Perry Mason: El caso del engaño terrible

An all-star cast of former notables make up the faces in this Paris-set adventure for TV's most popular lawyer, Perry Mason. THE CASE OF THE DESPERATE DECEPTION sees Mason and his buddies travelling to France to take on the case of a young man who has been wrongfully accused of murdering a suspected former Nazi. Once there they uncover a sinister conspiracy of hidden identity and motive, while Mason prepares to defend his client in court.

I remember watching these latter-day Perry Masons when I was a kid and really enjoying them. They remain entertaining to this day, with fast-paced and involved story lines and plenty of characters at odds with each other. The use of the Nazi hunter theme and the setting make THE CASE OF THE DESPERATE DECEPTION stand out from others in the series, but really it's the cast that makes this work.

This TV film features a nice role for an aged Ian Bannen as a Nazi hunter and Paul Freeman as the ruthless fellow in his employ. Yvette Mimieux is the ageing wife of the murdered man and Ian McShane a delight as his colleague. British soap star Kim Thomson even has a minor part as a flame-haired beauty. On top of all these, Terry O'Quinn is an investigator. Raymond Burr remains the consummate professional, Barbara Hale cameos, and William R. Moses is involved in a brief romance and car chase. None of it is less than entertaining.

I loved it, but then, I've been a Raymond Burr fan since 1957, so my opinion is a tad biased. My only comment is that I'm glad Ken Melansky is no longer with Amy Hastings, unless he was cheating on her in this one. (Not really!) I think somebody must have decided she didn't help the plots and quietly ditched her. Good idea!

For it's one and only time the Perry Mason series went abroad and where better than Paris to defend the Marine son of a Holocaust survivor charged with the killing of a former S.S. captain who personally killed members of his mother's family and crippled her. It might have been nice had Raymond Burr and Billy Moses taken Barbara Hale along, but I guess someone had to tend to the office.

An old film favorite Teresa Wright plays Tim Ryan's mother and her testimony on the stand is the best part of this TV film. Her experiences going to the death camps is most moving.

For reasons I'm not quite sure, the French cede jurisdiction to the US military in this case. Ryan is a guard at the US Embassy in Paris, but the killing was definitely not in the line of duty. I would think the French would insist on trying him. In any event Perry Mason represents Ryan at a military court martial which he's permitted to have civilian counsel should he choose.

The murderer is a choice from way out of left field or in this case I should say right field. It does have to do with the events in the concentration camp, but in a most oblique way.

I think there have been better Mason films, but this one should satisfy the legion of fans of Erle Stanley Gardner's unbeatable attorney.

When the son of an old friend, a marine stationed at the US Embassy in Paris, is found standing over a dead former concentration-camp officer, with his service revolver on the ground the murder weapon, is there anyone except for Perry Mason to get him freed and the real murderer confessing on the witness stand?

This in an entry in the TV-movie series produced a quarter of a century since the TV series starring Raymond had ended. It's clear that the producers were going for something special. A lot of it is shot in Paris. The accused is Tim Ryan, who looks amazingly like currently-hot movie star Bruce Willis.

Given the Holocaust denial movement, and their rise during the era, this was clearly intended as a statement on the issue. the presence of Teresa Wright as a crippled survivor of the death camps speaks to that.

Not a great episode. They could have spared us the long list of clichés about Paris, including a mime in the street... Anyway, a murder is committed in Paris and obviously the French police is in no way involved... that was really absurd.

Aside from that, Ken Malansky is his annoying useless and charmless self, except he's now hitting on a girl when it's never been established that he is not engaged/married anymore.

His girlfriend was not in the previous episode but it was never established that she was out of the picture. She was the only good thing about the introduction of that incredibly bland character. It's in poor taste. She was beautiful, charming, funny, competent, courageous and intelligent. Too good for him?