Perry Mason (TV Series) The Case of the Duplicate Case (1965) User Reviews

Case of the Hot Tart

[zsenorsock · 9/10 · 29 July 2008]

Herbert Cornwall (Martin West)has it tough. He's gone from being a promising baseball prospect to a guy trying to make a living selling arch supports. He also has to deal with Millie, a wife (Susan Bay, aka Mrs. Leonard Nimoy) who is playing mattress tester with virtually every man in her company office as she ties them around her little finger.

When Herbert discovers he's mistakenly mixed up his briefcase with someone else's, and that briefcase contains $72,000, the ball really gets rolling. Herb confronts Millie about her affairs and belts her, then goes to a bar to drink away his shame. When Millie turns up strangled to death, he's charged with the crime. Fortunately his pal Paul Drake (who buys all his insoles and arch supports from Herbert) asks Perry to help out.

There's plenty of good suspects in this mystery, all who seem to be having affairs with the promiscuous Millie: Ernest Hill (Herb Voland) who wants her to run away with him; AK Dudley (David Lewis) who seems to demonstrate a great deal of "interest" in this employee; and young Burt Blair (Dan Dubbins) who is so hot for Millie he's boiling. All give solid performances as does Steve Ihnat as Herbert's boss, contributing to the enjoyability of this episode.

Susan Bay while attractive, is very good at being manipulative, working it for whatever man might be in her presence at the time.

Veteran Douglas Dumbrille makes his final appearance on "PM" as the judge. It's good to see the producers were looking out for aging vets like him and throwing him a part from time to time. He made a couple more appearances then retired before passing away a few years later.

After a few lemons- this one is lemonade. Good episode

[kfo9494 · 9/10 · 13 December 2011]

After the last few episodes were sort of duds, this episode brought all the good things that made Perry Mason a great series to watch.

This episode centers around Herbert Cornwall (Martin West). Herbie is a former baseball player that is now reduced to a salesman of arch supports. It is very easy to say that Herbie is down on his luck and stuck in this dead end job.

But there is more, He is also married to Millie Cornwall (Susan Bay). Millie is an accountant at a large department store. She married the big-time ball player but now is not to happy to be married to a arch-support salesman. In her world of executive business she has become the 'slut-of-the-office'. Seems like everyone in the office, plus some outside on the streets, has ridden Millie like an old bicycle.

When Herbie goes to visit his wife at her office, she advises that she cannot go out to eat that they have to work late for an surprise audit. He storms out of the office picking up a brief case and goes for a drink. But just about an hour later, Herbie sees his wife out eating and drinking with the owner of the store. Herbie staggers home and goes into a fit inside his house.

When he throws the briefcase against the wall it is filled with money. He had picked up the wrong case when he left his wife's office. And he believes that his wife is stealing from the company and planning to run off with one of her affair guys.

He finds his wife packing to leave him and gets into a argument and hits her. He leaves and then calls a friend to help him get the embezzlement information to the police. When the police arrive to talk with him, they take the case with the money and then tells him that his wife has been found dead and he is the main suspect.

Thanks to Paul Drake, Perry is called to defend the hapless Herbie in court. And it is up to Perry to find exactly what is going on in that office and to find the real killer of Millie.

There is some good acting in this episode that keeps the viewer interested. Martin West does a good job of playing the down-on-his-luck former baseball player that finds his wife cheating. It was easy to feel his pain in the way Mr West portrayed the character.

Susan Bay as the cheating wife also did a good job of making the viewer have disdain for her. Her acting of the obvious cheating spouse made no one shed tears for her when she did not make it to the credits. That is what makes a good show in my opinion. You connect with the characters and the story. And the remaining cast was just as interesting. Seems like even Perry was a step above his regular acting.

After being disappointed during the last two episodes, I find myself looking forward to the next show. This episode brought back all the good qualities of the 'Perry Mason' series.

Superior episode

[joclmct · 9/10 · 12 August 2020]

Interesting non-jokey episode. Martin West gives an intense performance as a washed up baseball player now selling arch-supports. His character is a sad failure, humiliated by his cheating shrew of a wife played by Susan Bay Nimoy. It's a worthy entry in the Perry Mason series. And Don Dubbins is super handsome sexy.

