Perry Mason, Celebrity! A whirlwind opening sequence flashes a headline across the screen: "Perry Mason Wins Brilliant Battle of Wits." To celebrate his latest magnificent courtroom victory, Mason and team sweep into a posh restaurant, where the hero waltzes right into the kitchen and starts chopping food, to the delight of the entire kitchen staff.
Warren William is charming, energetic, a bit cocky and rather brilliant as the famous lawyer-detective in this zippy series mystery.
He is aided by Allen Jenkins, at his best as the assistant whose loyalty is invaluable but who would like some of the credit. Claire Dodd is good in a small role as Mason's secretary Della—or is she his girlfriend? She's certainly the only character who can order Mason around, telling him (for example) to go take a shower.
Margaret Lindsay is the "curious bride" of the title, an old friend of Perry's who brings him this new case: she was married four years ago, she says, but her husband disappeared. Now she wants to remarry and needs to prove that that first husband is dead—but she has her doubts. The plot thickens, needless to say, and includes a murder, an empty coffin, and a variety of conversations with the coroner.
Nice directorial flourishes add flair—from showy camera zooms to clever little touches (like the shot of a sign on a door– COUNTY MORGUE – that pans down to a floor mat: WELCOME).
The pace is also very fast, so fast that you can't quite keep up—at least not with Perry Mason, who not only thinks and talks fast but bounds up stairs two at a time.
Sharp dialog and a fairly complicated plot keep things interesting, but it's the enthusiastic cast that make this one especially entertaining.
