Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Fashion

Fashion magazine editor Valerie Harper annoys several people, including competing publisher Diana Muldar. When Miss Harper turns up dead, Miss Muldar finds herself on trial for murder. Perry Mason does not wish to take the case, since it's New York, but Della Street talks him into it. His competition in court is young Scott Baio, who admires Mason and looks forward to beating him. Foolish boy! Doesn't he know that all of Mason's clients are innocent and the murderer will confess on the witness stand?

It's one of the TV movies starring Raymond Burr as Erle Stanley Gardner's lawyer-sleuth, produced in the late 1980s and early 1990s, with Barbara Hale as his secretary. It's an amusing entry, with investigator William Moses dealing with mafiosi and New York City traffic. The mystery isn't as difficult as some others in the series, but Robert Janes' script plays fair with the rules of mystery writing.

Despite the fact that the plot follows the well-known recipe of "who did it", which has characterised all the Perry Mason movies so far, the characters of the present film are not so well-developed and the selected cast fails to give them flesh and blood. Of course, in general, the Perry Mason movies are not significant, but, even for their low standards, this one is weak.

Influential fashion magazine editor Dyan Draper delighted in exposing the slips and secrets of her peers and rivals - but was that enough to kill her? As well as defendingthe prime suspect, Perry Mason finds himself as a witness for the prosecution.

This time Perry defends Della Street's friend, a fashion editor, and the backdrop of the cutthroat world of fashion, mob as well as Ken ending up being assisted by a mobster, who is a fashion designer, to find the murderer of his cousin and a prosecutor, played by Scott Baio, intention to put Mason on the stand, so he can beat him, make this formulaic entry watchable.

Fashion newspaper editor Dyan Draper has a habit of exposing those in the fashion world in her column. It's only a matter of time before she in bumped off by someone. Lauren Jeffreys is the main suspect as she had a public fight with Draper and was seen entering her building shortly before her death. Lauren is a friend of Della's so Perry takes the case despite also being a witness for the prosecution. Meanwhile Ken hooks up with a minor-Mafia hood to hunt down the real killer.

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. Here for Mason is a witness but is still allowed to prosecute - also they do an unusual and unfair line up in the courtroom itself! Mason does his usual ripping into the witness stuff which is good and this time it isn't as straightforward as it usually is with a view twists making the climax different from usual (slightly). Ken's investigation is better than usual here and is enjoyable thanks to the presence of mobster Loomis as his partner - makes a change from Alexander Paul or some other dippy girl.

Burr is as good as ever in a role that he could do in his sleep with no real difficulty. Hale is as underused as always but seems happy to be there. Moses does his usual stuff and gets help from Clohessy (best known for Oz)who is quite enjoyable, despite being a bit of a caricature (`hey! Gone on get outta here' etc). Muldaur is solid and is an unusually famous defendant having been in Star Trek. DiCenzo is fun in a small role as a dressmaking mobster!

Overall this doesn't really stand out from the majority of the Mason movies but if you like them then you'll like this. It isn't the best of the series but it's as good as the rest. Worth watching if you liked any of the other ones.

Of all of the post-1985 Perry Mason movies I have seen, this one is my least favorite.

I confess I have never liked Diana Muldaur as an actress. She only seems to know how to play one type of character - a hard-bitten career woman with some undefined chip on her shoulder who for that reason is extremely difficult to in any way sympathize with. This one is no exception - it runs true to form.

The only thing that saves this movie, in my opinion, is an earnest performance by Scott Baio as the prosecutor - I actually found myself rooting for him to win, and the movie is worth seeing for him alone.