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So much average

As Good As It Gets

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

The first Perry Mason film starring Warren William has the famed attorney taking on a client who claims a neighbor is trying to drive him insane with a howling dog. It gets weirder from there as we get into a will and the neighbor having two wives, one of which supposedly runs off with Perry's client. Soon someone winds up murdered and it's up to Perry to get to the bottom of it all.The Perry Mason series is not among my favorites of the many B detective film series of the 1930s and 1940s, but it's enjoyable enough. Warren William plays Perry as a standard tough private dick character rather than the Perry many of us know from watching the Raymond Burr TV show. He does fine but, in my opinion, William's better suited for parts where he can be playful and charming. Helen Trenholme makes for a lovely Della Street. The rest of the cast includes Mary Astor, Grant Mitchell, Gordon Westcott, Russell Hicks, Addison Richards, and Allen Jenkins playing it straight (and sporting a mustache!). Like I said, this series isn't one of my favorites but none of the movies I've seen were terrible. This first one is pretty good and definitely worth a look if you're curious about seeing a different kind of Perry Mason than you might be used to.

The Perry Mason series of mysteries from the 1930s are some of the best mysteries one could watch. One needs to pay attention to details throughout the film to follow the twists in the plot. The movies closely follow the Erle Stanley Gardner mystery novels on which they are based. The Case of the Howling Dog holds one's interest from beginning to end as Perry Mason cleverly addresses the case of a woman accused of murder. Warren William is a pleasure to watch as Perry Mason, and Helen Trehnolme expertly plays Perry's faithful and efficient secretary, Della Street. Mary Astor also stars in this selection from the series. If you are a fan of old, intriguing mysteries, you won't be disappointed with this gem.

This is the movie that got me interested in the character Perry Mason and I began watching the old television series because of this film. It's a shame that Warren William didn't make more of these films because he was great in this. I like the little comic bits in the movie. I think it's a classic. I have it in my collection. Warren William was a very good character actor and it's a shame we don't see more of his films shown on tv.

Plot Spoiler Follows - Read at your own Risk ** * * * This is the infamous "Perry has a Guilty Client" story. It is based on the FIRST Perry Mason Story and Perry is not yet the character we are used to (he is still willing to cut corners to defend his clients - a habit he loses in later books when he defended them but did not create fake evidence or tamper with existing evidence).If you can find the movie or the book, do so and enjoy the original version of Perry Mason.