Perry Mason: The Case of the Desperate Deception

When the son of an old friend, a marine stationed at the US Embassy in Paris, is found standing over a dead former concentration-camp officer, with his service revolver on the ground the murder weapon, is there anyone except for Perry Mason to get him freed and the real murderer confessing on the witness stand?

This in an entry in the TV-movie series produced a quarter of a century since the TV series starring Raymond had ended. It's clear that the producers were going for something special. A lot of it is shot in Paris. The accused is Tim Ryan, who looks amazingly like currently-hot movie star Bruce Willis.

Given the Holocaust denial movement, and their rise during the era, this was clearly intended as a statement on the issue. the presence of Teresa Wright as a crippled survivor of the death camps speaks to that.

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!

Captain Berman is in France as he tries to hunt down the Nazi war criminal who took members of his family in the concentration camp years. He is pointed to the location of this `Krugman' and confronts him - only for him to be shot by an unseen killer. As a friend of the family, Mason comes to France to defend him - and gets drawn into a world of deception in the underworld of Nazi hunters.

The films of Perry Mason usually follow the same formula every single time and, in some regards, this film does too. However the plot bravely strikes out into France and a military court-martial hearing involving Nazi's. In doing this the film appears to be more interesting but actually doesn't really succeed in what it is aiming to do. The stuff surrounding the Nazi hunt makes for more than just the usual twist at the end, but it is all a bit tidy and easy and I wasn't really gripped by it. The film scales back on Malansky's investigation and Mason's questions in order to bring in this element in terms of flashbacks, but it only seems to take the pace out of the film and make it seem rather ill at ease with itself.

The Holocaust is a difficult subject and not one that can be easily just `used' as a background for a murder mystery. The film tries to deal with it sensitively but it doesn't really know what to do with it and in the end just slots it into the formula the best it can. Aside from the weakness, I was drawn in by the film attempting to do something different for a change and enjoyed it for having the formula with a reasonable twist.

The cast is pretty average despite having quite a few well known faces. Burr is OK as Mason but parts of the film doesn't really fit his character - particularly the final shot doesn't sit well. Moses is given much less to do than normal but seems happy to just be around. Hale is not in France but, funnily enough, actually gets more lines than usual as a result! An `all star' cast is not that well used, including Ian `Lovejoy' McShane. O'Quinn is pretty good despite hamming it for all he is worth towards the end; fans of Gerry Anderson may recognise the voice of Paul Maxwell or know him from the few big American films he did (Aliens for one).

Overall this film weakens itself by trying to do something different from normal but is still worth seeing for Mason fans as the formula is still recognisable.

This story couldn't miss as it featured several big screen stars - and big ones at that: Teresa Wright (Mrs Miniver), Ian Bannen (Flight of the Phoenix), and the still-stunning and almost too-beautiful Yvette Mimieux (The Time Machine and countless others). And that they could act is an understatement. Part of the wonder of the original Perry Mason series was the creative use of senior movie stars. Here that was carried through with great effect - a wonderful relief from the mediocrity of soap opera actors who frequently populate low-budget made-for-TV movies. The story itself was somewhat reminiscent of A Place Called Midnight in the original black and white series. But here there were many new twists but still with the sinister darkness of the Nazis at every turn. This is well worth a watch for Mason fans.