The Case of the Silent Six

This episode begins at an apartment complex with a girl screaming for help. The camera then begins to show people in their apartments either trying not to hear the screams or trying to cover up the noise of the screams. Thus we get the title "The Silent Six".

It just so happens the women screaming is Susan Wolfe (Chris Noel) her over-protective brother Dave Wolfe (Skip Homeier) works with Lt Drumm in homicide at the LA Police Department.

Susan has had trouble with the apartment manager named Joe Oliver. He had been making passes at Susan much to the chagrin of Sgt David Wolfe. He went so far as to tell Mr Oliver that he would 'get' him if it ever happened again.

And guess who is the first car to arrive at the screaming-- yes Lt Drumm and Sgt Wolfe. He goes running up to his sister's apartment and enters the door. He then gets hit over the head and dropping the gun to the floor. Next thing Sgt Wolfe knows is he is waking up and Mr Oliver has been shot six times with his duty weapon. And now he is charged with the murder of Mr Oliver. And Lt Drumm ask Perry to handle the case.

Mr Oliver was not the most likable person. We learn through Paul Drake that just about everyone that were the so-called 'Silent Six' had some kind of hatred for Mr Oliver. Everyone is a suspect until Perry examination of a certain witness reveals that all six were not as silent as we were lead to believe.

I like the way the story centered around people that did not want to get involve. Only after Ms Wolfe was beat to the brink of death did everyone wish they would have acted in some way. A good story and good show. Very interesting characters and all carried some type of baggage that adds to the story.

Note- I sure this has happened before but this is the first episode in the LA courthouse that I remember Perry and Hamilton Burger's table were on opposite sides. Perry is to the left of the judge and Hamilton sits to the right. Usually it is the other way around.

The screenwriter of blade runner.

And he has a major part in this very interesting and relevant Perry Mason episode.

Very relevant to the time it was filmed, in comparison to the real life Kitty Genovese incident in New York.

And very relevant to today's world as well.

This was 1965. The world was rocking and rolling, the Beatles were still around. The Vietnam War was acting up.

And so Perry Mason was the Star Trek of its era. Every season was Rife with episodes steeped in social commentary. Very relevant social commentary which is still relevant to this very day in many cases.

This "case" here, involves the new police Lieutenant Steve Drumm, and his friend David. Played by the guy with the cauliflower ears from the Star Trek episode with the hippies. The guy is actually a brilliant character actor who played nemesis very well, here, he is the defendant, this is one of the first times I ever saw that actor play a nice guy.

This was before he played two evil guys in Star Trek.

But the interesting thing here is the kid "Hamp", would later pen one of the most popular science fiction films of all time and then 40 years later would pen a sequel to that.

Every Perry Mason episode has the defendant, the decedent, and then the actual murderer, which Perry manages to eek a confession out of in most of the cases. As far as I know, there were only three cases where Perry did not manage to reveal the actual murderer.

Perry. Mason scrutinizes every possible "angle", this was back when you were rented an apartment house, you were also renting the furniture and everything else in there. I remember those times, this was very common. This apartment complex was a small community, and as we go through the case and Perry interviews possible murderers, we get to see all kinds of people. In today's world, Hamp would have been a member of a punk rock band. As well as the other guys who were downing "goofballs" aka reds, or downers. And then there were actresses, a book maker, in today's world, this would be a guy with instead of three telephones, he would have three computers serving websites. And then the manager of the apartment who initially is getting around on a wheelchair but then later reveals she can walk just fine, Virginia Gregg, who was in many other perry Mason episodes.

Just like any other normal red blooded American community, heh?

In the end of the episode, Hamp gives us a court room outburst, which rings in our ears: doesn't anybody care? Will not anybody help?

Hopefully this does not happen as much in real life as it used to happen back when this episode was produced.

OK, I won't go into the fact that this is based on reality, but even as fiction it is quite intriguing. We have an apartment house (almost) filled with residents who are either paralyzed in fear or apathetic to the screams of a female neighbor being assaulted -- probably not a rarity in real life. The one resident who acts winds up the murder victim. Of course we know the arrestee (a cop in this case, and brother to the beating victim) will not get convicted, the story is tight enough to leave us sitting on the edge of our seats until Perry finally sorts out the evidence and lies to unmask the real murderer, of which every one of the residents is suspect for different reasons. I have to say this one was very satisfying, from beginning to end...

Good writing and great acting, especially by Virginia Gregg. Watch her on the witness stand as Mrs. Oliver. Nuanced, and compelling. But the whole cast was great.

This story was loosely inspired by the infamous Kitty Genovese murder in New York City in 1963. But it's a feeble allusion, as Kitty was brutally stabbed to death and here, the girl lives and a man dies instead, shot by a gun. If you've ever met anyone who's been shot to death six times with a gun, they will tell you it's not so bad as being stabbed. Anyway, the story zips from caring less about who beat up the living girl to who killed the dead guy.

The girl is played by the beautiful Chris Noel, who, even with bruise makeup on her face, still looks gorgeous. You should look up her bio in IMDb, what a life of public service she's had.

There are no less than four possible ways the killing could have gone down, we find out in scene two or three maybe, and Paul Drake is just the sleuth who can suss them out, after he receives his clever instructions from Perry.

Do we spot a hint at a gay relationship between Ron and Hamp Fisher? These two hunky good- looking males were "just driving around" together when the attack on the Babe and the killing took place. Homosexuality was dangerous in 1965, as Raymond Burr and everyone who cared for him knew. Perhaps the characters are just gay for the slay?

Luckily we have Good Old Judge Kenneth MacDonald on bench to keep Perry and Hamilton in check with his best "Now See Here" arguments. There'll be no stoogery in this courtroom!

In the end the Guilty Killer's dramatic confession speech tries to tie it all back to Kitty by blaming big city fears and inhumanity as the cause for his actions. I guess that works, even if the "38 passive observers" in the Kitty Genovese story was debunked in a 2016 film made by her brother.