Perry Mason: The Case of the Notorious Nun

Perry (Raymond Burr) is paying a visit to see an old friend in the church who has concerns that when it comes to the church's business dealings things are not quite on the level. But whilst there Father Thomas O'Neil (Timothy Bottoms) is murdered and Sister Margaret (Michele Greene) is charged with the murder despite claiming she is innocence. Unsurprisingly Perry takes the case and calls back Paul (William Katt) from his holiday in the sun to help do the investigating. It quickly becomes apparent that Father O'Neil's murder was due to him looking in to the business dealings of various people who weren't happy with his snooping.

The formula is there - the build-up to the murder, the investigations, Perry getting under people's skin with his questions, the revelations in the courtroom and of course Paul doing his usual snooping, and the final revelation. It's a standard yet solid and entertaining episode. Tom Bosley stars as a priest- not too long he would play Father Dowling in a mystery series.

Interesting that about five years before all the sex scandals started breaking with the Catholic Church, this Perry Mason mystery is about a nun accused of murder because she was trying to cover up an affair with a priest.

In Perry Mason: The Case of the Notorious Nun the eminent criminal lawyer is now defending Michele Greene who was working with Father Timothy Bottoms doing an audit of a Catholic hospital. But a letter in her room sent to her by Bottoms implicates her big time when he turns up dead.

But these two frocked accountants uncover a lot of pilferage from that hospital, in fact it was Archbishop William Prince who retains Raymond Burr to defend Greene. This other sin, this nonsexual one opens up a host of other suspects.

Perry Mason always had a G rating and the sex among clergy is a topic treated most gingerly. Still Greene's not certain whether she can take her final vows in the end.

David Ogden Stiers made the first of eight appearances as the District Attorney and James McEachin was in nearly all the rest of the Perry Mason films as Sergeant, later Lieutenant Ed Brock.

This is one of the better Perry Masons as we discover just which commandments are broken that provide a motive for a homicide. Come to think of it, that's a commandment as well.

The writers and director have priests and nuns doing what no priest or nun would do. Simply preposterous. Suspending disbelief is not enough; you actually have to shoot, mutilate, and burn your disbelief and scatter the ashes at one of the poles in order to tolerate this garbage.

Michele Greene's character isn't a nun, but a novitiate. She'd be in the convent or in class, not acting as some visiting priest's aide-de-camp; in fact, no nun would be in that capacity with a priest. It's ridiculous.

The priest wouldn't be at a hotel. He'd be in a rectory guest room. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Priests and nuns wouldn't "pal around" as these two did. It simply wouldn't happen. Preposterous.

Nuns wouldn't gossip with one another in the convent as is represented in the movie. These are not naive schoolgirls who would spend their time ooooohing and aaaaaahing about some boy. It's pathetic what's represented as plausible by the writers and the director.

Too bad. Michele Greene is, as usual, hot, even with her snood, but it's all too, too preposterous. Have a vomit bucket next to yourself if you're forced to watch this nonsense by a Perry Mason/Raymond Burr fan whom you don't want to offend

I suspect Burr needed the money and Greene needed the work. Burr's no doubt spinning in his grave and Greene's still cringing.

Father Timothy Bottoms is investigating possible corruption in the archdiocese at the order of the Archbishop. Novice Michele Greene has been assisting him. As he finds disturbing signs of corruption, rumors about a sexual relationship between the two swirl. When she is called to his hotel room, she finds an unknown priest there. He gives her a drink of sherry and she falls asleep. When she wakes, Bottoms' corpse is found, and she finds herself on trial for the priest's murder. Good thing that Raymond Burr is at hand when she is taken into custody and that he is Perry Mason.

Of course there are several other suspects, mostly having to do with the corruption issues, and when they're on the witness stand, you know that the least likely one will confess. In the meantime, there's the story of Miss Greene's character and her uncertainty about whether to take her final vows. It's a bit reminiscent of the movie A NUN'S STORY and makes the TV movie seem derivative. Still, there's always the fun of watching Raymond Burr in his signature role.

Good episode with various standard tropes when it deals with the church; shifty clerics; a nun with doubts..two weak points ..it's hard to accept that anyone would think this frail, smallish nun could overcome a strapping young man and stab him. Then there's the Lt Brock character..McEachin postures and flails about in his usual over the top manner. It's mostly a Paul Drake show ..but that's just fine !