csteidler People are waiting in Perry Mason's outer office; his secretary, Della Street, tells them that he is "very busy." Inside the office we see the great lawyer working—on a crossword puzzle. The level of seriousness never rises very high in this fast-paced series mystery.The plot is pretty standard but fun—a grumpy old millionaire (Harry Davenport) is sure that someone is out to kill him. His big old estate is populated by a couple of grandkids, a granddaughter's fiancé, a nurse, a caretaker….and one night the house burns down with Davenport in it. His will, it seems, was recently changed— requiring that the caretaker and the cat stay on at the house. Perry Mason, who wrote the new will for the old man, sticks around to investigate: "I represent the cat." Ricardo Cortez is pretty good as Perry Mason; he manages to shift fairly smoothly from silly to suave to serious crime-solver as the plot progresses. (Much as I like Warren William, I have to say that Cortez plays Mason in his one attempt with a little more of an edge.)The rest of the cast includes June Travis as Della, and Gordon Elliott (later Wild Bill) as a spoiled grandson who throws a shoe at the cat. The plot thickens occasionally but keeps on moving quickly, culminating in a courtroom surprise. Lots of fun for us fans of 1930s series mysteries.

utgard14 A crotchety old millionaire dies in a fire not long after having his attorney Perry Mason change his will. Perry suspects murder and investigates. The fifth Perry Mason film from Warner Bros. is the first without Warren William and the best of the entire series. This time Perry is played by Ricardo Cortez. Cortez's performance is closer to how Perry should be than Warren William's version, which often felt like a poor man's Nick Charles. There's no camera mugging here and Perry actually does lawyer stuff, not just act like a private dick. Sadly, this was Cortez's only turn as Perry. The other reason I like this one is the mystery atmosphere which is missing from the previous movies. They relied more on comedy and typical B detective movie material.Lovely Jane Bryan makes her film debut here and does well. Love the waffle stuff. The great Harry Davenport plays Bryan's grandfather. June Travis takes over as Della Street. Della and Perry had married in the last movie in the series but that's forgotten here. Another change is that Perry's comic relief stooge Spudsy Drake is now named Paul Drake and is played by Garry Owen. He's probably the most grating part of the film and the only part that seems like it would fit right in with the Warren William movies. But that's a minor complaint really. It's a solid murder mystery with a brisk pace, some nice atmosphere, and a great twist.

Neil Doyle Typical Perry Mason mystery from Warner Bros. in the '30s, features RICARDO CORTEZ as a much less abrasive version of the famous sleuth than Warren William--and much less cocky. The result is a good Mason yarn with a fine supporting cast. GARY EVANS supplies some humor as sidekick Paul Drake.JANE BRYAN is the young woman who is cut out of her grandfather's will. Grandpa is an angry old man played by HARRY DAVENPORT. JUNE TRAVIS is a more serious minded Della Street helping Mason solve his case, and CRAIG REYNOLDS is one of the main suspects.The mystery is cluttered with sub-plots involving the theft of diamonds but the twist at the end comes as a real surprise.Some cryptic dialog helps a lot. "Sam doesn't like cats or old men. He thinks both should be put out of their misery." Another surprise is the fact that the cat in the story is not a black cat at all but a gray and white one that doesn't seem to mind being handled by anyone and yet in the story is a cause of much distress with its noisy howling.

Sharclon8 I admit that I am a hopeless Perry Mason fan. When I was a girl, our family gathered around the TV set every Friday to watch Raymond Burr outwit Hamilton Burger. So when I had a chance to buy the DVD for this movie from e-bay I did it thinking it would be a B movie and that was that. I was very agreeably surprised. Ricardo Cortez made a very, very charming Perry Mason. My first introduction to Mr. Cortez was in an old Bette Davis movie wherein he played a snaky villain. We forget that in those days they had such a thing as good acting so I just thought he was the quiet, sneaky type. But in this Perry Mason movie he is utterly adorable. And it has a pretty fair plot too with quite a neat surprise at the end. I agree with the other comment I too do not understand why they did not make other movies with Mr. Cortez in this role.