This episode offers a rare opportunity to watch (and hear) the great Victor Buono reciting a speech from Shakespeare (the "Sound and Fury Signifying Nothing" speech from MACBETH). What a pity we don't have any films of him actually performing any real Shakespeare roles: judging from this brief snippet, it's obvious that he would have been utterly fantastic.
9 Reviews
Who Killed the Critic?
rothwelltj25 April 2017
This is a good Perry Mason episode, with a great supporting cast and a memorable last line.
Victor Buono plays his usual role as a smug, egocentric fat man, and there is hardly anyone better at it, except maybe Sydney Greenstreet. It's hard to believe he was only 25 years old when he played this part, he always looked much older than his real age. It's a shame that he died of a heart attack at 43.
Tom Conway, in one of his last appearances, does a great impression of his younger brother George Sanders. I would have thought it was Sanders if I had not seen the credits.
The actress who played Ramona Carver was unknown to me, but she played the part well. All in all a good solid episode of this classic show.
Victor Buono plays his usual role as a smug, egocentric fat man, and there is hardly anyone better at it, except maybe Sydney Greenstreet. It's hard to believe he was only 25 years old when he played this part, he always looked much older than his real age. It's a shame that he died of a heart attack at 43.
Tom Conway, in one of his last appearances, does a great impression of his younger brother George Sanders. I would have thought it was Sanders if I had not seen the credits.
The actress who played Ramona Carver was unknown to me, but she played the part well. All in all a good solid episode of this classic show.
Is it wrong to kill a critic
kfo949425 October 2011
Warning: Spoilers
This episode contains a Shakespearen Touring group that travels around putting on small quote shows around the country. The group has four actors- Ramona Carver (Virginia Fields), John Fossette (Victor Buono), Scott Everett (James Stacy who later starred in a 68 series named Lancer) and Guy Penrose (Tom Conway). All were casted as Broadway folk with an upper class charm that comes across well on the screen. (that is except for James Stacy who looked out of place)
The story involves Ramona giving up a son 23 years ago for adoption. She did not think anyone was still around that knew about this until she starts getting men telling her that she is her mother.
The only possible person that may know about the adoption is an hated critic. He was in New York at the time but now works at a school on the west coast. It just so happens that the touring group will be performing at the school that the critic works. And low and behold the critic is murdered. SPOILER ALERT AHEAD
All the evidence and witnesses believe that Ramona is the suspect. But we know she has Perry to defend her so her conviction, I am sure, is in doubt.
From some work by the Paul Drake Detective Agency we learn that one of the four actors is using this little touring party as a means to get rich without paying taxes. And when Perry gets the member on the witness-stand the fifth amendment is used. But without saying "I did it" we now know who killed the critic.
At the end of the show - it is unsure who is Ramona's child but that can be left for another time.
The episode, even with the good acting, is a middle pack show for Perry. A below-par show that is raised to above-par because of the actors.
Also Della is back. After four straight episodes, she has returned from her aunts. Nice to have Della back.
The story involves Ramona giving up a son 23 years ago for adoption. She did not think anyone was still around that knew about this until she starts getting men telling her that she is her mother.
The only possible person that may know about the adoption is an hated critic. He was in New York at the time but now works at a school on the west coast. It just so happens that the touring group will be performing at the school that the critic works. And low and behold the critic is murdered. SPOILER ALERT AHEAD
All the evidence and witnesses believe that Ramona is the suspect. But we know she has Perry to defend her so her conviction, I am sure, is in doubt.
From some work by the Paul Drake Detective Agency we learn that one of the four actors is using this little touring party as a means to get rich without paying taxes. And when Perry gets the member on the witness-stand the fifth amendment is used. But without saying "I did it" we now know who killed the critic.
At the end of the show - it is unsure who is Ramona's child but that can be left for another time.
The episode, even with the good acting, is a middle pack show for Perry. A below-par show that is raised to above-par because of the actors.
Also Della is back. After four straight episodes, she has returned from her aunts. Nice to have Della back.
You Can Tell, Huh?
darbski18 January 2018
Warning: Spoilers
***SPOILERS*** Well, I'd love to know if anyone thinks they're gonna get John Slyvester Fossette for murder, or anything else in this drama. We have the normally great performances from Perry, Della, and Paul, But Fossette steals the show. Victor Buono somehow always turns in a command performance no matter the character he plays (which is usually himself). More on his character in a little bit.
