The Case of the Lucky Legs

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.

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.

As one other reviewer noted, The Case of the Lucky Legs seems to be a bit more concerned with laughs than mystery. I concur. Mason is portrayed as a lush with tendencies to make a pass at virtually any woman he meets. His assistant Spudsy Drake played by Allen Jenkins almost borders on farce at times as he tries to pick a fight in an airport and has things thrown at him by his wife. These are just two scenes where director Archie Mayo goes for much more broader humour than seen in the first two Mason films in the series. Perry gets sick on a flight, passes a cold to everyone he meets, and does his final summation in his offices to a slew of people while being given a physical as well. These comedic touches don't really detract from the film and make it a pretty entertaining film when added to the mystery - a lesser one than previously used in the two earler mason films. This time Perry must try and a help a Colonel Bradbury and the winner of a legs contest who have been swindled and duped by a conman who takes a powder after the contest with all the loot from the contest. Mason keeps mixing Bradbury's name throughout the whole film after meeting him from his floor bed in his office after a late night bender. Warren William again is the epitome of suave wit and charm releasing one-liners with great accuracy. His performance and, I might add, his worth as an actor, greatly aid this film and the other three he starred in as the lawyer Perry Mason. For the third film we have a third actress playing Della Street(Genevieve Tobin). She oozes witty charm and fits William's style almost perfectly. Jenkins, Barton Maclane, and Olin Howard reprise their roles for this third installment. Humdrum Lyle Talbot has the leading man role in the mystery as the love interest of the contest winner, played by a gorgeous Patricia Ellis. She has a fine set of attributes - nice legs too! Character actor Porter Hall plays Colonel Bradbury with some nice subtle comedic touches. This is a very entertaining film as really are all of the four films in the series starring William.

One day in 1935, Erle Stanley Gardener wandered onto a Hollywood sound stage. "What's being filmed," he asked? "A new Perry Mason comedy," answered an underling who didn't recognize the author. "You can't be serious," shuddered Gardner "And neither is the movie," said the underling. "I mean there's one scene where a client comes in and finds Warren William as Perry Mason lying under his desk, sleeping off a hangover. The poor sap thinks it's a dead body." "Are the courtroom scenes at least serious," wondered Gardner. "There aren't any courtroom scenes," shot back the underling. "Mason solves the murder of a con artist while in his office, being x-rayed by a doctor who's as much as a nutcase as he is. But nobody really cares about who did it or why." Gardener could have filed an injunction since he was a lawyer-turned-author. Instead, he made plans for a Perry Mason TV series if and when television was ever invented. And "The Case of the Lucky Legs" opened in theaters and got quite a lot of laughs.

I wonder what the younger audiences thought who saw the first Perry Mason movies in the 1930s, and then saw the Perry Mason TV series that began in 1957. Were they disappointed by the changed character and his venue? As some people seem to be today with the earlier films – those being people who grew up on the TV series that starred Raymond Burr. A number of other viewers have related that author Erle Stanley Gardner didn't like the direction, scripts and characters of his first books put on film. And this one, "The Case of the Lucky Legs," got his ire up the most. Supposedly, that led to his eventual efforts to serialize his stories on TV.

So, now we're stuck watching with the audience of 1935 this third film about Perry Mason, and the third starring Warren William. We've already seen considerable changes in character and his venue in these three films. He started off with a big office, law partners and his own investigative staff. In Lucky Legs, he's almost down and out, and a one-man show, but with sidekicks and friends.

This third film is the weakest of the mystery genre, mostly because the mystery is almost lost in the comedy. Indeed, there's so much comedy here, that the mystery is clearly an adjunct to the comedy with all its antics, witty exchanges and hilarious scenes. On second thought, the comedy may well have been invited because the mystery in this film is not that good or complicated. Plus, Warner Brothers had seen by then the success that MGM had with "The Thin Man," and how audiences loved the comedy of the Nick and Nora Charles mystery.

This film opens with a changed Perry from the earlier two films. He's a boozer whose health is in jeopardy. So, his friend, a doctor down the hall (played wonderfully by Olin Howland) prescribes rest and puts him on a heavy liquid diet that excludes anything alcoholic. Perry asks, "Are there any other liquids?" Della (played to maximum hilarity by Genevieve Tobin) replies, "Milk." Perry says, "Milk. You mean that unpalatable by-product of the cow?" Doctor Croker (Olin Howland) says, "Exactly! No excitement whatsoever, and no stimulants." Perry: "Did you get that, Miss Street? No stimulants and no excitement. I'll have to get rid of you." Della: "Thank you, you flatterer."

This film in places borders both on slapstick and on screwball comedy. It doesn't quite get there for either sub-genre, but the result is a mix of all types of humor with nice doses of slapstick and screwball throughout. Perry is at his height here for flirting and womanizing, but this is done only by insinuation and suggestion.

I rate this film a notch lower than the first two of the series because I think it loses its mystery appeal. To the point that the comedy almost dismisses the crime of murder. But, as a very good comedy, this film stands on its own. Here are some snippets of dialog to tickle one's funny bone.

District Attorney: "Bizzy, why do your men always arrive at the scene of a crime just after Mason?" Police Chief: "Well, I suppose it's because before they decide to a commit a murder, they hire Perry Mason to defend 'em."

Police Sergeant: "Who was that on the phone?" Della: "The garbage man. I told him to send up enough for four."

Airport steward: "I dropped him in a bus for the Lakeview Hotel." Perry: "You haven't got a lake here, have you?" Steward: "No, but the hotel has beds for you lie down on." Perry: "That's a very clever remark." One can see that the other two men are almost cracking up – which leads me to think that there may well have been some impromptu lines at times – especially from Warren William, that the director kept in the film. One has to love and laugh at exchanges like this. A Lakeview Hotel, but no lake. And that's OK because the hotel still has beds.

In a scene toward the end, Della is exhausted and is lying on the office sofa with her head turned toward the sofa back. Perry unlocks his back door and enters the room. Without turning her head to look at Perry, Della says, "Come right in and sit down, please. If you're looking for Mr. Mason, I don't know when the gentleman will be back." Perry says, "The gentleman is here." Della replies, "Oh, ha, don't lie to me. You're no gentleman. You're Perry Mason."