Millie Got Around

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 2 April 2012]

William Hopper got his boss Raymond Burr involved in this case which concerned a most unhappily married former baseball player now selling arch supports out of a department store. Martin West is married to Susan Bay and you can see that back in the day she just loved being married to a glamorous athlete. Now he's just getting by on a paycheck in a job he hates working in the same department store as Bay is. And he knows full well that Bay is stepping out on him. Before long we learn it's with half the employees of the store.

When Hopper picked up West's case by mistake he found it contained a lot of cash. Later on when Bay is murdered, the cops zero in on West, but there are a host of alternative suspects. And of course Raymond Burr ferrets out the right one.

What was interesting about this episode was that while West got off as Burr's clients always do, there is no guarantee of a happy ending. This guy for all intents and purposes is still a washed up ballplayer with no great prospects for the future. Unusual for a Perry Mason episode where usually the loose ends were always tied up.

Mrs. Nimoy, please

[darbski · 9/10 · 12 June 2017]

Susan Bay, later Leonard Nimoy's wife, plays Millie; Office slut, desk tramp, manipulative, lying, cheating, stealing, and all 'round no-goodnik. She's doomed, of course. Her Huz is a wimpy baseball used-to-be that she's used to pushing around. Guess what happens? Well, read the other reviews; they're pretty good. However, I want to say that Millie was a hottie, and it's easy to see why a lot of the guys wanted her to play with. One thing that I've always loved is the guy (there's usually a guy) who says "I'm a happily married man". You (I) always know he's a lyin' sack'a crap.

Naturally, the guy who murdered her said that SHE was no good; like he was better, right? Good episode, you can get the whole collection from Amazon.

Call Millie for a Date

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 25 February 2022]

I liked this one. Millie is a great femme fatale and is leading every man she encounters by the nose. Her wiles get her information because fifty something guys are willing to throw it away for you know what. Her husband is a dope who is just being used because he is so weak. Anyway, I thought the way it all played out with Mason setting the table was quite wonderful.

Boardroom Blanket Bingo

[hjassol · 4/10 · 30 April 2014]

This is one of the strangest and certainly the most convoluted episode of Perry Mason I've ever seen. Always known for intricate plot lines and snappy dialogue, this one just didn't make the grade, for me.

Millie Cornwall is an accountant, unhappily married to former baseball player Herbie, who is a failing insole salesman. When Herbie drops into her office to invite her to dinner, she declines, saying she has to work late and Herbie grabs his sales case and leaves. He goes to the bar with an associate, Charlie Parks, (Steve Ihnat) where he sees her enter and take a table with A.K. Dudley (David Lewis), her company's owner. Herbie goes home and angrily throws his sales case across the room, where it pops open to reveal $72,000 inside. He realizes that he has picked up someone else's case and that same someone is stealing money from Millie's employer. Herbie returns to his office to try and find out whose case it is and Charlie, suddenly and for no apparent reason, says to him "Here, Herbie, $25 worth of free samples!" while handing him a stack of insoles.

Herbie returns home and confronts Millie. They argue and he pushes her against the wall. The next thing we know, their home is full of cops and Millie is dead. Herbie is the prime suspect and Paul Drake appears and calls Perry to help his friend Herbie.

Herbie is charged with Millie's murder and we go to the courtroom. Perry knows that the same person who was stealing the $72,000 is the murderer. In his usual style, Perry cross-examines (read:grills) Millie's co-workers and it comes out that she was playing mattress hockey with ALL of them while conspiring with her boss, Ernest Hill (Herb Voland), to steal the money. She double-crossed Mr. Hill and while he admits to doctoring the books to hide the $72,000 theft, he denies killing her. In the end it is revealed that Charlie Parks killed her for the missing money, and that Millie had been fooling around with everyone in the cast except Perry, Paul, Della and the Judge (Douglass Dumbrille),and I'm not so sure about the Judge.

As said earlier, a convoluted plot, difficult to follow and inane dialogue made this episode one of my least favorite.