The next is Tom Conway, who plays Guy Penrose. Could there be a sadder case? He truly WAS playing himself in this one. Very sad, indeed. I remember him in several things, and IMDb will show his acting career. He actually made TWO movies with Barbara Hale when he played The Falcon, and they were very enjoyable. He was suave, debonair, cool, and, of course, always has some beautiful girls around him. A great part, and a great actor. As an Alcoholic myself, I can say how bad I felt for this very talented performer.
As far as Ramona Carver, pompous, overbearing, snooty, and dismissive ...who could possibly care? The two snots who were trying to convince her that they were her sons? What the hell for? Neither one was worth the powder to blow them up, either. Nope, the only two actors in this episode worth their salt were Tom and Victor. As far as Mr. Fossette, one of the other reviewers noted that he hadn't admitted anything. Right you are, sir (I think).
This is another one of those episodes wherein Perry only has to divert attention away from his client, and onto another alternately believable subject, or suspect. NOW, the D.A. must investigate this new theory as well. As a matter of fact, given the point that Mr. Fossette was a great actor, who's to say that he wasn't actually diverting the court's attention strictly to clear his old friend of this crime. Look at this drama again, and you will see Ramona threaten the victim, and later, in Perry's presence, actually admits it. Maybe she DID do it. How about those taxes? Well, maybe, but only maybe. The I.R.S can do a lot of things in 1964, but unless they have an actual case, they can't stop a person from using his passport to leave the country and move to Switzerland. Same is true of any local D.A. Did he do it? Great episode, great acting, I'm gonna give it a 10.
The next is Tom Conway, who plays Guy Penrose. Could there be a sadder case? He truly WAS playing himself in this one. Very sad, indeed. I remember him in several things, and IMDb will show his acting career. He actually made TWO movies with Barbara Hale when he played The Falcon, and they were very enjoyable. He was suave, debonair, cool, and, of course, always has some beautiful girls around him. A great part, and a great actor. As an Alcoholic myself, I can say how bad I felt for this very talented performer.
As far as Ramona Carver, pompous, overbearing, snooty, and dismissive ...who could possibly care? The two snots who were trying to convince her that they were her sons? What the hell for? Neither one was worth the powder to blow them up, either. Nope, the only two actors in this episode worth their salt were Tom and Victor. As far as Mr. Fossette, one of the other reviewers noted that he hadn't admitted anything. Right you are, sir (I think).
This is another one of those episodes wherein Perry only has to divert attention away from his client, and onto another alternately believable subject, or suspect. NOW, the D.A. must investigate this new theory as well. As a matter of fact, given the point that Mr. Fossette was a great actor, who's to say that he wasn't actually diverting the court's attention strictly to clear his old friend of this crime. Look at this drama again, and you will see Ramona threaten the victim, and later, in Perry's presence, actually admits it. Maybe she DID do it. How about those taxes? Well, maybe, but only maybe. The I.R.S can do a lot of things in 1964, but unless they have an actual case, they can't stop a person from using his passport to leave the country and move to Switzerland. Same is true of any local D.A. Did he do it? Great episode, great acting, I'm gonna give it a 10.
A Different Venue
Hitchcoc13 February 2022
It's really old school where a group of actors go on the road and do dramatic readings from Shakespeare to an adoring audience. This was common in Victorian England, where the likes of Charles Dickens would pack them in to hear him read from his books. Apparently, the people portrayed are thought quite highly of as the bus their ways across America. A subplot has to do with a twenty-something young man who claims to be the son of the diva of the group. A critic pays the price for his opinions as the murder victim.
WHO KILLED THE NO GOOD CRITIC?
tcchelsey9 August 2023
Cheers to frequent guest star Virginia Field, replete with thick British accent, who plays a distinguished stage actress (Ramona), searching for her long lost son. It gets complicated when a drama critic is killed, and just who pulled the job? Fields shows off her talent, and with good reason. She was one of the best, fondly remembered for her appearances in such classic movies as WATERLOO BRIDGE, including the CHARLIE CHAN and MR. MOTO movies. She also had some historical talking points as she was a cousin of Civil War general Robert E. Lee.
This episode is a standout with another fine performance by Victor Buono (as Fossette) wearing heavy makeup, playing a much older and mysterious gentleman. I agree with the last reviewer that he was a contemporary Sydney Greenstreet. Veteran actor Tom Conway, who worked with Barbara Hale and Raymond Burr at RKO Pictures in the 40s, is also on the witness stand, and in one of his last appearances.
