When the owner of several high end clothing stores decides, in his will, to give the bulk of his estate to the conniving brother, with hopes of "reforming" the other, it sets in motion a series of nasty events. The brother who already has more than he could ever hope for realizes this, he goes ballistic and decides he will destroy the supposed prodigal son. There is a secret we don't get until the conclusion. In the mix is a fashion designer who has been on the bottle for some time, ruining his career. He also becomes a victim. I agree with the reviewer who said how a bad ending can all but ruin a good story.
7 Reviews
Politically Incorrect Paul Persists
coolplanter18 February 2021
Not the worst episode to watch, as the killer is in early scenes (which I prefer), but until Perry reveals surprise facts to viewer in the closing courtroom scenes, you're pretty much clueless as to what's happened--and you could anticipate there being a conflict with the brothers, and Peter Walker's single Perry Mason episode has him well cast with the "Badgered Brother," as they do appear to be brothers. Everyone seems to have a motive, and this has the viewer thinking that certain "secret marriages" needed to be written in late, or that having one main actress check on another ("she's asleep"), as that only and the writer and producer agreed on who the murderer would be in the end. Ask yourself, what was really involved in the writing of this episode so that this actor could confess? Watch it for the "eye-candy" at the fashion shows, and Paul Drake's behavior--but not to learn too much about retail business.
The Prodigal Son
zsenorsock26 May 2008
Warning: Spoilers
Yet another Perry Mason case set in the fashion world, this uses the Prodigal Son parable as the basis for the story.
Todd Baylor (Robert Harland) is the son who leaves the father and travels the world, having fun after being accused of cooking the books at the Baylor's Store he runs. When the father dies, he gives Todd a choice: take $30,000 now or try and make a go of it at the company's main store. If he can raise the profits 4%, he will split half the Baylor Store ownership with his brother, Martin (Peter Walker).
This of course does not sit well with Martin, the loyal son who stayed home and ran the business with father. So he looks for a way to make sure his brother fails. But when he winds up dead, a pair of scissors in his back, and Todd lying next to him, its time to call in Perry.
The action seems a bit lifeless and tired despite the fact there are a number of attractive models in the show. It also seems pretty unlikely anyone but Todd is the killer based on the way the body is found. The big clue they have concerns an elevator that came down while they went up the stairs. This could easily be explained if either Todd or the security guard thinks they may have pressed the button to summon it. (and one of them if thinking clearly certainly should have SAID they pushed the button, even accidentally). It's a pretty flimsy bit of evidence to hang one's hat on.
But hey, they all can't be great.
Todd Baylor (Robert Harland) is the son who leaves the father and travels the world, having fun after being accused of cooking the books at the Baylor's Store he runs. When the father dies, he gives Todd a choice: take $30,000 now or try and make a go of it at the company's main store. If he can raise the profits 4%, he will split half the Baylor Store ownership with his brother, Martin (Peter Walker).
This of course does not sit well with Martin, the loyal son who stayed home and ran the business with father. So he looks for a way to make sure his brother fails. But when he winds up dead, a pair of scissors in his back, and Todd lying next to him, its time to call in Perry.
The action seems a bit lifeless and tired despite the fact there are a number of attractive models in the show. It also seems pretty unlikely anyone but Todd is the killer based on the way the body is found. The big clue they have concerns an elevator that came down while they went up the stairs. This could easily be explained if either Todd or the security guard thinks they may have pressed the button to summon it. (and one of them if thinking clearly certainly should have SAID they pushed the button, even accidentally). It's a pretty flimsy bit of evidence to hang one's hat on.
But hey, they all can't be great.
Poor ending to an otherwise good show
kfo949425 October 2012
If you are a person that enjoys a nice mystery and enjoys seeing Perry makes someone confess without the slightest bit of evidence then I am sure that you will like this episode. However, if you enjoy finding solutions to mysteries then this episode is lacking in every way. I found this episode lacking.
There was nothing wrong with the plot as two brothers, one a wild child (Todd) and the other a parent's dream (Martin), is present to hear the reading of their father's will. Their father owned a series of dress stores which Martin was running as Todd was carousing around Europe. Martin was sure to inherit the dress stores since Todd had turned his back on the business many years ago.
