The Case of the Shapely Shadow

Although the naiveté of Elaine Devry's character was a bit much to swallow and Perry Mason goes to great lengths to keep her off the stand this episode this episode is historic for one reason. Poor Hamilton Burger is left sputtering over the Mason trickery more than usual.

Devry comes to Raymond Burr with a suitcase that her boss gave her to deliver to some party. And she also has a blackmail note retrieved from her boss's trash. Afterward however boss George Neisse is murdered and the cops are looking at her.

There's a good collection of alternative suspects as Neisse was involved in a proxy fight to retain control of his company. But in the end William Talman is forced to call a witness that Burr wanted on the stand. This was after Talman was led into blurting out evidence not introduced in a summation and Burr motions for a mistrial.

The sight of a sputtering William Talman makes this episode memorable. Although Burr could easily have just called that witness for a defense he didn't present. But it wouldn't have been any fun.

This is really interesting in its scope. It has much more of an edge to it than most Mason shows. Burger is so often seen as sort of a wimp, never getting is way, and taking it. Here he goes head to head with Mason and the courtroom scene where everything is on the line is quite engaging. It also has a many layered plot with subterfuge involved.

A homely secretary enlists Perry's help when she comes to him concerning her boss' disappearance, notes indicating that he'd been blackmailed, and a suitcase her boss left behind with fifty thousand dollars in small bills in it. His instructions were to put it in a locker in a specific place. Perry advises that she should do just that. But then the homely secretary disappears, the money disappears, and the boss is found dead. Oh, and the homely secretary is suddenly a living doll with a complete make-over.

There is circumstantial evidence that the secretary killed her boss, and she is indicted. Perry wants the secretary to testify as to the truth of the situation, but feels she would be an emotionally fragile witness. So Perry uses some risky procedural moves to get Hamilton Burger to make his case for him, getting a witness called as relevant who might otherwise not have been heard.

Hats off to William Tallman as Burger this week. Nobody says "WHAT?" and blusters about when confused by smooth stoic Perry Mason like Tallman's Burger.

As other reviewers have already stated, this is a very different PM episode. There are considerable clues and intrigue to keep the viewer interested. The ensemble cast does a great job here, and there is little if any overacting. Direction is good, and the scenes flow together quite well. Elaine DeVry portrays the vulnerable and naive secretary Janice Wainwright very believably, and a shout-out to Robert Rockwell's reaction at the conclusion. The highlight, however, is William Tallman's incredulous reaction to Perry's courtroom bluff -- it makes all the set-up and red-herrings worth it in the end. It's really too bad that more of the shows didn't play out this well.

Very good mystery which took quite a bit of effort to unravel. It certainly didn't hurt having the beautiful Elaine Devry in the cast...only pity is that this episode wasn't filmed in color, so viewers could see her wonderful, flowing mane of red hair. She added acting chops as well.