The Case of the Lucky Legs

Entertaining as a screwball comedy, but hardly the kind of mystery and suspense one expects from a Perry Mason story.

From the very opening scene, the entire story is played for comedy. A criminal cheats prize winning woman out of their contest money and is soon murdered. It's up to Mason to figure out who committed the crime and why.

Since the murdered man was killed with a surgical knife, we can suspect LYLE TALBOT for awhile since he plays a doctor. PORTER HALL is the man who contacts Mason and asks him to investigate the man who has run off with the prize money. PATRICIA ELLIS is the pretty blonde contest winner who wants Mason to find the crooked contest sponsor (CRAIG REYNOLDS).

GENEVIEVE TOBIN is Della Street, batting her eyes at everyone as the plays a mischievous secretary with tongue-in-cheek humor. A sample of the flippant dialog: (Mason to Lyle Talbot): "All alone in the bridal suite? You must love yourself." And later, after knocking him out briefly, "Bring yourself to life. You're a doctor."

Entertaining only as a comedy. The mystery is given short shrift.

THE CASE OF THE LUCKY LEGS (1935) is a delightful entry into the Warren William "Perry Mason" series. It's a breezy murder-mystery that's full of silliness. William is great as the unorthodox attorney and Genevieve Tobin is simply wonderful as his trusty secretary Della Street.

William brings levity to the Perry Mason character, pulling the strings and solving the case while having a blast. Tobin is a comedic revelation in her turn as Della Street. Her performance is flirty and witty and daffy and hilarious as she handles Mason's office while he's away. Tobin is a great comedienne, and lovely, too. (She calls to mind that other great comedienne, Joan Blondell. Something around the eyes, I think.) Each "Perry Mason" film brought a new actress to play Della Street opposite Warren William, but Tobin really makes an impression in this entry.

The mystery starts with a "Lucky Legs" competition racket and soon involves a murder and several suspects. Pretty young Warner Bros. contract player Patricia Ellis plays the latest winner of the "nicest legs" scam, who (along with doctor boyfriend Lyle Talbot) might be the murderer in question. Perry Mason is on the case, along with his associate on the street, Spudsy (Allen Jenkins). The supporting cast also includes familiar faces like Porter Hall, Olin Howland, Barton MacLane, and Henry O'Neill.

With the plot built around a "nicest legs" competition, you can bet there'll be a lot of gams on display and Warner Bros. does not disappoint. The opening scene at the Lucky Legs finals features a parade of anonymous shapely limbs. Perry Mason is even shown Ellis's neck-down contest submission photo, allowing him to later identify the girl by her $1000 legs.

THE CASE OF THE LUCKY LEGS is a quick murder-mystery programmer, but the writing and the performances are so much fun that I couldn't help but give the movie a 7/10.

Erle Stanley Gardner oversaw the TV series "Perry Mason," including picking the Perry - so you can see the difference between that series and a Mason movie like "The Case of the Lucky Legs." Warren William is Mason, and his Mason is 180 degrees different from his first, more serious Mason portrayal in "The Case of the Howling Dog." Here, he's extremely flippant, he and Delta flirt constantly, and it's all a game to him in between drinks. In the first entry into the series, he has a huge office with lots of associates; here, he's a one-man office as in the books.

William's Mason has nothing to do with the Erle Stanley Gardner's passionate Perry Mason of the Depression, or the steady, solid Perry of later on, but he's still wonderful - handsome, charming, debonair, and very funny. He's definitely a guilty pleasure, even though I know how much Gardner hated these films.

At least in title, this is an actual Perry Mason story, and it's a good one.

Warren William played heavies in silent films and emerged in talkies as a leading man. He had a great persona.

Very entertaining.

Something is fishy about the "lucky legs" contest at the big department store—in fact, the winner was cheated out of her prize money by the sponsoring hosiery company. The store owner enlists Perry Mason's help.

Our first glimpse of Mason is a good indication of this picture's level of seriousness: he's asleep on his office floor, and when awakened turns out to be rather hung over, in a goofy mood—but quite sharp enough to efficiently gather some details about the new case.

Or course it soon becomes a murder case involving multiple suspects and featuring assistance from Mason's secretary Della Street (Genevieve Tobin) and his associate Spudsy (Allen Jenkins).

Warren William talks fast and appears to be having fun in what must be one of his sillier performances. Tobin is very funny as Della, delivering one coy look and sly smirk after another. Jenkins is right at home in this kind of a picture—his comical sour looks and unheeded protests are perfect foils to Tobin's and William's breeziness.

The solid cast also includes Lyle Talbot as a handsome young doctor who gets mad at his girlfriend for immodestly entering (and winning) the legs contest, and Patricia Ellis as said girlfriend who tells him off, at least temporarily.

The emphasis is on humor more than on mystery or suspense, so the snappy dialog stands out a lot more than the plot. It goes by awfully fast, it's frequently hilarious, and if you can't really remember who did it five minutes after it's over—well, that wasn't really the point, anyway.

When I sat down to watch this I thought, another Perry Mason movie. I have always loved Perry Mason but this is the best damn one you will ever see.

As well as having a great plot and whodunnit side to it, it has got to be the funniest movie you are ever likely to see. A classic scene arises at the end of the movie when Perry has gathered everyone together to announce the killer, at the same time that the doctor is giving him a physical.

If you are into comedy/whodunnit movies then I highly recommend this one.