But when the will was read, the father left a provision where if Todd could run one store and increase the profits then he would be half owner of the entire business. This did not set to well with loyal Martin.
As Martin is trying to make Todd fail, Todd seeks out his brother to have words. After being let into the business by a security guard, Todd rushes up to Martin's office followed closely by the guard. Todd enters and starts yelling as the guard comes into the office only to see both men falling with scissors sticking out of Martin's back. A nice open and shut case for Lt Anderson. That is until Perry arrives on the scene to defend Todd of the charges.
Everything is fine until that part before the episode enters the world of the strange and bizarre. During the court scenes it was like watching an ending to a different episode. By the end we have had three people confess to the crime in open court. Not only that we have Perry getting the true murderer to confess without a shred of evidence to point to guilt. It was a sad ending to otherwise good show.
There was nothing wrong with the plot as two brothers, one a wild child (Todd) and the other a parent's dream (Martin), is present to hear the reading of their father's will. Their father owned a series of dress stores which Martin was running as Todd was carousing around Europe. Martin was sure to inherit the dress stores since Todd had turned his back on the business many years ago.
But when the will was read, the father left a provision where if Todd could run one store and increase the profits then he would be half owner of the entire business. This did not set to well with loyal Martin.
As Martin is trying to make Todd fail, Todd seeks out his brother to have words. After being let into the business by a security guard, Todd rushes up to Martin's office followed closely by the guard. Todd enters and starts yelling as the guard comes into the office only to see both men falling with scissors sticking out of Martin's back. A nice open and shut case for Lt Anderson. That is until Perry arrives on the scene to defend Todd of the charges.
Everything is fine until that part before the episode enters the world of the strange and bizarre. During the court scenes it was like watching an ending to a different episode. By the end we have had three people confess to the crime in open court. Not only that we have Perry getting the true murderer to confess without a shred of evidence to point to guilt. It was a sad ending to otherwise good show.
Those battling Baylors
bkoganbing14 January 2019
Robert Harland is one of those battling Baylor brothers who is Perry Mason's client in this episode. Harland and his brother Peter Walker are the heirs of the
Baylor Department store although control is in Walker's hands. And he's got
a few schemes out there to force his brother out of the business.
These two are from Cain and Abel school of brotherhood and its Harland who is charged when Walker is stabbed to death with some scissors. As usual there are a host of alternatives as Walker was a rather ruthless character in his business and personal life.
I will say this I hope the real murderer either gets Raymond Burr as ab attorney or one as good. The victim here is a real snake.
These two are from Cain and Abel school of brotherhood and its Harland who is charged when Walker is stabbed to death with some scissors. As usual there are a host of alternatives as Walker was a rather ruthless character in his business and personal life.
I will say this I hope the real murderer either gets Raymond Burr as ab attorney or one as good. The victim here is a real snake.
No Time for the Crime
miketypeeach29 May 2019
Warning: Spoilers
There simply wasn't time for the crime to have occurred. As with seemingly every Perry Mason episode, what's played before us is a collision of worlds, and it's left to Perry to sort them out. It's good that he did, because one would have to be clairvoyant to solve this one.
By the time the facts are brought to bear, I'm left with the conclusion that there was absolutely no way the accused couldn't have heard or seen the killer. There wasn't time enough for the killer to have done the deed and escaped notice in the time allotted. Add in the achingly convenient relationship between the killer and the security guard, and you're left with too neat and tidy a package. How in the world did Perry discover it?
Sure, the position of the elevator was a vital clue, however the time allotted for the crime to take place is utter fantasy. I cannot stress the point enough.
I'll grant the episode this, though: extracting information from the witnesses was irritatingly arduous. That's the bit which was more like real life than any other aspect portrayed. Oh, and, this one's a babefest to the max!
By the time the facts are brought to bear, I'm left with the conclusion that there was absolutely no way the accused couldn't have heard or seen the killer. There wasn't time enough for the killer to have done the deed and escaped notice in the time allotted. Add in the achingly convenient relationship between the killer and the security guard, and you're left with too neat and tidy a package. How in the world did Perry discover it?
