The Case of the Deadly Double

This episode is different than most of Perry's cases. We still have the basic concept of the show but with a new twist and set of circumstances.

Actress Constance Ford plays a women with dual-personalities. At times she is a meek, mild mannered woman named Helen Reed. Then at other times she is this hot-to-trot women that makes any man succumb to her every whim or wish. Ms Ford does a good job playing both roles. She has a way to make the viewer identify with both characters. The audience follows along because both are so far away from each other that it appears that two people are playing the one role.

Even though there is not much to the story other than the one crime- the physiological part hold the person interest in watching the entire episode.

A good support case helped in making this show enjoyable, Denver Pyle (Uncle Jessie from 'Dukes of Hazzard' fame) does a good job in this dramatic role. Proves he use do serious acting before being typecast as a southern regular.

Watching the episode, it appeared that the storyline was going to be short of a full 52 minutes of show. So they added some extra scenes that involved memorable exchanges between Perry and Lt Tragg. This along is worth watching.

My best friend was dissociative.

Everything about this episode was spot on, The language was a little bit different between then and modern medicine now, but this is exactly how it is.

Maybe this is related to "the three faces of Eve", but here, we only have 2 personalities. We have to remember in the 50s people did not believe in this disorder and it took a long time for medicine to start acknowledging that it exists.

In my friends case, there were dozens, hundreds of personalities.

What was very accurate was that one of the personalities became aware of the other. That is pretty much how this syndrome is dealt with, making each of the personalities aware of each other, and then they can cooperate.

Although in the case of Joyce Martell, she was more interested in playing tricks on her doppelgänger.

I too wanted to know more about that woman's fate after the resolution of murder.

The doctor that was depicted treating the woman had his medical language pretty much exact, including his definition of what dissociative disorder actually means.

And Perry Mason was very considerate when they needed to get the personality to appear.

We are shown a form of hypnosis, this was pretty much how therapists have treated this disease, until the onset of managed care.

My friend used to be admitted to the hospital into a private room, where her therapist along with a medical doctor, would use hypnotism, accompanied by sedatives to get the treatment started.

This is pretty much how the doctor in this episode gets Joyce Martell to appear, sans the hypnotic medication.

I have literally seen my friend reacting to allergies and then not reacting after changing.

This is a good episode to show people who have recently been diagnosed with dissociative disorder...

Another good movie to watch would be the film "identity" with John Cusack.

I am surprised I have never reviewed this episode and to think this is during Perry Mason's first season... I am not sure if this is one of the ones written by Earle Stanley Gardner. But whether it is or not, this episode is swell. It has a good blend of mystery and discovery.

Even though not written by Erle Stanley Gardner I think this is one of the best Perry Masons ever. Constance Ford was a great actress. Unfortunately she is mostly forgotten today. When this episode comes up, sit back and prepare to be entertained.

Robert Crane (Denver Pyle) warns his brother in law David Reed that if he continues to try to sue to have his son taken from his mother, Crane's sister Helen Reed, that he will kill him.

It turns out that Helen Reed is a very mousy proper woman, but she has a boisterous bon vivant alternate personality, Joyce Martel. Joyce likes to hang out in bars and is having an affair with a super jealous nightclub owner. Helen is not aware of Joyce's existence, but Joyce is aware of Helen's. Joyce even has her own apartment under her name for her night life existence. Then Helen's husband is found murdered in Joyce's apartment with her brother's gun. The brother is arrested for the murder, and Perry takes the case.

By talking to Helen's psychiatrist Perry learns the facts of Helen's illness and about the existence of Joyce Martel. The good doctor tells him that Helen could not have committed the murder, but that Joyce easily could have done it. The only way Perry can get to the bottom of things is have Joyce testify, and that involves putting Helen in a trance. You can just imagine the objections coming from Hamilton Burger.

The idea of multiple personalities had been explored in "The Three Faces of Eve" the year before, but it was not commonly discussed on TV yet. And even then the show mislabels Helen Reed's illness. The psychiatrist says that she has schizophrenia when that is NOT the same as multiple personality disorder.

There is something Hitchcockian about this story as it deals with multiple personalities.

Helen Reed is a seemingly normal woman who is going through a messy divorce from her wealthy husband. Especially regarding custody of their son. Her husband calls Helen an unfit mother. Helen's brother threatens her husband.

When her husband is found dead, Helen's bag contained the gun used to kill him.

However there is another woman of interest. Joyce Martel who is a floozie and she is seeing a low rent gangster who is a bit of a shark.

Perry discovers that Helen and Joyce are the same woman with different personalities. Helen is allergic to furs but not Joyce.

There are some psychological tricks pulled by Perry such as bringing out Helen's dual personality in the witness box. However I thought the denouement was weak with the whole story being mumbo jumbo.

Murray Hamilton plays the gangster and Denver Pyle plays Helen's concerned brother.