The Case of the Blind Man's Bluff

A man plans to steal jewels by rehearsing as a blind man. He is due an operation and feels if he is "blind," he can get away with the theft. With a couple of glitches, he manages, but ends up falling several stories off a roof. Of course, another young guy gets tapped for the murder.

Jack Ging is Perry Mason's client in this episode, a young man who wants to get his mother's jewelry on display at a Tiffany like store in Los Angeles, owned by George MacReady and run by John Conte. Conte and a few others have a nice little racket going of selling stolen jewels through the store.

But Conte is having a cash flow problem and he decides on a daring robbery. You've got to have the guts of a burglar for this one. He knows he's going to need eye surgery soon that will leave his eyes bandaged for a week. For weeks he works out a route to a company penthouse next door that he can run blindfolded.

The robbery goes off as planned, but Conte gets himself killed and the stolen jewels are stolen from him. And Ging is on the hot seat for the murder.

Just by the description of Conte's activities, there are any number of possible murderers, sworn enemies and greedy friends. And a lovely female accomplice in Merry Anders.

The murderer in fact is no surprise, mainly because this player has a history of playing some of the slimiest creeps on celluloid. They should have had this one as a red herring, might have worked better in terms of suspense.

Still not a bad episode.

This started off with a great concept but for some reason just did not have the flair or interest that other episodes have possessed. A very smart idea that was just to bland.

Karl Addison is the manager of a jewelry store that is owned by Charles Slade. Seems that Karl is working at little overtime when some of the jewelry sold at the store is being recognized as containing stolen gems. Well, Karl has this plan of stealing from the store and has a nice alibi. He is going in for eye surgery and will be totally blind for weeks. But that does not stop Karl, he rehearses stealing from the company while blindfolded so that when he is really blind he can perform the robbery. With a little help from the inside, Karl makes his play for the loot.

But things to not go as planned and Karl is killed and the jewelry he stole is missing. All the evidence points to a young man named Jim Kincannon. His mother has valuable jewelry stored at store and Jim is in desperate need of money. And when he is seen at Karl's penthouse pad at the time of the murder, Perry will make an appearance to save Jim from the gas chamber.

Even with the nice plot, no one in this episode seemed enthusiastic about the story. There's a lot of misleading information that has the viewer guessing but nothing that made this show stand out from others. Not really a bad episode but one that looked so promising and then ended like fat-free milk.

Creepy at times whodunit (which we love), somewhat in the tradition of 77 SUNSET STRIP, showcasing some resourceful thieves. And this is one thief who is as resourceful as they get.

Veteran actor John Conte plays Addison, jewelry seller by day and thief by night. He has his greedy eyes set on a jewel collection owned by the son (Jack Ging) of the once wealthy Kincannon family. About to undergo a serious eye operation, Addison cleverly maps plans to steal the rocks right under everybody's nose by pretending to be blind. His belief is no one would ever suspect a blind man of stealing anything. And he has a point.

Before he gets to enjoy the fruits of his labor, Addison conveniently gets tossed out a high rise window(!) -- and Ging (who has enough problems of his own) is charged with the grisly murder. So whodunit?

Pretty clever late night skullduggery, and Perry's subsequent investigation and trial is fascinating. A gem written by Samuel Newman, who wrote over 100 prime mysteries for the show. Producer Arthur Marks directed, with some eerie atmospheric touches.

Noir villain George Macready plays Slade, the owner of the jewelry company. Good role for Merry Anders (as Adele) and Jean Allison (Helen), who yes, both appeared on 77 SUNSET STRIP too. Allison passed in 2024.

If you dig deep enough, the story may have inspired a classic BARNABY JONES episode, "See Some Evil, Do Some Evil," starring Roddy McDowall as a thief and killer who pretended to be blind. Also one of his victims falls from a penthouse window. Interesting connection.

Best of SEASON 4 EPISODE 19 remastered CBS dvd box set. Volumes 1 and 2.

We all know how perfect Mason's main cast fits together, but the show also had a very fit ensemble of perfectly played guest stars. Same with the writers and directors, most who frequently flew with Perry. In this case it was director Arthur Marks, whose dynamic life gets duly praised in this episode's comprehensibly enjoyable IMDb bio. What great fun! Keen too! Whoever wrote it - Thank You!