Sure, the position of the elevator was a vital clue, however the time allotted for the crime to take place is utter fantasy. I cannot stress the point enough.
I'll grant the episode this, though: extracting information from the witnesses was irritatingly arduous. That's the bit which was more like real life than any other aspect portrayed. Oh, and, this one's a babefest to the max!
The Brothers Baylor
kapelusznik181 February 2015
Warning: Spoilers
****SPOILERS*** After L.A fashion mogul old man Baylor kicked off, or passed away, it's discovered by his lawyer Perry Mason, Ratymond Burr, an audio tape, that was in pristine condition, where he left all his business to his two sons Todd & Martin,Robert Hartland & Peter Walker. The fact that Todd had just finished a two year sentence for embezzling his late father's company was a bit odd that he put him in charge of his flagship store in order to give him a chance to redeem himself.
As things soon turn out Martin, who in fact framed his brother for the crime he was sentenced for, played a trick on him by getting involved with cheapskate fashion executive Orin Leslie, George Petrie,who uses the cheapest material in his clothing in giving him the exclusive fall line of former top fashion designer and now recovered alcoholic Joseph Rinaldi, Gregory Morton. That in effect would ice his brother Todd out of the fashion business and eventually take control of the Baylor Fashion Empire which he plans to sell!
With Todd feeling that he's been now screwed twice by his scheming brother Martin he goes to see him in his office and is found on the floor, after some off the screen rumbling, with a scissors in his brother Martin's back, the old stab in the back routine, with him looking like the stabber! On trial for his life the what looks like the brain-dead and I don't care what happened to me Todd doesn't at all attempt to defend himself making his lawyer Perry Mason's job that much harder. But as things turned out defending Todd was much easier then Perry ever expected it to be. That with a number of what turned out to be innocent people gladly taking credit for Martins's murder!
****SPOILERS**** As we soon found out if was the action of the building elevator not the killer that solved the case for Perry Mason as well as ending in Todd's, who seemed to care less if he's found innocent or not, favor. The up and down elevator was the key, now that's another story in itself, to who murdered Martin. And as Perry was about to cross examine the eventual murderer he or she broke down without as much as an opening comment on Perry's part. With really no evidence at all, Perry was only probing, Perry gets the killer to not only confess his crime but have his accomplice, a very fit young and brawny looking person, who without knowing that Todd was murdered and in seeing what a first class jerk he was make a brake for it out of the courtroom! With him not only being stopped in his tracks, by what looked like an unarmed senior citizen court guard, and thus implicating himself in Todd's murder!
As things soon turn out Martin, who in fact framed his brother for the crime he was sentenced for, played a trick on him by getting involved with cheapskate fashion executive Orin Leslie, George Petrie,who uses the cheapest material in his clothing in giving him the exclusive fall line of former top fashion designer and now recovered alcoholic Joseph Rinaldi, Gregory Morton. That in effect would ice his brother Todd out of the fashion business and eventually take control of the Baylor Fashion Empire which he plans to sell!
With Todd feeling that he's been now screwed twice by his scheming brother Martin he goes to see him in his office and is found on the floor, after some off the screen rumbling, with a scissors in his brother Martin's back, the old stab in the back routine, with him looking like the stabber! On trial for his life the what looks like the brain-dead and I don't care what happened to me Todd doesn't at all attempt to defend himself making his lawyer Perry Mason's job that much harder. But as things turned out defending Todd was much easier then Perry ever expected it to be. That with a number of what turned out to be innocent people gladly taking credit for Martins's murder!
****SPOILERS**** As we soon found out if was the action of the building elevator not the killer that solved the case for Perry Mason as well as ending in Todd's, who seemed to care less if he's found innocent or not, favor. The up and down elevator was the key, now that's another story in itself, to who murdered Martin. And as Perry was about to cross examine the eventual murderer he or she broke down without as much as an opening comment on Perry's part. With really no evidence at all, Perry was only probing, Perry gets the killer to not only confess his crime but have his accomplice, a very fit young and brawny looking person, who without knowing that Todd was murdered and in seeing what a first class jerk he was make a brake for it out of the courtroom! With him not only being stopped in his tracks, by what looked like an unarmed senior citizen court guard, and thus implicating himself in Todd's murder!
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