The Case of the Startled Stallion

This is a good PM episode in every way, but the casting rose to the level of genius. From the start, we realize that an actor was hired to impersonate an old man. The actor was played by Paul Richards, the old man was played by Trevor Bardette, and except in the matter of age, the two men could not look more alike! Their facial bone structure, their hair, their eye color, the shape of their noses and ears--all were identical. At one point, the actor is made up to look like the old man and brought into the courtroom, and everyone stares at him. All it took was whitening of his hair, a false mustache and some dark lines on his face, and Paul Richards was transformed into Trevor Bardette. We don't doubt for a moment that even people who knew the old man well would have believed the impersonation. This courtroom scene was once chosen as interstitial programming by a popular TV arts channel, and it's no surprise that it was singled out as the exemplary PM moment.

Young Patricia Hardy becomes Perry Mason's client when a trotting horse she raised and who is a contender for the Hambletonian Stakes is stolen by skinflint Trevor Bardette who is in a wheelchair. The old miser thinks he has a contract for the horse. Raymond Burr is ready to sue him when Bardette winds up dead in the stall of the horse. Eventually murder is charged against young Ms. Hardy and it's good she's already retained Perry Mason.

Seeing Bardette I think most would think he deserved it on general principles. In fact before he died Bardette was being set up quite nicely in a fraudulent scheme that involved Hardy's brother Elliott Reid, Bardette's bookkeeper Melora Conway and a second rate ham actor played by Paul Richards. It's quite a scheme which I won't reveal anything about because you have to see this one. One of the cleverest invented by the Perry Mason television writers.

This Mason episode is definitely worth a look.

The Rick Brant Science-Adventure books were a series of 24 books written in the 1940s, 50s and 60s. They were somewhat similar to the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and Tom Swift series of books.

The main character was Rick Brant, who lived on Spindrift Island, and the author's pen name was John Blaine. In this episode, there is a character named John (author's first name) Brant (character's last name) and a horse named Spindrift (name of the island home).

The writer of this episode was quite possibly doing an homage to the Rick Brant books, which were written by a contemporary writer of the writer of this episode, Jonathan Latimer.

Even though this is not Erle Stanley Gardener material, this episode hold up as a fairly good episode. It involves a prime 3 year old horse left as a gift to a young woman. There is a crooked secretary and book keeper who arranges a fake marriage with an old wheel chair bound ranch owner. The owner is impersonated by an actor who is demanding blackmail from the phony bride.

While the suspects are plenty in the plot when the wealthy owner turns up dead with the horse in the stable, there is quite a challenge for Mason in pinning down the killer. The Hambletonian, a famous horse race is prominently mentioned as the race the horse was going to run.

This episode can be solved by the viewer by tracking motive, but Mason is already representing his client, the girl who owns the horse before the murder takes place. That is due to a conflict in which the murder victim is trying to steal her horse. That is why Mason's client is accused along with the visit she makes to the stable seeing the victim dead and leaving the scene in a panic.

Perry Mason is not horsing around in this one. He has been hired by Jo Ann Blanchard to protect her inheritance and her prize horse.

The dispute is with elderly wheelchair bound John Brant who wants to control the Blanchard's inheritance.

When Brant is found dead in the stables. His newly married widow wants the horse put down.

Instead Blanchard is charged with murder. Perry Mason wonders if Brant's widow really did marry him at a quickie Las Vegas wedding.

There are a lot of hissable villains. The out of work actor Earl Mauldin who impersonated elderly Mr Brant. Then who blackmails the widow. Even Jo Ann Blanchard's brother is no angel.

There are many flaws to the story. You just know when Earl Mauldin impersonates Brant. It is actually the actor playing Brant in the wheelchair.