Perry Mason The Case of the Lucky Loser (1957–1966) Online

This is a different kind of episode than we are accustom since we know the facts early in the show instead of a who-done-it kind of mystery. But we know that the wrong person has been accused of the crime and Perry has been brought in to defend the lad.

To give you some background without giving away the crime, the story involves a powerful family with the named of Balfour's. Ted Balfour was first convicted of hit-and-run manslaughter charge into the killing of George Egan. Hamilton Burger has questions about the death and revisits the body to find a gunshot wound to the head. Now Hamilton Burger issues a murder warrant on Ted Balfour.

Now we, as viewers, know the circumstance of the murder, this is when Perry will enter the picture. When the murder trial begins, Perry will move for dropping the charges on the grounds of double jeopardy. Ted has already been convicted of the death and cannot be retried. The Judge makes a ruling to go ahead with the trail and a higher court would rule on the double jeopardy request. So the court hearing will continue.

During the trail we hear some strange testimony from the witnesses. Since we know the details of the incident we know most are committing perjury. But Perry, with much help form Paul Drake Detective Agency, will have to fight off all the lies in order to get his client cleared of not only the murder charge but also cleared of the manslaughter case. But before the end of the episode there is a bizarre twist that will have each viewer flabbergasted by the evidence and event of the murder.

At first I thought knowing the details of the murder early in the show would diminish the value of the show. However I was proved wrong as this episode was strangely interesting. And one person that could have had perjury charges against them will be facing much worse. And we, the viewer, will be entertained to the fullest.

This is an absolutely top-notch episode, the kind that marks this as one of the very best mystery shows ever to come to television. In this episode, we have: action; a complex legal concept, explained so the audience can grasp it (not easy! I'm a lawyer!); beautiful women (well, Della, as always, plus gorgeous Patricia Medina and classy Heather Angel)and a tough antagonist for Perry; and an outstanding story. The pacing is swift. This is one you will remember.

I enjoyed this episode a lot. One of the most cohesive plots and endings, yet still, for me, a complete surprise.

This isn't a fun episode with lots of interplay with Street and Drake. It's all business and lots of it. And a bit on the dark side. Shades of Chinatown with lots of corruption and a very dysfunctional family. Lots of levels to uncover, but it didn't feel contrived (as many episodes do). Really first rate story.

Not that it doesn't have some small plots holes. But they are forgivable, if not undetectable. I didn't notice them until I read another review here. The red herrings are palatable, minimal, and suit the story.

And, for a change, no blackmail.

**SPOILERS** See this episode before going further. First, the other reviews were right on. Just a couple of points, though.

1)Douglas Kennedy played a very good part as always; he has that kinda crooked look about him, anyway. Also, he drove a really beautiful Corvette.

2)No one brought up what happened to the crooked old fart that changed his testimony in the original trial. He sold out really fast, too; why settle for a loan, when the payoff should have been a gift? Nobody checked HIS bank account, did they? 3)In those days, .22 bullets were not jacketed, making identification by microscope comparison impossible. This is one of the main reasons (true deal) that they were used in so many mob murders. The gunsmith's testimony, therefore, was useless.

4) Hamilton Burger really overstepped in exhuming the dead guy. All evidence pointed to a traffic incident, not murder. The fixer actually called it right; it should have been dropped right there. Hamilton didn't trust his A.D.A.s?

5) Patricia Medina was the equal of Barbara Hale in beauty. I NEVER thought I'd say that, but it's true; she was an incredibly beautiful woman. The best looking murderess in this series. Her acting credits are in IMDb.

6) The kid was still a wimp,, and his Gramps was a pretty good guy, despite being a crotchety curmudgeon - I liked him.

The reason this is one of the best Perry Mason episodes is perhaps because the story was written by Erle Stanley Gardner, himself, as a book that was first serialized in The Saturday Evening Post in 1956. (The teleplay is written by Seelig Lester.) I see that some of the Perry Mason episodes are based on Gardner's books going back to the 30s. I wonder if they are better than the average episode written by other writers?

