Perry Mason - Les dames de coeur

With the passing of Raymond Burr, Paul Sorvino stepped into the brilliant lawyer's part with interesting results. Sorvino proved his resourcefulness here but did we have to have the opera singing? We know that Sorvino, in real life, could hit the operatic notes but good, but that wasn't necessary here.

Still, we have a very good story with 4 ex-wives of a real cad coming together to work with the latter. Naturally, when the cad, played with relish by Eric Braeden, is murdered, suspicion falls on each of the women. Since his current wife was arguing with him over his latest flirtation, she is the one who is arrested.

That ending, as always, was totally unexpected but had the real Mason touch.

Barbara Hale looked like she was grieving here in her brief stint as Della Street. William R. Moses, Ken Malansky, had plenty of physical footwork here and is to be commended for great physical dexterity. Or, what there a stuntman involved?

Surprisingly, McEachin, who played the black detective always sarcastically involved in words with Mr. Mason, has none of that here and that is missed.

Mr. Sorvino was great in the type of role that Raymond Burr began and I expect many even before him. I must admit that as a first time in the PM format I looked forward to more. the character was just beginning to be developed and he was charming to all and talents without [it appeared] limits. Too bad the network or the producers or the writers or whoever is responsible didn't see that this character was worth pursuing. Many long time viewers may have been questioning because Mr Burr was so fully ensconsed in the role, but Mr. Sorvino's character could have been a second rate copy or a first rate new version. I thought it could have been truly first rate. Too bad it was one and done.

With Perry Mason in Washington, his buddy Paul Sorvino is watching the office while he's gone. An old friend, Kathy Ireland calls. Her husband, Eric Braeden, was once the foremost fashion model, but his star has fallen, as he married and divorced each of his models. Now he's hard up against it and wants to do a photo spread with all of them, if Sorvino can sweet-talk them into doing it. However, Miss Ireland grows jealous and argues with Braeden. When he's found murdered, she's on trial for her life. With five other ex-wives as suspect, can anyone but Raymond Burr playing Mason have the actual killer confess on the witness stand?

Paul Sorvino gives a fine perrmance, as I expected, bringing a lot of personality to the role. He charms, he sings opera, he presents subpoenas along with the dishes he has cooked. With Barbara Hale as Della Street, and William Moses as Mason's investigator, it looks like they rewrote a script intended for Burr and did a very good job of it.

I have been binge-watching the Perry Mason movies on Youtube. Sadly there are nine missing. DVDs are expensive or "unavailable". It was lovely while it lasted. Perry and Della are their old selves, Paul Drake II (Barbara Hale's son William Katt) is excellent. The script cleverly leaves it unclear whether Perry and Della are an item, but they behave pretty affectionately. At the end of one episode Perry hugs her, saying "It's just you and me now".

There's an in-joke about Burr's expertise as an orchid-breeder (he named a variety after Barbara).

And the clothes! The glamour! The settings! The mansions!

I've loved it.

Sadly, this episode was the first to be filmed after Burr's death, putting in Paul Sorvino as a similar character. But he has to be given "quirks" like singing opera (he's not bad, but should take voice lessons) and cooking (that veal sounds nice). He is no substitute.

The story is weak, the script is weak. I found it not worth watching, even for the clothes. One commentator opined that Caruso is funny, unlike Mason. I didn't laugh at the opera or any of it. Mason frequently comes out with witty one-lines, as does Della once the client has left. (Of one she says, "I could learn to loathe him".)

I shall just have to watch the old series as I wait for those missing TV films to become "available". RIP Raymond and Barbara.

Stepping into the place of Raymond Burr after his demise is Paul Sorvino who made his one and only appearance as opera loving gourmet attorney Anthony Caruso. As we see in the opening he operates like Perry Mason as he gets a confession and the evidence on the real murderer.

Right after that Caruso is retained by Kathy Ireland the fifth and current wife of Eric Braeden who is a world famous fashion photographer who has seen his better days. But Braeden is planning a comeback and he's going to shoot a new show with five models whom he made world famous icons. Like Ireland, the other four have been his wives as well.

But when Braeden is murdered it's Ireland who Detective James McEachin of the Denver PD arrests. Now Sorvino is Ireland's attorney and he gets the use of Perry Mason's office along with Barbara Hale and William R. Moses. There's never any explanation of what happened to Perry Mason.

William R. Moses has an especially bad time in this story trying to track down a witness whose relationship to one of the ex-wives is the key to the whole case. He has to go into the Brokeback Mountain country and be at the mercy of some cowboys who are definitely not Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal.

Although I liked Sorvino apparently either he did not want to do a series or the viewers didn't take to him because Hal Holbrook came in with a different character.

Probably folks would accept no other in Perry Mason's shoes.