Perry Mason: The Case of the Lost Love

Although this movie manages to hold the interest up to the -unexpected, it is the truth-finale, I would not recommend it. The reason is that it is a 'conservative' and very typical film, made for the taste of the ordinary American TV spectator, which presents an unimportant mixture between police adventures and court dramas.

Not usually a fan of this series, I was pleasantly surprised by the great acting (esp. Simmons/Burr) and mildly entertaining story line.

However I would still bracket this type of television with 'Murder She Wrote' and 'Father Dowling Mysteries' as being large unpalatable but pleasant in small doses - when its raining :)

I used to be a fan of the black & white Perry Masons, but this was a more than unexpected surprise. As a television drama, it works exceedingly well, with an almost faultless screenplay and great acting. I LOVED Mr. Burr's Perry, all the more so because of his real suffering with a leg and difficulty at walking; and was pleasantly moved by this story of old romance, three main characters out of five that never married, decent people committing themselves to awful behavior, treason and deceit... All in all, what you used to call a very good yarn. Watch it and admire Jean Simmons, one of my favorite actresses in the Fifties and Sixties, doing her best to enthrall us again.

Of the series of TV-movies based on the Erle Stanley Gardner creation, as well as the popular television drama from the 50's and 60's, this is one of the best. Raymond Burr and Barbara Hale continue with their famous roles of Perry and his girl Friday, Della Street, assisted by William Katt (Hale's real-life son) as the detective son of Paul Drake, played in the original by the late William Hopper.

In this teleflick, Mason must defend Gene Barry who plays the husband of Jean Simmons, a Congressional hopeful and former love of the robust attorney. Because of the additional time alloted this presentation, there is a bit of action with Katt's character being the "leg man" that must get out in the field and drum up evidence that will prove Burr's client innocent.

With a cast of old pros like this one has, along with television stalwarts David Ogden Stiers ("M*A*S*H*"), Gordon Jump ("WKRP in Cincinnati"), Jonathan Banks ("Wiseguy"), and Robert Mandan ("Soap"), this is one of the better acted of the film series that ran for nine years, culminating with the death of Burr.

Though it plods along at times, the movie still holds the interest, all the way up to the surprising denouement.

The most ambitious and personal entry in the "Perry Mason" TV movie series. This time Mason comes to the defense of the husband of the woman he apparently loved and lost for the murder of a blackmailer who could have ruined her political career. The acting is top notch with Jean Simmons having great chemistry with Raymond Burr. Direction and production value is above norm for this series.