Perry Mason (TV Series) The Case of the Larcenous Lady (1960) User Reviews

Nurse Rachett Does A Turn on Mason

[DKosty123 · 8/10 · 1 January 2010]

This is a good assembly line type of Mason. It is a little predictable as far as who the murderer really was, but its depiction of a murder victim who you can have little sympathy for is kind of a cold thing. Yes, this is a mayors wife who appears to be stopping at nothing to get her husband named to a post by the state Governor.

Meanwhile, there a another guy who is extorting people too. It appears that Mason is going to have some trouble at the hearing for his defendant because he was at the murder scene with a witness. Along with that one of the witnesses (played by Ed Platt later the chief of control on Get Smart) is lying on the stand so Mason has to drag another witness into court to help him get to the truth.

Worth watching

[hilpzub · 8/10 · 24 February 2021]

This good mystery with an outstanding cast has a scene in court where Mr Burr's voice sounds edited in in poorly -listen closely. This episode was filmed with a production bread due to his illness-a possible explanation! This episode's bump is worth sticking around if you are a Della-Perry fan.

Another Evil Wife of a Rich Guy

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 13 January 2022]

Louise Fletcher is the person who may take the fall as a secretary manipulated by her boss. There are two guys vying for the same government position and this is at the center. A sort of Lady Macbeth works her magic and gets herself killed. A pretty pedestrian episode.

Integrity

[darbski · 10/10 · 4 September 2017]

**SPOILERS** The other reviewers have done great service on this case, and I'm left with just a few small points. First, as nice as Susan is, she also falls into the basic outline of what I define as the Perry client in that she 1) Handles (and then discharges) the firearm, or death weapon. 2) Lies to Perry when he asks for the truth; which brings in quality number 3) STUPIDITY. All these are part of what it takes to be a client of Perry's. There is more, and there ARE exceptions.

Two other points; Where did the bullet go when Susan fired the shot in Henderson's house? Are we to believe that Susan owned the ONLY two door red/gray Ford in So, Cal? Even if she admitted it later, the car is in question.

A basic rule in any con game or blackmail/extortion plan is the cooperation of both parties. As long as the victim cooperates, the plan will succeed. It takes courage to confront, disarm and then expose the extortionist. In this case, the right person did, and she deserves the thanks of honest people everywhere. She also clears the way for Perry to destroy the same guy on the stand, and expose him as the killer. Do I believe that it was the result of a struggle? Nope. So long Upton, hello gas chamber.

The Mayor - whose wife was so crooked behind his back; fooling him completely as to who and what she was, and was then delightfully dispatched, now can take up with Susan who has her own problems with integrity. They deserve each other. Perry must have charged her top dollar for his services on this one. He'll get the Obstruction of Justice knocked down to a misdemeanor; another legal fee. She and her new love can afford it, though.

The real estate dealer's gonna be investigated by the State Real Estate board for Bunko, His license is gone, the I.R.S. will get involved, but Professional Malfeasance is far better than Capital Murder, isn't it?

Before the bar

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 15 October 2012]

Years before she won her Oscar for One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest young Louise Fletcher needed the services of Perry Mason to defend her on a charge of murder. She was accused of murdering the wife of her boss with Patricia Huston and Arthur Franz in both those roles respectively.

Fletcher is carrying a statue of liberty size torch for Franz which gives the authorities reason enough to think her capable of killing Huston. As the show unfolds a nice load of suspects show that they all have motive to kill Huston who is one scheming piece of work.

This one for me was one of the inferior episodes in that the murderer who is also a piece of work is rather obvious. But also the prosecutor Christopher Dark is trying to keep a key witness off the stand that could blow up his case. Hardly the actions of a man who purportedly is seeking the truth. When Ellen Drew does appear she goes on at the judge's order and Raymond Burr then blows up the prosecutor's inferior presentation of the facts.

In real life I think Dark would have been before the bar association for what he did.

A rare disappointment

[kfo9494 · 3/10 · 15 July 2013]

In Upton, CA the Mayor, Jim Henderson has been ask to serve on the Governor's crime committee in which a lawyer friend, Arnold Webberly, is also a candidate. But when the Mayor's wife, Mona, seems to be blackmailing Julia Webberly, wife of Arnold Webberly, over a photograph taken years ago, things get sticky in Upton.

When Mona ends up dead the young secretary of Mayor Henderson is charged with the murder. She will be defended in court of the charge by Perry outside the confines of LA.

This was a very predictable mystery that just did not grab the viewers interest. There is some nice courtroom testimony but everyone in the place knew who was the real murderer even before the final confession occurs. And as other have said the public defender played by Christopher Dark did not help this program. This episode could have used of large dose of Hamilton Burger.

Note- In the episode that was to have occurred in Upton California, when they briefly show the outside of the courthouse it is actually the Washoe County Courthouse in Reno, Nevada.

Blackmailed

[kapelusznik18 · 5/10 · 12 December 2016]

****SPOILERS**** Another utterly confusing Perry Mason, Raymond Burr, episode with Perry in fact at the murder scene just as it happened and thus in danger, in not being able to defend his client, of being called a witness to it. This has to do with the shooting death of Mona Henderson, Patricia Huston, who was at the time blackmailing her good friend Julia Webberly, Ellen Drew, in suborning perjury in a case that her husband in a case he had won a year earlier. That was in order to keep him from getting the job that her husband the mayor of Upton James Henderson, played by i'd rather be somewhere else Arthur Franz, was promised to get in the towns or state real estate business operations.

It was when Mona resorted to blackmail that ended up doing her in by the person that she intended to blackmail who was in fact working in concert with her. Using innocent but a bit naive Susan Connolly, Louise Fletcher, to do her dirty work had Mona offed by another party in this strange and confusing case that the innocent Susan ended up getting indicted for. Perry doing what he could to get the bewildered Susan off the hook soon realizes that there was a double blackmail involved in all this with Mona, who started the ball rolling, ending up getting offed by her fellow blackmailer whom she was in return trying to blackmail.

****SPOILERS**** Unbeievable ending, even for a Perry Mason episode,with Perry using all kinds of legal acrobatics and maneuvers as well as time shifting or twisting to get Mona's killer to confess his crime. With the two main characters in the murder case Mayor Handerson and Susan Connally having no idea of what's going on and what their doing there! As for Perry he's in total control of the events in the case since he got the picture in a photograph hanging in golf pro Frank Sykes, Robert Brown, den that exposed Mona's blackmail scheme that in fact ended up with her being murdered.