The Case of the Arrogant Arsonist

A darn good old fashion mystery coupled with some excellent on location work. Surprisingly, no big stars here (and even Barbara Hale isn't in this episode), nevertheless the cast does an admirable job.

Veteran actor Tom Tully (co-star of LINEUP) plays Carey York, a tough as nails retired fire chief who happens to own a warehouse. Unfortunately, someone is out to get him, kills his building manager and then torches the place. Could this all be payback for something York did to someone? To make matters worse, troublemaking tv reporter Tommy Towne (Frank Aletter) accuses York of rigging the fire to collect the insurance. And what a rat.

In an interesting switch, York hires Perry to sue Towne for slander -- that is until Towne's body is planted in his car. You have to admit, the killer is one fiendish character, and with a warped sense of humor. In a way, he was playing catch me if you can, due to the fact by this time York would no longer be a suspect. He would never put a body in his own car. A nod to writer Samuel Newman for delivering a top notch mystery. Story consultant for the show for many years, with good reason.

Filling in for Della is reliable Gertie (Connie Cezan), yes more on the comical side. Connie, in fact, often appeared with the Three Stooges. Two veteran actors are cast; Russell Thorson (Farrell), a radio star in the 30s and 40s, and Byron Morrow playing Captain Hillman.

Some keen on location scenes filmed at Los Angeles Harbor at San Pedro, enhancing the finale. Great idea for a showdown, replete with LOTS of water.

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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.

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.

This is a true jumble. I felt for the old watchman who was being blackmailed but the whole thing with the TV reporter seemed sort of off the rails. That retired firefighter was apparently to be admired, but he was also a big time nuisance. Not one of Perry's better episode.