Perry Mason: Crimini di guerra

US marine officer Captain David Berman (Tim Ryan) has been arrested for killing a former Nazi SS officer called Dieter Krugman, whom was living in Paris in the guise of a successful businessman called Felix Altmann. The prosecution has a strong case against the defendant because it was well known among his friends that he had an obsession with tracking down Krugman as his mother Helene (Teresa Wright) is a survivor from a Nazi death camp in which she saw her two brothers murdered by Krugman before her very eyes. Helene is also a close friend of Perry Mason and she persuades him to fly to Paris and prove her son innocent. Mason believes Berman to be innocent because he tells both him and his mother that he wanted to have Krugman arrested and tried under the Crimes Against Humanity Law, which doesn't suggest he wanted to kill him. Nevertheless, that is not enough to win his case. But Mason soon discovers that Altmann's wife Danielle (Yvette Mimieux) has a strong motive for wanting her husband dead because she was having an affair with one of his former employees Andre Marchand (Ian McShane) and needed her inheritance to support his business interests. In addition, Mason has a mysterious Nazi hunter called Otto Rosen (Ian Bannen) to investigate whom refuses to fully explain why he conducts his activities in hiding rather than with the public, which most other Nazi hunters do.

THE CASE OF THE DESPERATE DECEPTION is one of Burr's better latter day movies as Perry Mason, which is easily his most celebrated role. Between 1985-93 he returned to the role over twenty times in a series of made for TV movies. These varied in quality with several suffering from lacklustre scripts, which threw clues at us out of nowhere with no real insight as to how Mason solved them. In addition, the running time was often padded out since the films more often than not were far too long for their plots with the exploits of Mason's sidekick Ken Malansky (William R Moses) who often raced around the States trying to track down a missing witness that was vital to his employer's case with a few fights and car chases thrown in.

Here, however, we have a stronger plot line than usual and George Eckstein's script doesn't just dream up clues out of nowhere and the story moves neatly and logically to its conclusion. It also makes a nice change to see Malansky's part used more effectively, in which the car chases are abandoned in favour of more straight detective work as not to confuse the plot. Raymond Burr is enjoyable as always especially in his courtroom scenes as he grills the real guilty party at the witness stand and we also have a better supporting cast than usual with veteran British actor Ian Bannen who is very good as Otto Rosen. Teresa Wright offers a sympathetic portrayal as Helene Berman who has to relive her horrifying memories of the concentration camp in order to help Perry Mason prove her son's innocence.

This is the best film in the Perry Mason series. Wonderful guest stars like Paul Freeman and Marcy Walker bring glamour and power to he story set in Paris. A complicated case - but Perry will handle it. William R. Moses is at his best as Ken Malansky. You have to like the recurring characters like Ken, Perry and Della, and you have to accept the way the Perry Mason - movies are made. Only than you can appreciate this fine movie. Wonderful. Thank you for this one !

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.

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.