The Case of a Place Called Midnight

Perry goes to Mittlenacht to check out the girlfriend of the son (an army lieutenant) of a client/good friend, as a personal favor. The son's superior, a captain, is found dead, with the son holding a gun at the scene, by girlfriend and Perry. A Swiss inspector (played by Klemperer, aka "Colonel Klink") is instantly on the scene, but only wants son to come to "his place." Klemperer wants the US Army to take over the killing of one American by another American. Perry believing the son truthful suspects something else. We have a bad crook scamming greedy people. Perry reasons the situation out. Episode ends with Klemperer asking Perry for help in a different case. A truly period piece with the girlfriend being what would be called a displaced person. This "Mittlenacht" is in Switzerland, as inferred in a late scene at the Mittlenacht train station in which Perry tells girlfriend her passport is bad, but girlfriend says she needs work in (West) Germany where the jobs are.

This is a different sort of Perry episode than we are use to seeing in the series. It happens in Mitternacht Switzerland, Paul and Della are not featured in this episode, there is no courtroom hearing and Perry is not lead counsel for the person accused of the crime. So this episode is more of an detective type show that we are accustom to seeing on TV today.

It begins with an army officer named Fred Ralston (Fred Vincent). He works on an army team that finds stolen treasures from the Nazi era. His family is also good friends with Perry Mason. And since Perry is in Europe (we also know this from the last episode), the family ask him to check on Fred and a girl named Greta Koning that Fred is going to marry.

There is a lake in Mitternacht that is believed to be a place where the Nazi's hid gold. And this is the investigation that Fred is working. However there are some other treasure hunters, lead by Dr Kleinman, that also wants to find the gold before the army. So they are working to raise the money to get the gold out of the lake.

Anyway Fred's supervisor ends up dead in his hotel room and Fred is holding the gun when Perry and Swits Inspector Hurt (Werner Klemperer from Hogan Heros fame) comes into the room.

Fred is never charged with the crime but could have been taking back to the army base in Germany but Perry intervenes to help find the murderer.

Near the end of the show another person is dead but due to quick thinking by Inspector Hurt, the person involved with the crime is caught.

The show is packed with dialog and characters. Really too many characters for this 52 minute fast pace show.. The treasure hunters along involve; a former movie star, an American businessman, a boat guy, a hotel owner, and Argentina business man, Dr Kleinman and his hitch-man. Everyone has dialog and at times it is difficult to keep track with all the people in the story. But the story holds together and comes across as a nice watch for the viewer.

At the end we also get a nice touching moment between Fred and Greta that makes the episode even nicer for the sentimental lovers in the world. Different from regular show but still better than most things on TV today.

Although Raymond Burr did not enter a courtroom in this episode he did solve a murder, in fact a couple of them. In doing so he pulled the chestnuts out of the fire for Fred Vincent who is a soldier stationed in Europe and who has fallen for Susanne Cramer whose aunt runs a resort hotel where all kinds of intrigue is going on.

It seems as though in this Alpine Lake it is rumored that Nazis hid a vast treasure at the bottom of it. That's got a whole lot of people gathered at the hotel, a veritable international list of treasure hunters. Among them are Americans Robert Emhardt a rich businessman and Gerald Mohr an expatriate movie star.

When army colonel Jim Davis winds up dead and Vincent found with gun in hand at the body, it's a good thing Perry Mason is there. For all intents and purposes, he's the client and what happens to all of Perry Mason's clients happens here.

Gerald Mohr has an interesting role, very suggestive of William Holden who was residing in Switzerland at the time to avoid taxes. And Werner Klemperer plays the German cop and one who is vastly different from Colonel Wilhelm Klink.

A variation on the usual Perry Mason episode, but not all that different.

One of the great things about this series, is how they throw in some interesting curve balls at times. Here we have an adventure where Perry is in Switzerland--no Paul Drake along, no Della, and of course no Hamilton Burger! It's just Perry, a pillar of calm and clear thinking in the midst of a big tangled mess.

The establishing shots of Switzerland are frequent and excellent. You really feel like you are there, which is a lot of fun. In the beginning of the episode, one isn't sure just what is going on, or indeed where this episode is going, but it's certainly interesting. Perry makes a very good entrance; I'm sure you'll agree, when we first see him! He's as cool as ever.

The folks making the show did a good job of keeping things fresh, and this one is a good example of that.

"I wanna go over the wall, I just don't understand this thing at all! Please don't be waiting for me..."

As I watched this highly unusual Perry Mason episode, I had to keep asking "Where was this location?" It really did look like a European Village, and with clever use of establishing stock footage, the producers of Perry Mason make us believe it. There are even Volksvagens and Citreons, instead of Fords or GM cars.

You have to remember there was still an Iron Curtain back in these days, and a Berlin Wall too. This ep appears to have happened in Switzerland, but the shade of Nazi Germany and WW II is all too present.

It appears that some secret Nazi treasure had been found, and that our guest-defendant (who actually never came to trial) had been set up as part of a fictional US Navy team to find it. Meanwhile, crooks are also looking for it.

Mason is on a plane with one of the crooks, on his way to meet the defendant.

But our guest defendant was only interested in a girl, really. The only question then, is "what is really going on"

This Mason ep is like watching a mid 50's Noir spy thriller, they did a good job of making us believe Perry was not actually in Big Bear Lake.