Show221
An unintentionally funny moment about 19 minutes into the episode. Seconds after the 3 men enter a darkened cabin there is an embarrassing eruption as if someone passed gas. I'm sure it's probably the door closing off screen but it doesn't play that way. Submitted by Eric Cooper 12 August 10.
And a subtle moment after Bascom shake Malone’s hand in the bank - and the camera zooms in on Malone’s hand as he wipes it on his jacket. DOD 03/19/21
Reba Burgess just happened to be poking around a cave and finds a million dollars worth of diamonds just laying there? I don't think it works that way. Several times during the trial the camera closes in on a little old lady, suggesting she is somehow involved, but not so. It may be Lenore Shanewise who was our suspect in TCT Fiery Fingers. DOD 02/21/19
The actor playing the prosecutor is evidently a summa cum laude graduate of the Virginia Field of horrendous overacting! He's not enough to spoil an overall well-acted episode, though. Ed Zoerner, 1/29/12
+ Donald Buka's horrendous performance could be attributable to at least one of two intriguing possibilities:
(1) He watched reruns of the overwrought prosecutorial histrionics of Terry Becker as Everett Ransome in TCOT Violent Village (#80), or
(2) He obtained advance previews of Don Adams's comedic delivery in "Get Smart" and didn't realize the show was a comedy. (See, in particular, the first season episode of "Get Smart" entitled "The Day Smart Turned Chicken," where Max has to defend himself in court. If it was chronologically impossible for Buka to be channeling Don Adams, it certainly appears that Adams was channeling Buka.) Submitted by BobH, 16 June 2018.
++ He must have been good to work with though as he later appeared in an Ironside episode. Maybe they thought they owed it to him for allowing his ham performance. DLH 3/5/20
He reminds me of one of those marionettes in “Thunderbirds”. DOD
The Perry Mason theme in the credits at the end was a different arrangement than previous shows Season 7 Vol 1, PerryBaby 6/12/13
+ That arrangement was in the previous episode, too. It sucks. Submitted by catyron, lover of the ORIGINAL arrangement, June 23rd, 2018
The MeTV version cuts out the first couple of minutes of the armored truck on the way to the Burgess Ranch. Ed Zoerner, 12/23/13
+ I too have been watching the butchered MeTV Perry broadcasts. Forty-five minutes of Perry; fifteen minutes of promos and ads for reverse mortgages, catheters, Medicare, and ambulance-chasing lawyers. Submitted by Alan Smithee, 12/26/2013.
++ I have been watching the MeTV broadcasts. I have the captions on and someone did an overzealous search-and-replace of 'bad' words. The characters go out for xxxxtails (cocktails), there are many suxxxxious (suspicious) people around. I can't remember them all, but there was one notable episode where one of the main characters was named 'Dick'. In the captions his name always appeared as 'xxxx'. —yelocab 02JUL18
+++ That's an example of mechanical "search and replace" censorship, where a program meant to be used on recent theatrical release movies, which are full of "words you can't say on television", was used on a television show from an era when such words would never have made it into the script, and many of them never made it into daily conversation. OLEF641 8/2/21
Polek tells Bascom that he ID'd Perry from his license plate. I'm surprised Paul, a private detective who conducts undercover/covert operations, would have his car registered in his name, and that he would use it while on a mission. Submitted by 65tosspowertrap, 12/27/2013.
A Sign of the Times: When Perry is in his hotel room he calls the front desk and asks who is in the room across from his. They tell him. I don't think they would in today's security-obsessed world. Submitted by Duffy, 6-4-2014.
+ It's Paul who calls the front desk and asks (about 17:43 of the 2012 Paramount DVD). Despite the armored guards outside the bank at the beginning of the episode, Burgess seems like a trusting town. Per Polek, during the court testimony (about 36:42 onward), "Someone claiming to have an appointment with Bascom, someone highly respected in this town, was given a key to his [hotel] room to wait for him there." lowercase masonite, 4/20/16.
Question: How did Della get to Burgess, California? Perry drove, Paul flew and Della appeared in court. Submitted by H. Mason 4/13/15
+ It looks like Paul was the one who drove. See above, "Polek tells Bascom...". Per Polek's conversation with Bascom (15:57 onward),
"Name's Paul Drake. Private detective....Got it from his car license. Pretty easy to spot a bird like that, snooping around town. Worked for some big time L.A. lawyer. Mrs. Burgess's lawyer. Name of, uh, Perry Mason."
After the murder victim is discovered, the next scene is of a plane flying (22:38), then Paul greets Perry in Perry's hotel room, evidently shortly after 3:30 AM. (Don't the residents mind the late-flying planes?) Della could have flown in with Perry. She of course would have her own hotel room. She shows up in court at 27:50. lowercase masonite, 4/20/16.
A Feast for Old-Movie Buffs: This might not be the best PM episode, but it certainly has one of the best guest casts, especially for fans of 1940s and 1950s film noirs--Audrey Totter, Bruce Bennett, Ted de Corsia, Jeff Corey, and the great Elisha Cook--and Westerns--Roy Barcroft and Ben Johnson, the latter of whom seems never to have given a bad movie performance. Submitted by BobH, 17 January 2018.
So true - "Postman Always Rings Twice", "Mildred Pierce", "Lady From Shanghai", "The Killers", "Maltese Falcon" - what a lineup! DOD 02/21/19
Audrey Totter seemingly tries to play a hard-bitten widow, but becomes noticeably warm-hearted near the end. Whatever the actual reason, the producers look good by giving her and Mason favorite Bruce Bennett a scene of their own, alone, at the end of the episode. lowercase masonite, 4/20/16.
+ Yep. That was sweet. Submitted by catyron, Herman Brix fan, June 23rd, 2018
Great Detective Work On the very night of the murder, police find the murder weapon 'buried in about 3 feet of tailings concealed under a muddy refuse that wouldn't ordinarily be touched again' - because of course that's one of the first places you'd go looking... submitted by BellaDella 16 June 2021