotional - but rather meant to mislead the audience. Much like characters needlessly feigning surprise, it's not playing fair. Notcom 041323.
In the wrap-up, Granddad says of Dorine, "That's the first time I was ever right about a woman." I wonder if that statement extends to include David's absent grandmother. jfh 26Apr2024