I also wonder if the original print version of this story had clues tucked away in the more voluminous text that were missing from the one-hour TV version? I suspect it is harder to camouflage clues on TV than in a book.

Like any good mystery, the first and most obvious suspect probably didn't do it, and this is especially true with the Mason episodes. Usually who we might think is the most likely suspect shifts as the show progresses and the background details become clearer.

The moral of the show could, perhaps, be: Appearances can be deceiving. Mason knows this, better than the police, who are all to quick to accept facts that are amenable to their case. This is key here, as Mason is more careful about checking the veracity of the facts the police seem to have established.

-- Spoiler alert --

What we have is layer upon layer of appearances and illusions, largely created by the unapologetic fixer for the oligarchical California Balfour family, a sort of evil genius alter-ego of Perry Mason. It is not every day Mason encounters someone so intelligent, and he respects him as a worthy adversary, and because he is doing his job to protect the Balfour interests.

The most interesting scene is where he tries to intimidate Mason, even while admitting some criminal responsibility. We wonder what is going through Mason's mind, and whether it is having any effect. We see later that Mason's probable reaction was to wonder what his real motive was. It is like a match between two chess masters.

The best way to watch Perry Mason is with a group of friends, and to try to analyze who did it, and why, as the show progresses. I wonder how many would guess the real culprit in this show? It certainly came as a surprise to me. The only person you could be sure was innocent was the rich guy's grandson, of course, because he was Mason's client.

With many of the Mason episodes, there seem to be too many gaps in the trail for the viewer to be able to pin the culprit ahead of time, and for the viewer to feel entirely satisfied when the guilty party is revealed. To me, the ending here was very satisfying, and that's all I will say about it.

-- End spoiler alert --

Raymond Burr IS Perry Mason. How could anyone else play the role as well? If you don't believe me, listen to Gardner:

"At the auditions to cast the parts, as Burr entered the room, Gardner shouted, "That's him! That's Mason!", changing the course of Burr's career forever." -- Wikipedia

Oddly, I think Burr more closely matches the original book description of Hamilton Burger than William Talman: "a broad-shouldered, thick-necked individual with a close-cropped moustache."

Burr fans should watch the episode of the Jack Benny Show where Perry Mason appears in Benny's dream to defend him against the charge of murder of a rooster.

-- Spoiler alert --

Benny was innocent, which is more than could be said of Mason.

.

Somebody ought to have fired the LA Medical Examiner. Young Tyler MacDuff the youngest of the wealthy Balfour clan is tried and convicted of vehicular manslaughter of a man who'd been seeing Uncle Bruce Bennett's wife on the side. But later he's found to have been shot.

A legal dilemma greets Hamilton Burger. If MacDuff was tried for the wrong offense and now clearly not guilty if MacDuff is freed on the Habeas Corpus writ that his family wants, can he be tried for the second more serious offense without double jeopardy?

Usually the judges in Perry Mason stories have minimal dialog. In this one Morris Ankrum gets a bit more as he decides that this decision is above his pay grade. Raymond Burr who's been retained by the Balfours who are like a west coast Kennedy clan also is a truth seeker.

Douglas Kennedy has a strong part in this as the Balfour family fixer. He and Raymond Burr have a great scene together as he tries to tell Perry Mason how to run the case and take the loophole option. Big mistake, no one tells Perry Mason how he conducts his trial.

I guarantee you won't figure this one out. I will say that Douglas Kennedy is quite the fixer.

I love the Perry Mason show generally, but the conclusion of this episode contradicts much of what we're shown at the beginning. At the beginning we're shown the husband shooting his wife's lover (his wife having left the cabin earlier), fleeing the scene, and then calling his company lawyer from his home. In the conclusion, we're given to understand that the wife shot her husband at home, and that the lawyer tried to protect her by making it look like the husband was someone else and was the victim of a hit&run accident. And yet Mason speaks highly of this lying lawyer at the end. I don't know why the conclusion was re-done to make it seem that this corporate lawyer wasn't a bad guy; he should at least have been charged with obstructing justice if not as an accessory to murder. (And why was the good-guy butler not there at the end?)