Examiner par boblipton

Between the end of the Perry Mason TV series in 1966 and its revival as a series of TV movies twenty years later, Raymond Burr as Mr. Mason was supposed to have served as an appellate court judge -- I would imagine he was appointed to give the Los Angeles District Attorney's office a better win/loss ratio. In this movie, we see a brief flashback that time, and a case in which Air Force Lt. Colonel Larry Wilcox was found guilty of murder.

Now that Burr is returned to private practice, he is defending Wilcox in a retrial; he remarks there were no errors, but he thought the defense had done a poor job. Of course they had! Without him in the defense chair, there was no one to get a random witness to confess on the stand! Viewers can be confident that Erle Stanley Gardner's lawyer/sleuth will make that happen here.

Besides cast regulars Barbara Hale as Della Street and William Katt as Perry's leg man, we get to see Don Galloway from IRONSIDE, promoted to a General.Donald Ogden Stiers has the thankless task of prosecuting the case, and Patty Duke has a small but key role.