Perry Mason (TV Series) The Case of the Bigamous Spouse (1963) User Reviews

Well written script makes for a entertaining show

[kfo9494 · 9/10 · 18 October 2012]

Here is another interesting and suspenseful stories that is just as good today as it was in 1963. A good written mystery made better by the actors in the guest cast.

Gwynn Elston, a home-to-home encyclopedia salesperson, has just moved into Felton and Nell Grimes' house. Seems Felton is away much of the time and Nell needs some company while Felton is away on business.

Gwynn makes a call to a house across town to sell books to a women with a small child. When she looks at the picture of the husband it is Felton Grimes. He has another wife across town and is known to that family as Frank Gillette.

When Felton catches Gwynn going trough his desk, he knows that his gig is up. Gwynn then goes to Perry for help and is told to act normal until an investigation is done. So when Gywnn delivers the books to the Gillette house she is fearful on what she may find. Everything goes well until she is leaving and notices a man around her car. She runs a few blocks down the road near the large Baxter Estate. There she gets help from grounds keeper and makes it back to her car.

The next morning Felton/Frank is found dead and there is evidence that Gwynn was the murderer. So Perry will defend her in court against the charge.

The story is just beginning as we get led through a world of blackmail and wanted criminals. Perry leaves no stone unturned as he makes trips to a funeral home and a hermits cabin that has the viewer thrilled. Plus with Pippa Scott playing the accused client that you can actually fell sorry for, the viewer is kept on the edge of their seat the entire time. Very good show!

The Case of the Blundering Bigamist

[zsenorsock · 7/10 · 16 May 2008]

Gwynn Elston (Pippa Scott) discovers her friend Nel Grimes (Jackie Laughery) is married to a man, Felton Grimes ("Hill Street Blues" star Michael Conrad) who is a bigamist, living another life as the husband of Mrs. Gillitte (Ann Mitchell). She thinks Felton is out to kill her and goes to Perry Mason for advice. As Perry and Paul gather evidence, what they find they've gathered is evidence and motive for their client when Felton Grimes turns up dead on the Baxter estate.

There's something weird about Gwynn being asked to come live with the newly wed Grimes family (the excuse is, Felton is gone so much, Nel needs the company) and Perry's gets a big hint from a picture in a magazine that would never have been published the way it was (a certain character certainly would have been cropped out by the publisher, but then Perry would not have gotten this clue!) but other than that, this is a good episode. I like Pippa Scott (who has done many many guest appearances on various sitcoms including Dorothy, the woman the Petries think Buddy Sorrell is having an affair with on "The Dick Van Dyke Show") and Michael Conrad does a nice job being slimy (not sure why he felt he had to actually MARRY both women though). There's a nice scene where Perry and Paul try to get George Patrick McVey) Baxter's fingerprints, and Allan Melvin (Sgt. Hacker on "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C." and Archie Bunker's best friend) as a foul up private detective is a welcome appearance.

More than bigamy

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 7 January 2019]

Pippa Scott is the client in need of Perry Mason's services. Scott is living with Jackie Loughery and her husband Michael Conrad and while on her sales route selling children's encyclopedia's door to door she discovers Conrad's picture at the house and the woman says that's her husband.

Conrad discovers that Scott knows he's a bigamist and she knows he knows when he tries to poison her. That's what sends her to Perry Mason's office. Later on when Conrad is found dead on a neighbor's lawn it's Scott who's arrested. Another client with the good sense to have retained Perry Mason beforehand.

Conrad is into a lot more than bigamy however which provides a host of alternative suspects. Those alternatives are uncovered of course by the investigative work of William Hopper who gets nearly jammed up himself.

Poor Pippa Scott, if it wasn't for Raymond Burr and his team she'd be facing the death penalty.

Outstanding in many ways

[shakspryn · 10/10 · 22 September 2023]

This is a standout episode. It was written by Jackson Gillis, who wrote many of the best PM episodes. One of the ways in which it is noteworthy, is that this is one of the most suspenseful examples of this series that I've ever seen!

Also, Perry Mason as portrayed here is probably closer to the character in Erle Stanley Gardner's novels, than in any other episode that comes to mind: he's crafty, always thinking way ahead, and he doesn't show his cards--even to Della, in a wonderful scene that has just the two of them.

And Della! The story gives her some fine moments where we see more of her personality than we usually get to see. Here she really is a person, as we get to see, and not just a smiling secretary greeting people, etc.

The plot is intricate and tricky. The courtroom scenes are very well done--being a lawyer myself, I really enjoyed them.

Paul Drake has some good lines, as he usually does. He's actually my favorite character of this series.

Highly recommended!

That's Bigamy, Don't You Think?

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 7 February 2022]

Michael Conrad, late of Hill Street Blues, is a man who has two families. A woman staying with one of the families temporarily discovers his transgressions. This leads to his being found dead and she being charged with murder. She is another one of Perry's clients who can't keep her mouth shut.

Fine Mason plot with different camera techniques

[Panamint · 6/10 · 2 June 2020]

This episode is well written and acted and features expert editing, but for me the experimental nature of the directing techniques only results in a show totally dominated by one person, namely the director.

Almost entirely filmed with extreme closeups of faces (one scene with Paul Drake on the phone has his face filing the entire frame and I mean all of it). Every inch of William Hopper's normal facial fat is greatly exaggerated and thus quite unflattering to him.

The camera does move rather strangely at times such as swirling around a witness on the stand and ending up filming her from behind her head. The camera is often above an actor's head, at times right above their ear. Characters sort of burst through doors or are seen rapidly walking out of a door, quickly shutting it behind them. Why, just for dramatic effect or something? Added brisk walking and running around is really not necessary because the script has plenty of drama as written.

Distracting.

A Lot of Useless Diversions and an Unsatisfying Conclusion

[jqdoe · 3/10 · 3 March 2015]

I love "Perry Mason," but this might be the least satisfying episode ever. From the time the murder occurs, the story takes all sorts of twists and turns, hinting at secrets here and there some of which are not true and NONE of which have anything to do with the murder or its perpetrator.

The final unveiling of the perpetrator is also very unsatisfying, as there is almost no evidence to point to the killer, who is not broken into confession by Perry, but by a witness during their testimony. In the end, we realize that none of what we saw was necessary except to fill time, and the case could have been solved in about two minutes.

Disappointing.