Perry Mason: The Case of the Lethal Lesson

This entry in the Perry Mason series marked the first time that William R. Moses makes an appearance. He's young law school student Ken Malansky and they meet as Perry is giving a lecture to the participants of a moot court of soon to be graduates.

One of my favorite ironic moments in the Perry Mason series occurs in this film, Perry Mason: The Case of the Lethal Lesson. Raymond Burr gives a very good speech to the group about juries, people bringing all kinds of baggage from their every days lives to a jury. They're no better or worse than any other average group of folks you can get out of a phone book. But that as a jury they become a noble body and one should never demean them in any way.

It was a great moment of eloquence for Raymond Burr, one of the best in his career as an actor. It ought to be mandatory in law schools in fact. Yet we are talking about Perry Mason who never let a case get that far to a jury, at least not in any of the movies or the couple of hundred episodes from the original series that I recall.

Anyway among the participants of the moot court is John Allen Nelson, the spoiled son of Brian Keith who is an old friend of Burr's. He's a really rotten kid who's dad has used money and influence to get him out of trouble before. During moot court Moses threatens him and later goes out looking to him some bodily harm. But someone beat him to it when he finds the body and he's discovered with the corpse of the late Mr. Nelson. Of course Moses turns to Perry Mason for help.

For fans of the old television series, the character of Ken Malansky actually does have a precedent. For a couple of seasons Perry Mason had an actor named Karl Held play young lawyer David Gideon whom he also defended in a murder trial. Held popped up in a dozen or so episodes after that.

Anyway you know this kid had a host of people who didn't like him in his study group and others. But Perry ferrets out the killer in his usual manner.

William R. Moses joined the TV film series after that as William Katt as Paul Drake, Jr. departed for a series Top of the Hill that didn't last. Neither Moses or Katt have ever lacked for work however though they both are now forty somethings.

It's a good episode and fans of Billy Moses consider it a landmark.

Raymond Burr is in Denver, working on "the court of the future" with law students, when one of his students, William Moses, is put on trial for murdering a fellow student. Since that student is the son of Burr's old law-school buddy, Brian Keith, he is reluctant. He is, however, Perry Mason, and just as all his clients are innocent, when Moses asks for him to defend him, we know he is innocent, so apparently Burr has no choice but to do so, with the attendant confession by a random witness on the stand.

As usual, there are many false trails in this TV movie about Erle Stanley Gardner's lawyer-sleuth. It's well done, but the most interesting bit about it is the fact that Moses (as Malansky) would serve the remainder of the series as Burr's investigator.

Perry Mason is the lead tutor for a module of a law degree set in a mock classroom. His students include Ken Malansky and the Frank Wellman Jnr - son of one of Perry's good friends. When he finds out that Frank raped his girlfriend, Ken storms into the mock courtroom (where Frank is practicing his summation) only to find him dead. Giving his state and the situation, Ken is arrested and charged. He turns to Perry for his defence, who reluctantly agrees despite the impact on his friendship with Wellman Snr. Meanwhile Ken investigates despite the `help' of his ex-girlfriend Amy.

For those who know the Perry Mason series and enjoy it, they will find that this film continues doing what it has always been doing. The formula is all in place - the investigation by Mason's sidekick, a girl involved in that investigation, Mason's interviews, the court case and the eventual twist. All this it does as well as it usually does (ie not great but reliable and familiar) but it also adds some aspects to the mix. The element regarding Mason's conflict with Frank Snr has potential but sadly it doesn't do enough with it apart from put a plot twist into the middle of the film - but it doesn't have the emotional clout that it should have had. The other thing this film does is introduce to the series that character of Ken Malansky as a replacement for Paul Drake. The film uses him quite well, even if he is less assured than he would become.

Ken, as Drake always did, is reluctantly paired with a woman as his investigative partner. Here he has his ex girlfriend, Amy, with him - as he would for 3 or 4 films after this one. However her character is annoying here - too snobbish, irritating and really difficult to like. The fact that someone is kooky can be an endearing thing but here her character is too forceful and outside of the habits of polite (not rich) society. The only thing that is good about her role is that Paul is an OK actress and is easy on the eye. She is in the shadow of Moses though, who steps up to the challenge of making his mark and securing his employment. Katt is a sad loss to the series simply due to his family connection to the show, but I enjoy Moses a little more - and he has better hair than Katt absurd perm!

Mason does well but he doesn't step up to meet Brian Keith's more emotional input. Ken's class is badly served; I'm sure the actors could have done well but I was surprised how little time they had on screen - Mason's interviews took up less time than usual. None of them really make a mark and, worse still, some of them really force their scenes, supposedly because they knew how little time they had to shine. The `oh look it's...' face this time is Mark Rolston - not a famous name but you'll recognise him from many big films including Shawshank Redemption, Rush Hour, Robocop 2 and Aliens - shame he is only given about 3 minutes of screentime!

Overall this is still a solid entry in the series (if you generally enjoy the series). It doesn't do anything new above the formula but it has an interesting (if poorly used) subplot involving Perry and it also sees Malansky take over from Drake - however I would have preferred the film to partner Malansky with Drake for this film (rather than Amy) and provide a proper handover for the fans!

Raymond Burr returns as Perry Mason, this time defending young law student Ken Malansky of the murder of a fellow student.

This episode introduces William R. Moses as Malansky, who in future stories would take over the job of Mason's law associate and investigative legman.

Alexandra Paul also debuts, for a much shorter stay as Ken's "fiance", Amy Hastings.

The story follows the same tried and true formula as all Mason stories tend to do with the guilty party exposed in court at the end. In this case the histrionics were exceedingly effective when the guilty party was revealed.

I have always had the feeling the producers had planned to make Amy and Ken a sort of younger version of Mason and Della Street, but upping the romance angle. Sadly, Alexandra Paul made the decision to leave before the plan could come to fruition.

All in all an above average entry in the series and well worth your time.

As a big fan of Billy Moses, I would have to say his entrance into the series was awesome and believable! This movie captivated me with it's romance and suspence. Also the humor aspect of it all. It was just a good natured film!