The Case of the Posthumous Painter

An ordinary artist fakes his suicide with the idea of an inside man selling his painting for way over what they were worth when he was "alive." It pulls in all kinds of greedy people and ends up getting him killed. Unfortunately, his "widow" ends up in jail and charged with his murder when he reappears. The highlight of the show is the last minute when the U. S. Post Office comes into play.

While I find this episode very watchable, it's not for any semblance of mystery or intrigue. The murderer is very apparent from the start. The actors here are very convincing, directing adequate, what red herrings exist are well-placed, but the writers failed to hide the obviousness of who the killer would turn out to be. The courtroom reveal was so apparent that it deflated any suspense that could have been. Still a good watch if you can overlook the obvious.

If Francisco Goya had been able to fake his death and stick around for a while with a Swiss bank account for his sales, how rich do you think he could get? Or Picasso, or Matisse, or Toulouse Lautrec? Just simple supply and demand when you're dead the supply ceases.

But Britt Lomond with the help of gallery owner Stu Erwin has a scheme to fake his own death and paint some more pictures and clean up. He may be an artist of great talent, but he's got a character rotten to the core.

It's wife Lori March who thought she was a widow who Raymond Burr has to defend and there's a whole lot of alternative suspects provided in this episode.

Young Karl Held clerking in the Perry Mason law office helps a great deal with a test that can tell how old a painting actually is and apparently can do it within days.

Lomond was an actor who played some nasty characters. He was a bloodthirsty General Custer in Tonka and he was the Commandante of the city of Los Angeles in Zorro and his mortal enemy. He's the equal of those two here.

Greed is generally the theme with Perry as homicide is with Hitchcock. Britt Lomond plays an aspiring painter called Jack Culross who subscribes to the Edgar Alan Poe method of fame and fortune. Being dead increases the price of your work. Accordingly, he fakes his suicide and lays low waiting for the payoff.

Not what he thinks. Culross is assisted by greedy museum owner Stu Erwin (Austin), however it's his wife, Edna (Lori March) who stands accused of murder when he "really" turns up dead. Naturally, she's expected to gain all the money his paintings make, though she's also seen fighting with the guy, just before he gets whacked. A case for armchair detectives who enjoy a solid whodunit. Excellent direction by Bernard L. Kowlaski, who directed COLUMBO, BARETTA, many others. Hitch chose the right director.

Stellar cast; Stu Erwin, a staple in classic 30s comedies, has a fine dramatic part here. Screen villain par excellence George Macready plays a doctor, also Jason Evers as Clint and James Griffith as Hutchings. If you're a soap fan, Lori March appeared in TEXAS and SECRET STORM. Britt Lomond went onto become an assistant director for adventures like WONDER WOMAN.

Recommended, with a title that undoubtedly made Erle Stanley Gardner's day. From SEASON 6 EPISODE 9 remastered CBS dvd box set. Volumes 1 and 2. Thank you to METV for running these oldies twice daily.

A very good mystery from the 5th season puts Perry in the middle of an arranged suicide that turns into murder. And with some good writing this episode is bound to be an interest to all 'Perry Mason' fans.

The episode begins as we see an up-and-coming artist named Jack Culross leave a suicide note for his wife as he walks into the ocean. Later, with help from a citizen, the police find Jack's car and note and assume that he walked into the ocean to kill himself. But that is not the case.

What Jack has done is arrange a conspiracy with a partner named Austin Durrant- in that he will be picked up down the beach. By people thinking he is dead his artwork will be worth much more money than it would be with him still alive. . Jack and Austin plan to buy his uncompleted work from the widow, Edna Culross, and then finish the painting and pocket the extra money. This works out well until Edna sees a painting that was unfinished at the time of her husband's death. The painting was now finished and being sold at the Durrant art gallery. Edna Culross seeks the advise of Perry Mason for the forged painting.

However, the supposedly dead Jack Culross gets in contact with his wife and they meet outside the gallery. An argument breaks out where Edna has to use force to get away from Jack. That evening Jack is really found dead and his wife Edna is charged with the murder. Perry halts looking for a forged painting and begins defending Edna for the murder.

There is much afoot in this show. Plenty of suspects and plenty of suspense. By the time the episode ends a person has confessed to the murder but only by the intelligence of our famous lawyer Perry Mason.

Good watch.