The Case of the Spanish Cross

Big Perry fan here, and I must say this episode is one of the more all-around square that you'll find in the series. Stolen cross, snooty society types, and Jimmy the misguided-but-sensitive fall guy. Not any particularly noteworthy behavior from Perry or Burger either. Square.

Jimmy Morrow is a juvenile delinquent with a criminal record. He has a chance of rehabilitation working for the disabled Grace Runyan.

Her estranged husband Curtis Runyan, is planning to sale a valuable Spanish Cross to collector Felix Karr.

Later the Cross goes missing and Curtis blames Jimmy for the theft. Then after Curtis is found dead, Jimmy is wanted for his murder.

Initially Felix Kerr goes to Perry Mason to defend Jimmy. An unusual move, maybe he is hoping that Jimmy would later thank Felix by selling the Spanish Cross to him at cut price.

The story had a look at juvenile delinquents in the late 1950s. Jilly has a drunken father but he still loves Jimmy. As well as Jimmy taking a rap for car theft for someone else.

Then Perry Mason talks Jimmy around to stop hiding out, trust someone and hand himself to the police.

During the court case, Hamilton Burger has laryngitis reflecting the fact that the actor was ill during the shoot.

After all that, the culprit was easy to identify even though there was a pulp noirish undertone to the story.

The plot about an historic jeweled artifact is an obvious connection to the Maltese Falcon. The character of Karr is a knock-off of the Sydney Greenstreet character right down to him quoting some of the lines from the movie in his first scene with Perry.

Right away, we have this clean cut boy, who has been convicted of car theft. He has been looked after by a rich invalid woman. He is maligned and then accused when a valuable artifact disappears. What no one knows is there is some infighting between rich art collectors and the kid is caught in the middle. The episode is so formulaic and hard to swallow.

This episode is generally one that I'd rather skip than watch. Considering Arthur Marks is the director here, I wasn't expecting much, and I was duly rewarded for my doubts. The plot was weak, with the typical character set that had already been overdone long before this even made it to film. As it played out, it was obvious the eventual murderer wasn't going to be any of the primary characters. I couldn't seem to drum up much sympathy for the Jimmy character, and the long monotonous basement exchange between Perry & Jimmy just sank it too deep into the realm of melodrama. This one just arrived DOA IMHO. There are MUCH better PM's out there...