The Case of the Betrayed Bride

I am an avid Perry Mason watcher, and have been so for years. I've waited a very long time before writing this review, and it is written with regret. But this episode came on tonight, and I could hold back no longer. I am in complete agreement with Irishtom99; this is an awful episode. Examples: (1) the rarely-so-subtle Neil Hamilton is the model of restraint compared to the overacting of the rest of the guest cast. A prime example is John Larkin, who was quite memorable (among a cast of acting heavyweights) as Colonel Broderick in "Seven Days of May", gave terrific support as General Crowe on TV's "Twelve o'Clock High" and portrayed Perry Mason on radio for eight and a half years; he is absolutely manic in this episode as one of the nephews. The only guest cast member who came across as believable was the always enjoyable Jacques Aubuchon as the jilted paramour of Jeanette Nolan. (2) Speaking of Jeanette Nolan, perhaps her wig was meant to be that of a widow attempting to recapture her youth; that being said, even by 1960's standards, it is still pretty frightening. I think Phyllis Diller wore it when she went to Vietnam with Bob Hope. If Phyllis did, she should have dropped the wig out of the plane over the Pacific Ocean. (3) The French accents make Pepe' le Pew sound like he's speaking the Queen's English. (4) It seemed to me that the main cast, especially Raymond Burr, realized this was a stink-bomb in the making as it was being filmed, and they seemed to be going through the motions, which is rarely ever the case. I could go on and on, but I will leave it to others who are more eloquent or more schooled in acting, casting and directing than me to comment. Let me end with this; when I think of the tragedy of all the lost DuMont kinescopes and films that were dumped in Upper New York Bay, and when I think of all the tapes of BBC programs there were wiped to reuse the tapes, why couldn't this moldy lump of Roquefort join them in TV oblivion?

People saying it's awful, have forgotten 1964, it's no more over the top than other storys on TV of the day, like Burke's law etc. Also always gotta kick out of Jeanette Nolan in a blond wig and cocktail party clothes on, a departure for sure. The young maid is really from Europe, Belgium to be exact. Neil Hamilton does a great job as the over the top Butler , Guy Stockwell did a good job, so did Dianne Foster and John Larkin. Perry is driving a very nice Lincoln Continental Convertible, that the maid steals. Not one of the best, but also not one of the worst. It's very 1964, I was a kid then but did watch evening TV .

This episode begins with the Meachum clan waiting for their eccentric Aunt Nellie (Jeanette Nolan) to arrive back from Europe. While in Europe her husband, Harry, had died and the family has been waiting for sometime for Nellie to return in order to sell some property for development which will mean millions of dollar for the entire family.

However at the airport Aunt Nellie arrives with a new young french husband named Pierre Dubois (Michael Forest). All this to the disgust of the Meachum Family.

Everyone wants Pierre out of the way so they hire a young french maid named Marie Claudet (Annie Forque). By putting the young maid in a nice uniform this will be a way to lure Pierre from the older aunt's vows. But no one knew that the maid and Pierre had a history which did not end well. So Marie, the maid, is out to get some things straightened out before return to Paris. And Pierre wants her gone at any cost.

Anyway Pierre ends up dead in a swimming pool. And Marie is seen running from the house at the time of the murder. She even steals Perry's car during her flight but is soon caught by the clever Paul Drake. Now Perry will defend her for the charges that was brought by Hamilton Burger's office.

In this show you have suspects galore. The three Meachum family members all wanted Pierre gone. Roger Brody (Jacques Aubuchon) who wanted to buy the land from Nellie at a discount would have done anything to get that land.- And Victor Billings (Neil Hamilton of Batman fame) who was the butler but also had some interest in the estate of Harry and Nellie land. (I really did not understand his role in the entire property)

During the finals of the court scene we get a exciting twist to a Perry Mason plot. Without giving it away we have what I refer to as a surprise ending. This really helped the show since it seemed to be lagging with all the talk of the property. You will be glad you watch the episode to the end.

There are some notable things about this episode. This was the seventh and last time that Neil Hamilton played a part in a 'Perry Mason' episode. I do not know if that was a record but he was good every time and soon moved on to the Batman series.- Since this episode contained some french accents it is believe that Jacques Aubuchon was casted as Roger Brody. When he is on the witness stand he starts off with an french accent. Then later talks without an accent.- I will not say who, but at the end of the show we get a person that says "Noooooooooo". I will say it was the longest drag for the word 'no' in any Perry episode.- I am sure that CBS had better special effects than the back drop that was used for Paris street scene. Twice during the show we see the scene set in Paris, along the same street, with one of the worse unreal filmed back-drops I have ever witnessed.

Even with all that the show was good. Make sure you stay till the end.

In this Perry Mason episode everyone is concerned about dotty old Aunt Jeanette Nolan. After the death of her husband her two nephews John Larkin and Guy Stockwell are concerned about her dissipating the family legacy that they would inherit. Especially after she returns from Paris and has a new younger husband Michael Forest. Warning bells go off in everyone's head, most especially in butler Neil Hamilton's who hires a lovely French maid Annie Farge to put temptation in Forest's path.

When Forest is found dead in the pool though like William Holden in Sunset Boulevard the police the lovely Ms. Farge and Perry Mason who becomes her attorney shows some remarkable forgiveness as Annie fled the crime scene stealing Raymond Burr's car.

This was a really good episode with a lot of plot twists, the last one naming murderer quite a turn of events. Don't miss this episode at all.

Bleah. Everyone's acting is over the top, to the point that it's almost cartoonish. All the actors besides Perry, even Paul, are playing their roles over the top. We are big Perry fans, and we expect more than this.