The Case of the Unsuitable Uncle

This is another one of those episodes, that if given the option, I'd rather pass over than sit through. The plot was a bit of a stretch, the pace slow, and the ham-fistedness of the direction even worse. What's sad is that with such an able cast of actors, the results were rather underwhelming. I realize a lot has to come together to make for a good watch, but this one just didn't measure up...

Yet another fine Mason entry, "The Case of the Unsuitable Uncle", could be rated several ways. You could give it a low rating if you're a stickler for dialects that are 100% perfect or if you grew up as an only child. If you can ignore those things and being a Perry fan always wins over ANYTHING that could detract from your enjoyment of the show, In this case, you'd give it a high rating. Okay, I'll admit it - I'm a Perry Mason Fan. But I'll be the first to tell you that not all of the 281 shows produced for CBS in the 1950's and 60's are gems. However, in my humble opinion, NONE of them are out-and-out BAD. Such as the title above from 1962.

A young woman has an uncle who is mostly absent. He' s in the oil business, like his brother... but maintains a life in the Merchant Marine, sailing around the world helping move manufactured goods from here to there. His brother, father of that young lady, makes a fine living in the oil business. But there's a mostly unknown, HUGE problem with the brothers' business... mainly the tiny little issue of WHICH brother owns WHAT? And, when we get to the Detectives Bureau, WHO killed WHO? Then WHO inherits WHAT?

Whether you liked it or not, this one IS worth watching. It had its share of the copyrighted PERRY MASON plot twists. And the ending may surprise you.

I can't stand actors pretending to be drunk.

Dickie Durham and Harry Fothergill get off a boat from Australia speaking a kind of Irish crossed with West Country. Durham in particular tends to turn on the "blarney".

I skipped to the end.

I am viewing this episode for the second time. It's well-acted by a very good cast. It strains credibility that the successful brother (Ford Rainey) would give $18,000 to his ne'er-do-well, frankly sleazy brother (Liam Sullivan), to get rid of him. But it's certainly possible. The episode flows smoothly and isn't too convoluted to enjoy. The cast all performs well. The only still living cast member (as far as I know), as of July 2025, is Barbara Parkins.

To be honest, I despised the sleazeball "victim" and did not mourn his untimely passing from the usual, and in this case most decidedly, non-natural causes. However, the killer's indirect admission of guilt in open court (usual PM anticlimactic moment) especially when there was a clear self-defense component to the killing, was rather foolish.

Many years ago Liam Sullivan a rather footloose and irresponsible spirit left the USA for the life of a vagabond sailor. Now he's back home and not exactly welcome in the home of his brother Ford Rainey, sister-in-law, Anna Lee, and niece Barbara Parkins. It turns out that Sullivan was putting a claim, a quite legitimate claim on the holdings of Rainey and I do mean all his holdings.

But when Sullivan turns up dead on a pier it's his shipmate and bosom buddy Sean McClory who needs the services of Raymond Burr. Investigation by the police turns up McClory's motives. Investigation by William Hopper turns up the real motives and Burr's cross examination turns up the real killer.

All I can say is that Sullivan was standing in the way of many people retaining their money and position. Not a bad story for Perry Mason.