Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Fashion

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.

Scott Baio appears in this New York Based Perry Mason tale, as does Diana Muldaur aka Doctor Polaski from Star Trek.

This is one of the Better"Malansky" eps, Moses appears without his irritating rich detective-girlfriend. Here, he is forced to make Buds with Gangster Tony Loomis (Robert Clohessy), and it is a perfect match.

Valerie Harper is Dyan Draper, who is making everyone's lives miserable. She's Muckraked up dirt on the whole planet, but it's anyone's guess who she is going to target in her next column. And several people, including Lauren Jeffrys (Polaski/Muldaur) try to get access to Draper to find out if they are to be the subjects of Draper's Muckraking festivities the next day. But Draper cleverly dodges all attempts from 4 people and she does not even tell her Girl Friday Julia Collier (Ally Walker) who is to be the special recipient of her ministrations.

So there are four possible suspects, maybe 5 even.

What is interesting about this episode, is that it talks about using a Modem to transfer a column digitally to the computer at a Magazine Office. At the desk in Dyan's apartment, is a little Macintosh, same design as the 1984 model. Back then such a modem would probably be 300 baud. In fact, I have a one of the modems that would have been used on the floor in front of my PC. It would have been an Appletalk Network.

But of course none of this is talked about in any great detail, this episode plods along while Perry deftly recuses each possible suspect - Until he is left with the last one, and even then it is not who you expect it to be.

Which makes this one of the better Perry Mason Mysterys segment. Of course, is was directed by Original Perry Mason director Christian I. Nyby's son, Christian I. Nyby II.

What I lov ed about therse later Mason TV Movies is that they finally left the confines of "Colorado" (Colorado-in-Canada?) to visit venues like France, and in this episode, New York City.

And as much as I miss William Katt as the Bumbling version of Paul Drake, and I really did like that it was Della's Real Life son, William R Moses was finally hitting his stride with this episode.

I would have liked an explanation of what happened to Paul Drake, Junior, in this series, but I never saw it. My only complaint with the TV Movies of the 80's is the hole left by Paul Drake's absence, who left us WAY too soon at age 54. Where William Hopper exuded "The Competent Man", William R Katt, excuse me, William Katt sometimes overplayed the comedic aspects, always losing his detective-prey, being smashed over the head constantly, having his wallet stolen, being hospitalized, etc. His "Father" never had that happen. But William R. Moses was able to create a Bridge between Paul Drake and Paul Drake, Jr. He does so magnificently here.

I remember watching these when they were Broadcast, I watched them with my parents. But I haven't seen these since they were originally broadcast, and now that I have a huge 50" TV, the only copies I can find are recorded from Low Quality DVR, sometimes with commercials intact. Even my original Perry episodes are on DVD, which suit me fine, except that the one colour season 9 episode "Twice Told Twist" is not in colour.

I am totally pleased however, that Mason socked it to Scott Baio.

Excellent Perry Mason show with the theme in the end that hell hath no fury as a daughter scorned.

Valerie Harper briefly appears in a memorable portrayal. She plays a miserable fashion editor who digs up dirt on all those around her orbit. Of course, Harper, with her blond hair, is soon killed off. Suspicion immediately falls on Diana Muldaur, a rival editor, who had words with the Harper character right before the latter's demise.

The person playing Tony Loomis steals the show here. As an underworld hood, Loomis is jealous of college boy attorney Ken Melansky (Robert R. Moses) and lets him know it. You think that they're reaching some kind of bond, but when the they apprehend the guy they think knocked off the head gangster's cousin, Loomis shows his true colors.

Scott Baio appears as a young, sure-of-himself- D.A.- ready to lock horns with Mason. He tells him at the beginning that he looks forward to beating him in the case. We all know how this turns out.

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.

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.