O Caso do Cão Uivador

Perry Mason sprang into screen life through 6 Warner Bros. films made from 1934, one year after his inception in book form by Erle Stanley Gardner. The movie series started out well, but as with so many other detective series of this type gradually petered out in quality almost film by film until fizzling out a few years later. Also it's not like Raymond Burr's Perry Mason I grew up with, Warren William has a vast organisation behind him, contrary to his future occupation as the Lone Wolf!

Complicated story of a dog's howling driving a neighbour crackers leads to a sorry and sordid tale of multiple murder - and the howling is central to the plot too. You have to concentrate to follow the history of partner-swapping (after all, some of the Foley's and Cartwright's weren't even married!) but all is wonderfully resolved by Mason by the end. William was perfect for these kind of roles, his efficient and reassuring presence of mind imparting to cast and audience from the beginning that all will be eventually all right, even if in this case only if you don't say anything without him being present! How come Mary Astor landed the part of the woman with the shady past and inability to tell the truth so often? Allen Jenkins as a flatfoot doesn't get much of a part, but at least he got a chance to show off a rather natty moustache.

Well worth watching and a pleasant opener for an attorney with a long career ahead of him.

This is the movie that got me interested in the character Perry Mason and I began watching the old television series because of this film. It's a shame that Warren William didn't make more of these films because he was great in this. I like the little comic bits in the movie. I think it's a classic. I have it in my collection. Warren William was a very good character actor and it's a shame we don't see more of his films shown on tv.

This was the first Perry Mason film ever made, with Warren William as Mason, who is superb in the part, much better than Raymond Burr, who always annoyed me so much I could not watch the later Perry Mason films. Mason's assistant Della Street is here played by Helen Trenholme, a beautiful and talented choice, but she inexplicably left the film business after making this and one other film in 1934, and that was it. The best performance in the film is by Gordon Westcott, as a distraught client in a state of high anxiety and 'aggravated melancholia'. Unfortunately, he died not long after in a polo accident, which deprived the screen of a real talent. The direction is excellent, with lots of retreating dolly shot 'pullbacks' to add dynamism to the action. Mary Astor does well, but then when did she not? Hats off to Lightning the Dog, who is seen howling splendidly like a wolf in the initial shots of the film. I'd like to have one like that around the house, wouldn't you? Lots of character, not anybody's poodle, not a wimp. The plot of this film is wonderfully complex, a true brain-teaser. This is a Perry Mason film with serious intent, and not a pastiche. It is well worth watching.

This is the first of the Perry Mason movies. Warren Williams brought the famous lawyer to life in much the same way that Raymond Burr would breath life into the Erle Stanley Gardner character for television in 1957. Surprisingly the first incarnation of Perry Mason is not that far from the later television creation. In the first movie as in the first television episodes Perry is a conniving shrewd barrister who not only bends the law but at times uses tricks that may actually be illegal. The Warren William incarnation would change with his next three films with Perry becoming a womanizing boozer. In "The Case of the Lucky Legs" Warren Williams' Mason has trouble staying sober long enough to do his job. After Warren Williams left the role, Ricardo Cortez and Donald Woods tried the part on for size and did fairly decent portrayals of the sharp-witted counselor. Television's Perry Mason also changed with time, but rather than going in the direction of playboy souse, being the McCarthy era, Raymond Burr's portrayal made Perry a scholarly type who won his case through sheer knowledge of the law and thorough investigation procedures.

The first Perry Mason movie, "The Case of the Howling Dog," is possibly the best in the entire series. It was remade for television, turning out to be one of the best in the Raymond Burr series. Much of this is owed to the cleverness of the original book written by mystery writer Erle Stanly Gardner, but Warren Williams and later Raymond Burr should also be given credit for making the whole thing work.

Warren Williams is ably assisted by a covey of fine actors and actresses including Mary Astor who would later make a permanent mark on movie history playing Brigid O'Shaughnessy in John Huston's classic "The Maltese Falcon." Della Street is there to aid Perry with a hint, as with the later TV series, of a romantic connection between the two. The character of Paul Drake does not appear but would appear in the next film, "The Case of the Curious Bride," as Spudsy Drake, played by the fine character actor Allen Jenkins, who plays Det. Sgt. Holcomb in the first film. Unlike William Hopper's TV Paul Drake, Spudsy is more of a comical sidekick for Perry, more in line with William Katt and William Moses' Paul Drake in the made for TV Raymond Burr Perry Mason movies. Also missing from the Warren Williams Perry Mason's are Hamilton Burger and Lt. Arthur Tragg. In their places we find Det. Sgt. Holcomb and District Attorney Claude Drumm, ably played by Grant Mitchell.

The case this time is extremely complicated. The viewer has to follow the events concerning the Cartwright's and the Foley's very carefully, especially in the beginning. Talk about wife swapping! Gradually Perry and his associates are able to unravel the mystery but wait, there is a twist at the end that you don't want to miss just when you think the whole thing has been worked out and the guilty person exposed by Perry.

Warren Williams not only plays Perry with gusto but adds much humor to the goings on. If you think Raymond Burr is the definitive Perry Mason, seeing this film may change your mind.

Perry Mason runs a big operation: Windows all across the front of his office building feature his name printed in big letters. He's so successful he can't even handle every case personally. –Such is our introduction to the great lawyer before we even meet him.

Warren William is appropriately self-assured as the super-successful lawyer in this classy and well-plotted murder mystery.

The complicated story involves a very nervous-looking man named Cartwright (Gordon Westcott) who comes to Mason with questions about his will—and about a neighbor's dog that has been howling for 48 hours. We soon learn that that neighbor, Clinton Foley (Russell Hicks), had once run off with Cartwright's wife…Cartwright had sworn to get even with them both and tracked them down and moved in next door….and soon enough the man Foley is shot dead in his house.

The murder scene is particularly well done: We see Foley and his dog in the house, we see Mrs. Foley walk in, and we watch their brief confrontation. And then we hear the shots: We see Mrs. Foley's face and her reaction but not who fired the shots. A door swings shut….

Mary Astor is excellent as Mrs. Foley—her expressive face never quite giving away all she is thinking. Allen Jenkins is good as always as the skeptical police sergeant looking for answers. Warren William gives a smooth performance as the masterful investigator whose work and methods are in the interest of justice but not necessarily popular with the police.

It's well written and fast moving, too—with an ending that surprised me. Very enjoyable!