The Case of the Purple Woman

This episode has one of those endings that the series is so famous in producing. A person is tripped up by Perry and the house of cards comes falling down as the person confesses to the crime. Classic Mason episode.

It begins when an art collector, Varner, has bought a painting from the Girard Gallery called 'The Purple Woman'. He discovers that the painting is a fake and goes to see the owner of the gallery Milo Girard. When Milo tells Varner that he will have to report this to the newspapers, Varner backs off since he is a well known art collector and might damage his reputation.

Milo Girard is one of those real cads. He hires a talent drunk to paint a forgery, then he sells the painting plus he is also running around on his wife Evelyn- just an all-out rotten guy. So it is not too painful when his secretary, who he has been seeing, finds him murdered in his office. But the bad thing is that it was one day after his wife had threaten to kill him over some letters he found that was addressed to her. So as you can tell Evelyn will be the first suspect that Hamilton Burger's office will seek to issue warrants for murder. Thank goodness Perry will be around to defend Ms Girard.

A nicely written episode with some fantastic acting that really hold the viewer's attention. The courtroom scenes are some of the best work we have seen in some time. With the great ending this episode was top notch. Good watch.

This is an interesting one. The plot is weaved well, the performances exceptional, the red herrings well-placed. My only issue with it is the saturation of egos, conceit and vanity are enough to drown half the audience. I suppose due to the subject matter, it was inevitable, but for me it seemed a bit off-putting. My issues are personal, so for the general audience it will be a good watch.

This is a neat plot with a couple holes. It is Mason's foray into the art world. It would be interesting to know how many masterpieces out there are actually fakes. This settles around the pomposity of a couple of big time art collectors who clash over a painting thought destroyed years ago. There is also a man who is a masterful forger and a masterful drunk. Good courtroom drama with the usual suspects.

Perry Mason enters the art world. More specifically the world of art forgeries.

Rufus Varner is a proud art collector. He has paid $86,000 for the painting, The Purple Woman through art dealer Milo Girard.

However an art expert takes one look at the painting and tells Varner that it is a forgery. Girard got frustrated artist Aaron Hubble to produced the forged painting. In return Girard promised Hubble a one man exhibition if his forgery could would fool Varner.

Fearing humiliation that he might end up looking like a chump. Varney demands his money back from Girard.

When Girard is found dead, his wife Evelyn is arrested. She hated her husband and was having an affair.

Perry Mason runs rings around Hamilton Burger. The latter wants to shy away from the subject of forged paintings but Mason forces him to open the door a little.

Mason also uses psychology to get one deluded person to open up. The confession was abrupt and too sudden, but normal for the course in these Perry Mason episodes.

The art world is the setting for this Perry Mason story. In it George MacReady makes the first of several appearances on the show, in this one an art dealer. He sells a bogus rare painting off on collector Rhys Williams. Williams is like the king in the emperor's new clothes, so proud of his reputation as art collector that he won't go to the cops to expose MacReady.

Then there's Robert Harris who thinks of himself as a great artist on his own right but can't get any other work than as a high priced forger of great works. He's who MacReady hired to make the forgery he passed off on Williams.

But when MacReady is killed it's his estranged wife Bethel Leslie who becomes the Perry Mason client. She's been seeing art critic Donald Murphy. MacReady not one to let grass grow under his feet has Doris Singleton for comfort.

So lots of folks had reason to do in MacReady who is his creepiest best in a true George MacReady part.

It is vanity and Raymond Burr has to overcome that to gain Leslie's acquittal. The perpetrator is definitely in the top three you might suspect.