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Entries tagged with 'Mystery'
Posted Aug. 28, 2008,
Sweat Stains and All on the Perry Mason Season Three DVD!
By Dennis Dermody
Perry Mason Season Three (Volume 1), out this week on DVD, is a definite must-own. By 1959, during the third season of the marvelous CBS television mystery series, a nice comfortable routine had set in. There’s the wily defense lawyer Perry Mason (played with consummate relish by Raymond Burr), his devoted secretary (played by the beautiful Barbara Hale), his crack private eye Paul Drake (played nicely by William Hopper) and his forever losing D.A. Hamilton Burger (William Talman). But they were still using the cleverly plotted novels by Erle Stanley Gardener as the basis for the plots and the endless parade of great character types to play blackmailers, dangerous dames and guilty-looking clients.
King Kong’s Fay Wray shows up in The Case Of The Watery Witness as a fading movie star who refuses to acknowledge her daughter she gave up for adoption 24 years ago. Playing her salty, less-than-devoted servant is Kathryn Card, who many remember as Lucy’s mom Mrs. McGillicuddy on the I Love Lucy TV series. In The Case Of The Garrulous Gambler, Dick Foran assumes his no-account brother committed a murder and tries to cover it up only to get charged with the crime. The luscious Paula Raymond shows up as a shady dame. Cult fans will remember her from later Al Adamson films like Blood Of Dracula’s Castle and 5 Bloody Graves. The series is a treasure trove of B-lists stars, and the clarity of this three disc (12 episode) DVD set lets you even see the sweat stains on their shirts. These only represent half of the series and I’m already salivating for Part 2!