Conway at the time had health and financial problems (losing thousands in a business scam), also suffering from poor eyesight due to an operation not long after this episode.
This is an excellent mystery, especially geared for us movie buffs, and Virginia Field shines ... with a great closing line.
SEASON 7 EPISODE 24 CBS dvd box set.
This episode is a standout with another fine performance by Victor Buono (as Fossette) wearing heavy makeup, playing a much older and mysterious gentleman. I agree with the last reviewer that he was a contemporary Sydney Greenstreet. Veteran actor Tom Conway, who worked with Barbara Hale and Raymond Burr at RKO Pictures in the 40s, is also on the witness stand, and in one of his last appearances.
Conway at the time had health and financial problems (losing thousands in a business scam), also suffering from poor eyesight due to an operation not long after this episode.
This is an excellent mystery, especially geared for us movie buffs, and Virginia Field shines ... with a great closing line.
SEASON 7 EPISODE 24 CBS dvd box set.
Perry and the diva
bkoganbing13 March 2014
Perry Mason and Della Street get a summons from noted stage actress Virginia Field an old friend and possibly an old flame as Barbara Hale deduces. Seems as though she's decided to unload Doug Lambert who's attached himself to her touring troupe by claiming he's her son. She did years ago give birth out of wedlock. But dropping Lambert is only the beginning for Field who then winds up accused of the murder of an old Broadway critic and enemy of her's who's now teaching in Santa Barbara where the troupe is now playing.
There's a nice cast of suspects that also include the three other members of the troupe, Tom Conway, Victor Buono, and James Stacy. In fact Stacy is doing a lot of hinting that he's the lost son of Fields.
It's the time of death that is the key here. It helps that Raymond Burr together with young David Macklin discovered the body. It helps Burr trap the murderer on the stand.
It's a good episode in which Virginia Fields stands out as a diva among divas.
There's a nice cast of suspects that also include the three other members of the troupe, Tom Conway, Victor Buono, and James Stacy. In fact Stacy is doing a lot of hinting that he's the lost son of Fields.
It's the time of death that is the key here. It helps that Raymond Burr together with young David Macklin discovered the body. It helps Burr trap the murderer on the stand.
It's a good episode in which Virginia Fields stands out as a diva among divas.
What we do not see is not realistic
Pro Jury26 June 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Here it is 2020, and now watching episodes of Perry Mason for the very first time. As escapism, this series is wonderful and nice. However, some episodes work better than others. What tends to happen in episodes of Perry Mason is the action we see captured by the camera makes sense, but sometimes what we never see, and is only explained to the audience at the end of the episode, is not all that logical if you think a lot about it.
In this SIMPLE SIMON episode, we are told that an experienced movie or stage reviewer might skip the last 10 minutes to go home and write the review early. Well maybe. Maybe if the performance is expected to be unimportant for the paper, maybe frivolous generally, or perhaps inconsequential for the writer.
But in SIMPLE SIMON, we see that the performers and performance are very special and very personal for the writer, his paper and the student community. Surely some students are assigned to write reviews of their own. There will be class discussions and debates the next day. Department professors making these assignments will need to be ready and prepared. This performance does not seem routine and insignificant enough to skip the last 10 minutes.
In fact, there is a long intense personal history between the professor/reviewer and the performers. The professor/reviewer is very motivated to make every critical punch count, and land as many zingers as he can. Skip the last 10 minutes? No way. This personally motivated reviewer is going to want to carefully watch every second of the stage performance in hopes of finding weakness and mistakes.
But in this episode to make the murder time technically able to take place, we are told that the reviewer not only left the performance 10 minutes early, but he actually left the theater building half way into the performance.
Yes, such a thing is technically possible, but it is without real life motivation. It is just not believable the more you think about it. The reviewer is motivated to stay to the end, and not leave early to make the murder possible.
Lastly, intermissions are not that long, and during the intermission, the artisic director or "quarterback" is not going to be unavailable for the entire time. A quarterback not on the field and not with his players is not really the quarterback. But during SIMPLE SIMON, we did not hear of the quarterback being missing. The entire idea is not realistic as it is presented.
In this SIMPLE SIMON episode, we are told that an experienced movie or stage reviewer might skip the last 10 minutes to go home and write the review early. Well maybe. Maybe if the performance is expected to be unimportant for the paper, maybe frivolous generally, or perhaps inconsequential for the writer.
