Perry Mason: Va in onda la morte

At TV station KGGY, news anchor Brett Huston (John James) does not have many friends amongst his colleagues as he holds secrets on all of them, including his bosses, and as such struts around the place like he owns the place, antagonizing others especially Gillian Pope (Kerrie Keane) by doing what he likes. When Brett is murdered in the parking lot with a gun belonging to Gillian she finds herself arrested and calling on the services of Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) and his team to defend her.

The background of news and reporting makes this rather routine Perry Mason TV film interesting - it might run to the formula, but, like all Perry Mason TV films, they are entertaining. There's some good chases featuring William R Moses, and a fine twist ending, though the explanation can be convoluted and a bit confusing. Plus I felt the identity of the murderer wasn't very convincing. It felt a bit forced just to make it surprising.

Perry Mason is at a TV station for an interview. When the star reporter is killed, the police quickly settle on who the murderer is. However, he's smart enough to get Perry as his lawyer, which means that he didn't do it, that there are plenty of people with as good a motive and that Perry will badger one into confessing on the witness stand in this passable but not outstanding entry into the TV movie series starring Raymond Burr as Erle Stanley Gardner's lawyer-sleuth that began a quarter of a century after the long-running TV series ended.

Burr is back as Perry, Barbara Hale as girl Friday Della Street, as well as William Moses, as his legal associate and field investigator. Jerry Ohrbach shows up as the manager of the TV station, but after that the list of guest stars grows a little thin. The background is the dirty politics of a news station and while the actual murderer is a bit of surprise, director Christian I. Nyby II seems to have to slow down the cutting to make this one come out to its wonted length.

A familiar story-line punctuated by more than usual action scenes, the performance was let down by the casting. Apart from the regulars and Jerry Ohrbach, the list of guest stars was very underwhelming - too many castaways from daytime television.

This Perry Mason movie finds Raymond Burr defending a television news reporter who had taped an interview with him. Before airing the segment the arrogant anchor of the show had it cut from broadcast, arousing the ire of reporter Kerrie Keane.

But it turns out that anchor John James as per usual in these films has a lot of enemies. But when someone puts two slugs in him in a parking garage and Kerrie Keane is arrested of course she sends for Perry Mason.

As we all know guilty people just don't hire Mason as an attorney. So it's up to Burr, Barbara Hale as Della Street, and young associate William R. Moses to investigate and find the real culprit.

They don't teach you to be an action hero in law school, but that's what Moses has to do to get a key witness. Then again he sees more action outside the courtroom than in as Burr traps the guilty party with the fruits of the team investigation.

One thing about this particular episode, the guilty party is a bit of a surprise since it's someone the team got somewhat close to. That happens a few times in the Perry Mason films as opposed to the old hour long TV series. Then again, the two hour format allows for more character development.

A good entry in the Perry Mason series, there ain't any bad ones.

Mason is due to have an interview on news TV station KGGY with Gillian Pope. However Brett Huston, a selfish host on the show cuts her interview out of the show. Huston not only upsets her but is on edge with many others at the station. It's no surprise that he gets killed but Pope is the suspect and turns to Mason for defence. Meanwhile Ken Malansky investigates a link with a blackmail scheme.

If you've seen one of these things then you've seen them all. The legal realism of these shows are always very doubtful but the drama is still enjoyable. Mason does his usual ripping into the witness stuff which is good but this time he has more objections overruled and DA LaRusso manages to hold his own well. Ken's investigation is better than usual here but it does feel like he's in a separate movie and it doesn't quite fit together as well as it is meant to. He also gets a bit more action than usual but it isn't directed very well.

The cast are the usual - Burr does well and is a bit like a comfortable old suit. Hale has even less to do than usual but is OK. Moses is good value as a cut price action man. The `oh look it's ..' count that is normally one in the Mason series goes nuts this time with Orbach (Law & Order), Romano (Under Siege) and tough guy (Beau Starr).

The production values are a little higher than usual and the sets don't look like they off a daytime soap! The plot is good and has the usual twist at the end that you could never guess in a million years. Overall a very enjoyable addition to the series that is better than the norm.