The Case of the Misguided Model

The reviews for this episode are all over the place! Some viewers like it a lot (I'm one of those) and others detest it.

Here's why I like it: The plot was really good; had a twist that I did not seeing coming at all. The episode featured a big outdoor scene with lots of police officers and police cars--maybe more than we've ever seen at one time, in any PM episode!

I'm an attorney, and I was very interested in how Perry handled an ethical dilemma related to the duty of confidentiality versus duty to justice and the court.

And: Mary Ann Mobley was in this episode! I am a big fan of her, and I always enjoy any show where she has a good part. She had a very entertaining role this time, and her final scene was dramatic and high energy, and just tremendous fun to watch!

I think this is one of the best, most entertaining episodes of the entire series.

Sharon Carmody tells her boyfriend, Duke Maronek, that Art Grover has threatened to cut her face because she has rejected him. She therefore wants him to accompany her home and make sure he is not hanging around. But when he opens her apartment door he is greeted by a punch in the face. A fight ensues between the two men that ends in Art Grover laying dead on Sharon's living room floor. She tells Duke that having such a thing end up in the papers will ruin her chance at getting a big job being the model and spokesperson for a major soap company. Thus Duke agrees to take the body out the "back way" and dump it somewhere else, and the two will pretend it never happened.

But Duke is tormented and goes to his attorney, Perry Mason, and tells him all. Perry wants to call the police and explain the situation was self-defense and an accident, but Duke swears him to silence since he is claustrophobic and fears being in a jail cell. The next day, when a known felon is arrested for the murder because he is found going through the dead man's pockets, Perry has quite the dilemma on his hands - violate attorney/client privilege, or stay quiet as the wrong man is prosecuted for the crime.

Meanwhile Sharon isn't troubled by any of these developments at all as she gets her big modelling job, though her agent is walking around acting very sick, like he has the plague. Complications ensue.

During the last couple of seasons Perry Mason tries to take on the relevant issues of the day without abandoning the show's traditional roots. It's a hard needle to thread, and this is one of those episodes, with PM obviously taking shots at beauty contests and false displays of and demands of virginal appearance if not outright virginity. For example, here, when auditioning models for her soap company, the owner asks if the girl currently auditioning is married or is divorced - obvious subtext for wanting the girl she hires to at least be a possible virgin.

This episode had an interesting twist in the plot - one of the more interesting ones I've seen on this show, plus the added unusual feature where Perry is on the horns of an ethical dilemma, but it also had a ridiculous part to it too. Apparently, In 1966 Los Angeles, you can engage in a protracted armed stand-off with the police and suffer no legal consequences. Then there is the old plot device of somebody going out "the back way" when Duke takes Grover's body out of Sharon's apartment. Where do these convenient back ways come from? I've had several apartments and I've never seen or had one before. Finally I'm surprised Mary Ann Mobley ever "worked in this town again" after her over the top performance near the end - Her character shrugs off a murder in her apartment, but destroys the set over a tame looking picture of her with some random guy? It appears the folks at PM were just shrugging off the details at this point as the show was going off the air in just a few more episodes. Still, that great plot twist I mentioned, the high camp of Mary Ann Mobley's performance, and the regular cast make it worthwhile.

The 'regulars' of the Perry Mason cast are great as usual - nothing out of the ordinary. However, this episode exposes a different side of the noted lawyer than to what we are usually exposed - vulnerability.

An innocent-appearing young woman, trying for her breakthrough job into acting by being a spokesperson for a soap company, seemingly becomes the victim of a botched burglary at her apartment. Fortuitously she has been accompanied home by a friend - an ex-boxer. As he enters her apartment he's attacked by an unknown assailant as the door closes and locks behind him. Because of his quick wits and fighting abilities he quickly overpowers the attacker and opens the door to let in the young woman, only to find it seems the attacker has been killed by his blows.

The ex-boxer has had dealings with Perry Mason before (in a contract dispute with a previous employer), so, of course, he calls him and reveals all, admitting to killing the victim. Unfortunately he further assisted by removing the body from the apartment to prevent tarnishing the career goals of the young actress. To complicate matters further, a transient finds the body dumped in an alley and, thinking it was just a passed-out drunk, he begins to take a watch and wallet only to be discovered by the police and ultimately is charged with the murder.

Many more plot twists ensue, with the man who thinks he caused the death on-the-run from the police. Predictably, Perry Mason figures out the matter and brings the episode to a successful conclusion with the true murderer being identified immediately before the end...but only after several plot twists and a cliffhanging scene posing the threat of death to Mr. Mason.

Featured in this episode are noted and highly-respected actors Paul Lukather (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0525566/?ref_=tt_cl_t7), Mary Ann Mobley (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0595039/?ref_=tt_cl_t6), and veteran character actor James Griffith (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0341526/?ref_=tt_cl_t11).

Only 4 more episodes of the Perry Mason series were aired after this - it was season 9 and CBS no longer felt it was financially feasible to continue the program...too bad. Raymond Burr and the rest of the cast had held down Earl Stanley Gardner's 'fort' admirably and could have continued had the network continued to have faith.

The worst, the most ludicrous, the corniest, the stupidest episode of any series of any genre I have EVER seen in my long life. This is a total embarrassment. From the ridiculous start, this episode progressed, careening downhill at the most alarming acceleration of total inanity one could ever wish to witness. Enough said.

This is so ludicrous. Imagine what it would take to orchestrate the supposed killing of a man and having him mistaken for one already dead. Throw in an ex-boxer who is dumber than a box of rocks, going for help and then refusing it. Perry having to disobey attorney/client privilege. Then a shootout with police for which there is no punishment. Dumb 1960's television. Also, those pictures on the TV as Mary Ann Mobley tries to become Miss Snow Cone are pretty tame. Who is that guy? And her tantrum as she destroys the display of soap behind her. Taking one last shot to knock down the package she missed the first time. I guess I was too stupid to realized why Rudy was walking around in a daze, looking like he could die ay minute.