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Powerful

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Perry Mason marries Della Street (in a ceremony performed by a female judge -- how often did you see THAT in older films) but their honeymoon is interrupted by a woman with a gun demanding Perry help her stop a scandal rag from publishing a story. Soon the paper's owner is murdered and Perry finds himself the prime suspect.This is the fourth in WB's Perry Mason film series and the last starring Warren William. If you're new to this series but are familiar with Perry Mason from either the books or the Raymond Burr TV show, you will be surprised by what you find here. This is Perry Mason in name only. The character in this series is pretty much your typical '30s detective, smooth with the ladies and quick with a wisecrack. Pretty Claire Dodd returns as Della Street after being replaced by Genevieve Tobin in the third film. Eddie Acuff is Perry's right hand stooge, Spudsy Drake. For his part, Warren William is...well, more of the usual Warren William screen persona that I've seen in many films from the period. He's enjoyable although, as I've said, nothing like the Perry Mason I grew up watching reruns of on TV. It's an entertaining B detective film. Nothing more memorable than that but a good time-passer.

Nonsensical title aside, this entry in the Perry Mason series was nonsensical. See? Nonsensical sentence describing a nonsensical movie. Make sense? More so than this picture did. In this one, Perry Mason, gets married but a series of events prevents him from consummating his marriage, irritating his new wife and confounding the rest of us trying to follow an incoherent story.See other reviews for a plot summary, but this picture was an attempt to incorporate a mystery with screwball comedy, two popular genres in the 30's. It almost succeeds in the former but flops in the latter. The mystery moves with lightning speed and defies the viewer to follow along, while the comedy ranges from pale imitation Nick and Nora to sub-par vaudeville. Acting is good - Warren William is trapped here with bad material but soldiers through, Wini Shaw is a big shot in the arm, and Claire Dodd (Mrs. Mason) is lovely. Eddie Acuff, on the other hand, is miscast as Spudsy.Not a good entry in the series but an OK time-killer that is very tough to keep up with. Every so often you will feel a reel must have been missing which would explain some unanswered questions. For instance, what Velvet Claws?

I saw this together with another Perry Mason film from the very same year. They could not be more different.The other film leveraged the detective genre and the Gardner formula. It used the twists, the detective and the trial as intended.This one is more of a Thin Man clone: banter, silliness. It has Perry as simply a detective. There is a twist, and it could have been very effective. (The person accused and protected by Mason believes she is the killer and tries to frame Mason.) But it gets lost in the attempt at entertainment of a different kind. I think what happened is that Warner decided to change their approach after this and get back to what makes Perry work.On the relationship with the audience, there is an implied link when Perry addresses a jury; that link has him directly speaking to us. In this one, that is gone and the relationship with the viewer is established in a more theatrical way: they act silly and we are supposed to giggle.Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

Perry Mason and Della Street marry at the beginning. I don't think that ever happened in the TV series.This is a sleek, stylish movie, with good acting and chic sets.I had forgotten that Wini Shaw was in the opening credits and was wondering who that fabulous fatale femme could be. In a dark wig she is very persuasive as the precursor to the betraying woman of film noirs, which would follow a few years later.What a talent she was!