But in SIMPLE SIMON, we see that the performers and performance are very special and very personal for the writer, his paper and the student community. Surely some students are assigned to write reviews of their own. There will be class discussions and debates the next day. Department professors making these assignments will need to be ready and prepared. This performance does not seem routine and insignificant enough to skip the last 10 minutes.
In fact, there is a long intense personal history between the professor/reviewer and the performers. The professor/reviewer is very motivated to make every critical punch count, and land as many zingers as he can. Skip the last 10 minutes? No way. This personally motivated reviewer is going to want to carefully watch every second of the stage performance in hopes of finding weakness and mistakes.
But in this episode to make the murder time technically able to take place, we are told that the reviewer not only left the performance 10 minutes early, but he actually left the theater building half way into the performance.
Yes, such a thing is technically possible, but it is without real life motivation. It is just not believable the more you think about it. The reviewer is motivated to stay to the end, and not leave early to make the murder possible.
Lastly, intermissions are not that long, and during the intermission, the artisic director or "quarterback" is not going to be unavailable for the entire time. A quarterback not on the field and not with his players is not really the quarterback. But during SIMPLE SIMON, we did not hear of the quarterback being missing. The entire idea is not realistic as it is presented.
Not so Simple Simon
sol12182 March 2013
Warning: Spoilers
**Meaningless role playing between members of this Shakespearean troupe or company almost has you turning off the TV until acid theater critic Ogdan G."Oggie" Kramer, Sherwood Keith, shows up almost halfway through this Perry Mason, Raymond Burr, episode just in time for him to get himself murdered. Kramer has had it in for the star of the group Romona Carver, Virginia Field, for some time and now he's got,or seems to have, unearthed new ammunition or information to make her life miserable. Sure enough within minutes of his introduction Kramer is found murdered in his hotel room by what seems like, in her being at the murder scene, non other then Romona herself.
With all the evidence pointing to Romona as Kramer's killer her good friend Perry Mason who was at the theater to see her preform takes up her case in court. Perry was also involved in trying to track down Romona's long lost illegitimate son whom she hasn't seen since he was born 23 years ago. And as things soon turned out Kramer's murder had nothing at all to do with her long lost son as at first expected but by something completely different. And that something had to do with a tax evasion plan concocted by a member of the acting company whom the late Ogdan Kramer was blackmailing!
With Perry defending his client and good friend Romana Carver in court the truth comes out about her long lost son who's in fact been a member of her acting troupe for over a year since she discovered him back in Falstaff Arizona while he, unknowing that she's his mother, was asking Romona for her autograph. This isn't going to get Romona off the hook on the murder charge against her but at least it peps up the Perry Mason episode and keeps the audience from either turning off the TV set or falling asleep!
***SPOILERS*** We get the usual Perry Mason theatrics in uncovering who murdered Ogdon Kramer by breaking down his killers defenses and leaving him, who at first talked a mile a minute, almost speechless. The guy thought he was smart but when Perry Mason got to him on the witness stand he knew that his goose was cooked, like the double lobster dinner that he ate the evening he murdered Ogdan Kramer, and just clammed up and took his medicine: A life behind bars at the beautiful, from the outside not inside, and scenic San Quentin Prison by the bay.
With all the evidence pointing to Romona as Kramer's killer her good friend Perry Mason who was at the theater to see her preform takes up her case in court. Perry was also involved in trying to track down Romona's long lost illegitimate son whom she hasn't seen since he was born 23 years ago. And as things soon turned out Kramer's murder had nothing at all to do with her long lost son as at first expected but by something completely different. And that something had to do with a tax evasion plan concocted by a member of the acting company whom the late Ogdan Kramer was blackmailing!
With Perry defending his client and good friend Romana Carver in court the truth comes out about her long lost son who's in fact been a member of her acting troupe for over a year since she discovered him back in Falstaff Arizona while he, unknowing that she's his mother, was asking Romona for her autograph. This isn't going to get Romona off the hook on the murder charge against her but at least it peps up the Perry Mason episode and keeps the audience from either turning off the TV set or falling asleep!
***SPOILERS*** We get the usual Perry Mason theatrics in uncovering who murdered Ogdon Kramer by breaking down his killers defenses and leaving him, who at first talked a mile a minute, almost speechless. The guy thought he was smart but when Perry Mason got to him on the witness stand he knew that his goose was cooked, like the double lobster dinner that he ate the evening he murdered Ogdan Kramer, and just clammed up and took his medicine: A life behind bars at the beautiful, from the outside not inside, and scenic San Quentin Prison by the bay.
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