My mother was a great fan of mysteries and our home book library (back when there was such a thing) was full of them. Most of them were from the 1930s and early 1940s as the taste for mysteries declined after World War II. Being a child of the 1950s, I grew up with the PERRY MASON TV series and Raymond Burr but my mother, who was also a great fan of old movies, told me that he wasn’t the first Perry Mason. That distinction belonged to 1930s character actor Warren William who starred in 4 of 6 Perry Mason B movies which were all made in 1936 by Warner Brothers. This is back when Erle Stanley Gardner had just started writing the Perry Mason books and the character was new. In fact she purchased most of them when they were first published and they were in our library collection.
Warren William’s Perry Mason was very different from Raymond Burr’s take on the character. He was rich, he was brash, and he was cocky (even a touch conceited) and was as much a private detective as he was a lawyer. This is because rich detectives like Philo Vance and Nick Charles were in vogue at the time. This suited William’s screen image perfectly. Gardner was just starting out and didn’t have the clout that he would later once he became famous. As a result, these B movies differed from what Gardner had actually written although the plots were adhered to. It’s an interesting paradox that the plots of the TV show differ even more from the books than the 1930s movies though Gardner was now very well known and should have had more creative control over the material.
The first of the 6 movies, THE CASE OF THE HOWLING DOG, is narrowly the best of the set. Perry Mason was being introduced to a movie audience and a surprising amount of care was taken with this film. It is well written (much better than the TV version), well photographed, well acted, and far more serious in tone than the ones that followed. Up next is THE CASE OF THE CURIOUS BRIDE which has the distinction of being directed by Michael Curtiz (CASABLANCA). It is more stylish than DOG but ends with a room gathering revelation rather than in a courtroom. THE CASE OF THE LUCKY LEGS is easily the worst as it is played as a screwball comedy rather than a mystery. THE CASE OF THE VELVET CLAWS (Gardner’s first PM mystery) has Perry and Della Street getting married!
Diminished returns caused Warner Brothers to cut costs for the remaining two films. Warren William, who was a big name at the time and thus cost more, moved on and so Ricardo Cortez, who was the original Sam Spade, took over the role of Perry in THE CASE OF THE BLACK CAT. Despite the lower budget, BLACK CAT (misnamed as the cat in the film is gray and white) is a distinct improvement over the last 2 films since the focus is on mystery not comedy. For my money, Cortez was the best Perry Mason but Gardner was not of that opinion and Cortez was replaced in the final film, THE CASE OF THE STUTTERING BISHOP, by Donald Woods who was one of the suspects from CURIOUS BRIDE. He also played the role straight and was very effective in the courtroom finale.
The one word that best describes these movies is…inconsistent. Della Street was portrayed by 5 different actresses and Paul Drake was known as “Spudsy” Drake and he was used for comedy relief in the Warren William Perrys. He finally shows up as Paul in the last 2 installments as does Hamilton Burger who is pronounced “Bur-jer” in the last film. Both Drake and Burger were played by a different actor in the final 2 films. Despite that, I prefer these movies as being much closer in spirit to Gardner’s source material. It should be noted that, just like the TV series, Gardner did not write any of the screenplays. This bare bones (DVD-R set from Warner Archive has no extras, Though uneven, it is worth having for fans of 1930s mysteries and for Perry Mason completists (in that order),
The Capsule Critic 