The Case of the Arrogant Arsonist

I think my rating of six is a bit generous, but only because a few of the performances are on point. The writing and directing, however, is a complete dumpster fire.

The plot is confusing from the beginning, and the lengths the killer goes to in perpetration of his scheme is too much of a stretch to be believable. The TV reporter (one of the eventual victims) is simply a caricature here.

The defendant (Tom Tully) is allowed to be an over-the-top annoyance, making for little pity for his situation. There were a few plot devices used here that stretched the boundaries of belief, and the final solution left much to be desired. This one is just smoke & ashes...

Pushy and mouthy talk show host Frank Aletter who has it in for former Fire Chief Tom Tully whom he held responsible for not saving his house. Now there's been an arson fire and it's at a warehouse that Tully owns and he's said on the air that Tully torched his own place. That wins him a slander suit for which Tully has retained Perry Mason. Oh, incidentally the night watchman was killed in the arson.

But then Tully gets arrested when Aletter is found at the bottom of a canyon in Tully's car and dead before it hit the bottom. That's when Tom Tully really needs Raymond Burr.

One of the shortest courtroom sequences in the history is in this area, where Raymond Burr puts on no defense at the hearing and the judge orders Tully bound over for trial. To William Talman's befuddlement, but Burr has it in mind to get the real culprit to implicate himself outside the courtroom.

That involves the real killer briefly holding Perry Mason hostage and then fleeing another waterfront warehouse. The Perry Mason Show gets a bit of unexpected action not in the courtroom.

I personally enjoyed this episode. In 1965 I worked for Spectrol Electronics, a POTENTIOMETER manufacturer in San Gabriel, CA. And wire winding machines were of great importance in manufacturing these items. And "pots" are used everywhere. This plot really interested me and found it true record of this item. The acting and script was outstanding. The actors are all very experienced and always give outstanding performances.

And I have enjoyed this one for many years.

Sorry, but to me this episode was a real clunker. First thing the defendant was an annoying old geezer who needed to take up a hobby instead of running around bothering the firefighters who are trying to do their job. The current fire chief looked even older than the retired guy. A quick look on the biographies showed that he was actually 2 years older. Their is no courtroom drama, no Della and Perry Mason spends most of his time riding around in the back of the fire chiefs car. In a final note of idiocy they reveal a picture of some important machine that was supposed to be in the fire. It turns out to look like the Way Back Machine that Mr. Peabody used to take him and his boy Sherman on adventures into the past.

Most of the blame in this one should go on the producer. We have some stock fire-fighting footage, an empathetic scene of the responsibilities of the LA County Fire Department, an excuse to show some Hollywood fire scene equipment, and in the end--only one person remaining in episode to be the killer--other than Gertie. Telling anymore of the plot would be a spoiler, but, perhaps appropriate to lauch a complicated scheme to "smoke-out" a double-murdering "Arrogant Arsonist", but watch it once, to say to you did. Watch it for only to see perfectly square forehead wrinkles on the acting chief--it's probably these wrinkles which earned him the role.