A Matter of Principle

Love this. 10 Stars.

Just watching Elsa Lanchester and Ruth McDevitt drive up to a local supermarket in a classic Rolls Royce at the start of this mystery, should satisfy all us armchair detectives.

The good ladies play Portia and Penelope Penhaven, whose car is bumped into by another car which plays a part in a recent murder. Joe puts bits and pieces of the case together, but has to tread lightly? His new found friends don't trust the LAPD. Quite clever, and may have inspired the short-lived mystery series, the SNOOP SISTERS, if you remember back in the day.

Howard Browne wrote this fine story, also a contributor to MISSION IMPOSSIBLE, though his claim to fame was the ST. VALENTINES DAY MASSACRE (1967), starring Jason Robards as a ruthless, mean Al Capone.

Execellent acting on everyone's part and some great on location work, set at the elaborate Frederick Hastings Rindge House on South Harvard Boulevard (West Adams District of Los Angeles), which at the time was NOT a historical landmark. Rindge was a wealthy businessman who came to LA to buy hundreds of acres of land, including parts of Malibu, which his wife developed for the rich and famous after his death. Good trivia question.

Look for crusty Abe Vigoda (as Anton), also Dana Elcar (as Skip) and Dorothy Neumann (as Gertrude). Dorothy was a staple in thrillers and campy films; THE TERROR with Jack Nicholson, and appeared many times on GUNSMOKE.

Note; Peggy has some nice wardrobe changes. Her clothes improved as the series continued, and probably due to viewer input (I'd put money on it!). And Joe definitely had a better stylist. That's Hollywood. Cars and clothes ruled on MANNIX, especially when it moved to Sunday nights.

SEASON 6 EPISODE 17 remastered color CBS/Paramount dvd box set. 6 dvds. 2012 release. The box set was basically very similar in design to CANNON dvd releases.

Season 6 has been absolutely horrible so far, so I was happy to see "A Matter of Principle". I loved this episode. It was an absolute treat to see Elsa Lanchester (Portia Penhaven), Ruth McDevitt (Penelope Penhaven), Dana Elcar (Skip Seldon), and Abe Vigoda (Anton Valine) doing what they do best. They are all accomplished actors that are always a pleasure to watch. Also enjoyed Dorothy Neumann (Gertrude); her faint in the fight scene was great. Some reviewers thought the story was silly, but I enjoyed it, and thought it made more sense than most of the season 6 episodes. The story doesn't always have to involve tons of bodies, violence and maniacal killers to be enjoyable. Worth the watch for the acting.

Elsa Lanchester, Ruth McDevitt and Abe Vigoda. Great character actors. Dana Elcar is good too. Mike Conners breezes through with some funny asides from Gail Fisher - always loved her.

This was an especially fun episode, striking that perfect balance between suspenseful drama and lighthearted farce. When I saw Elsa Lanchester and Ruth McDevitt driving into Safeway in their antique Rolls Royce, I knew this was going to be a fun one, probably along the lines of the Hume Cronyn HAWAII FIVE-O classic "Over Fifty? Steal." The spunky oldsters were on stage, but this story unfolded differently than expected, though I was confident that ultimately no senior citizens would be harmed.

One handicap of being born late and enjoying this episode for the first time a half-century after its original broadcast is seeing Abe Vigoda and immediately thinking of the 12th Precinct's hangdog-faced and bathroom-bound detective Fish. Conversely, the original audience would have seen Vigoda and recognized him as Sal Tessio from the previous year's blockbuster film THE GODFATHER, bringing all that associated heft and malice to his role as Vallin. I tried valiantly to keep a straight face, but just had to chuckle seeing him play a literal cigar-chomping villain. And who was his mouthpiece but Jack Knight, who later in 1973 would be cast as goofball bus driver Bummy Pfitzer on Dom Deluise's funny but short-lived sitcom LOTSA LUCK. For a story that relied on levity, my associating the bad guys with good guy roles didn't unduly detract.

I mean, who could see the Penhaven sisters and not think of the Bride of Frankenstein and Miss Emily from KOLCHAK THE NIGHTSTALKER? Those fond associations only added to the charm.

But I have to give the show stealer award to Dana Elcar as used car hustler Skip Seldon. He and Mike Connors enjoyed such an affable and appealing rapport it's a shame this turned out to be Elcar's swan song on the series, but he sure went out with style. "Sip of beer?" Huh, what kind of offer was that? Just fun little throwaway moment that added immeasurably to the fun. I thought Elcar's red-face was gonna pop when Mannix broke through his apartment door and leaned on him, upping his price to $75 grand. Dana looked sincerely shook up. Such a good actor.

Hey, if the Penhavens were so above the fray as to have their put-upon maid Gertrude handle all the phone calls, why were they out rubbing elbows with the hoi polloi pushing a squeaky-wheeled shopping cart through the crowded aisles of Safeway? "Be a dear, Penny, and fetch us toilet tissue, pillowy two-ply, of course!" Not that we saw that, but I imagined it and thought, no, they would definitely dispatch Gertrude or some other lowborn peasant to secure their tea and delectable victuals.

That reminds me of a favorite character moment when Peggy brings in the tea and these Gilded Age girls take the Nestea plunge into the 1970s. Instead of cream poured from a polished silver vessel, Peggy proffers Coffeemate powdered nondairy creamer and paper sugar packets. How gauche! Lanchester's look of contempt coupled with befuddlement as she warily holds the sugar packet was priceless. But hey, what kind of tea drinkers let their tea steep a mere thirty seconds?

Those masks the bad guys wore predated THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE by a year and sure were creepy. That was an instance where a later association retroactively upped the scare-factor for us viewers late to the Mannix party.

I suspected the Penhavens were intended as a parody of the Baldwin sisters featured on that upstart new series THE WALTONS. The reference to "our father always said" brought those moonshining old maids to mind. No matter what, Lanchester and McDevitt were delightful and made this slightly offbeat episode a refreshing change of pace. And now... back to Mannix getting konked on the head and going unpaid!

The two actresses playing the sisters (Portia and Penelope) really shine here. I've seen both on Alfred Hitchcock shows and enjoyed them there as well.

Portia's quite a fireball. But I must say both sisters have their quirks. So the sisters are out and about and end up with a busted headlight. Portia's worked herself up into a frenzy and goes to Mannix for him to investigate. It turns out their headlight is connected to somebody involved with a murder. Anyway, Portia doesn't like cops and she explains that. She is rather fussy about cops. She doesn't want cops standing guard to protect them and when some plain clothes cops are watching out for them anyway, Portia lets it be known she knows their cops. She confronted them and one grunted at her. I love how that scene happened off screen but I can still picture it in my head.

Got a kick out of the one scene where Mannix says 'hell' in front of the sisters and they look as flustered/embarrassed as if he had pulled a Deb Morgan on 'Dexter' and dropped the f bomb in front of them.

Onto the quirks. Both ladies are on the old fashioned side. They don't really talk to Peggy since she's the secretary. Neither one of them answers the phone on their own or even call out on their own. That's the maid's job. But that tidbit is also what alerts Mannix that there's a problem in the house because Portia was the one doing all the talking instead of the maid starting the call and then getting one of the sisters to the phone.

Mannix gets paid 10 bucks for the job. Hey, at least you got something since so many jobs have Mannix not being paid at all.

Anyway, this is a very enjoyable episode with very delightful performances from our guest stars.