After watching the last few "Perry Mason" episodes, it seemed the stories were getting old. Afterall nearly all scenarios had been written about and performed on the series. However, I found this particular episode to be a good surprise.
It centered around a fatherless young man named Barry Davis (Carl Reindel) who was working at his uncle's Mort Lynch (Ted de Corsia) junkyard. Mort was the only family that Barry had left and it becomes clear that Mort is riding the young man hard.
Mort is also running for mayor of a small southwest California town and is trying to beat the newspaper owner Dell Harper (Malcolm Atterbury). So Dell Harper is trying to dig up some dirt on ole Mort before the election.
Anyway we learn that Barry's uncle worked for Mort and that the uncle had been in jail for a number of crimes which included counterfeiting. And when Barry finds a copper counterfeit plate the story takes off.
Mort ends up dead and a bloody pipe-wrench is found in Barry's trunk. And Barry is seen by a neighbor leaving Mort's apartment before the murder. And that is when we meet Perry. Here is when we come to the conclusion that Mort was actually protecting Barry because he had retained Perry before his death.
With the character's listed we are introduced to a few more people with some type of motive for murder. From the newspaper owner's brother to the spinster women that worked at the junkyard. We also get to see Neil Hamilton, that plays a friend of Mort's, he later will become Commissioner Gordon on the 'Batman' series.
We end up with Perry defending Barry with the usual flare that is accustom to any "Perry Mason' show.
This episode was better than most. A strange turn of event after you believe that the murderer is known. So I rate this as a better episode than most from the same period in 1964.
One odd thing in the show. Barry and Mort get into a little push fight and Barry knocks the older man to the ground. This happened in the junkyard and at night. The next day the newspaper owner has a picture of the event and looks like it was taken during the day under the best light conditions.
Enjoy.