The Case of the Deadly Double

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.

This makes for a very intriguing mystery! I especially like that Constance Ford, generally a character actress, gets to play sexy for once. Dowdy Helen Reed is also 'ball of fire' Joyce Martel, the beloved of tough-guy nightclub owner Johnny Hale. Her dual personality creates some lively complications-- is she two-timing anyone? Her doctor finally weighs in with the facts on Helen/Joyce, erroneously referring to her condition as Schizophrenia; any doctor would have known better.

Multiple Personality Disorder or Dissociative Disorder, now known as Dissociative Identity Disorder, had been first identified in the 1880s, but has still remained largely a mystery to many people. It has often been confused with personality shifts symptomatic of some forms of schizophrenia, giving rise to widespread misuse of the term 'schizophrenic' to indicate a 'split personality' or to express general duality. Schizophrenia is a psychosis, a mental illness treatable with medication, while Dissociative Identity is an acquired personality disorder usually formed as a survival mechanism after unbearable trauma.

The idea of split personality has readily leant itself to dramatic portrayal, especially onscreen, and this has served to familiarize more of the general public with the condition. There was Blanche Sweet in "The Case of Becky" (1915) from the stage success by that name, remade in 1918 as "The Two-Soul Woman" with Priscilla Dean. Still to come were Constance Binney in a remake of "The Case of Becky" in 1921, followed by Gladys Walton in "The Untameable" (1923). Barbara La Marr took on a new treatment of the theme in "Sandra" (1924). More familiar today after 1957's "The Three Faces of Eve" would be small-screen treatments "Cybil" with Sally Field, and Shelley Long in "Voices Within: The Lives of Truddi Chase". But use as a dramatic device is quite widespread. 2001's "K-Pax" even throws in an extraterrestrial twist, and "The Danish Girl" from 2015 complicates matters with a transgender issue.

"Deadly Double" is definitely worth a look.

Denver Pyle is the Perry Mason client in this episode. But the case turns on Pyle's sister Constance Ford who is the victim of a dual personality. She's the estranged wife of Carleton G. Young who winds up dead and it's possible that Ford might have killed her and her primary personality would not know anything about it. She has in fact a strange handbag with the murder weapon inside.

Strange to Young's wife, but not to her wild child other personality. But Pyle made some public threats to Young and that's why the cops have him in the jackpot.

With the help of Ford's treating psychiatrist Abraham Sofaer the truth is revealed.

The players are good, sad to say the writers weren't really up on their mental health knowledge in writing this story.

A number of reviewers have done great recaps of the plot line here, and updated the medical component.

But trying assiduously to avoid any spoilers, i think it's as drama that this episode really shines.

Special kudos to Murray Hamilton for his superb portrayal of the "tough guy".

His performance is worthy of any of the best noirs.

That said, the episode is no doubt Constance Ford's.

Her work in this is stunning.

Watch her on the witness stand - a master class in acting.

This is one of the finest and most intriguing Perry Mason's.

Groundbreaking in it's subject matter, but still firmly rooted in exploring the human frailties that lead to disaster.

They even manage a certain melancholy for the perpetrator.

An interesting melange, well presented, and highly recommended!

My grandfather loved Perry Mason, so I watched it with him for yers in the 1970s. I am rewatching the series at his age then. This is the best episode of the first 25. Why? Best story.