ada
the leading man is my tpye
Manthast
Absolutely amazing
Celia
A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.
bkoganbing
Whether Perry Mason was played by Warren William, Donald Woods, or in this case Ricardo Cortez I think one of the reasons that Perry Mason never really took as a series is because no one lead stamped his persona on the character. And of course none of them satisfied Erle Stanley Gardner the way Raymond Burr did on television.Like he was in the first version of The Maltese Falcon, Ricardo Cortez comes over as a smart aleck. Definitely not what fans of the book or the long running television series expect. Several players also did Della Street, Paul Drake, and Hamilton Burger which also did not help continuity.And why Warner Brothers could not find a black cat to play a black cat in The Case Of The Black Cat is beyond me. I guess we have to have a séance to contact Jack Warner and I'll bet he wouldn't know.It's nice to know that lawyers make house calls in the dead of night if the client is rich enough. The client here is Harry Davenport who calls on Perry Mason to disinherit granddaughter Jane Bryan. The new heirs will be grandsons Bill Elliott, Craig Reynolds, and Clinker the Cat who is the caretaker's cat and who Elliott future cowboy hero threatens to kill because he has a loud Meow. My cat Socks has a loud Meow to, but I don't want to do him in.Davenport is then reported killed in a house fire and later caretaker George Roessner is also killed. Suspicion falls on Carlyle Moore who is Bryan's boyfriend because he's seen kidnapping Clinker the cat.At trial of course it all is sorted out in the usual Perry Mason fashion. But don't expect to see what Raymond Burr does. It's like Cortez was back being Sam Spade again.
Neil Doyle
Typical Perry Mason mystery from Warner Bros. in the '30s, features RICARDO CORTEZ as a much less abrasive version of the famous sleuth than Warren William--and much less cocky. The result is a good Mason yarn with a fine supporting cast. GARY EVANS supplies some humor as sidekick Paul Drake.JANE BRYAN is the young woman who is cut out of her grandfather's will. Grandpa is an angry old man played by HARRY DAVENPORT. JUNE TRAVIS is a more serious minded Della Street helping Mason solve his case, and CRAIG REYNOLDS is one of the main suspects.The mystery is cluttered with sub-plots involving the theft of diamonds but the twist at the end comes as a real surprise.Some cryptic dialog helps a lot. "Sam doesn't like cats or old men. He thinks both should be put out of their misery." Another surprise is the fact that the cat in the story is not a black cat at all but a gray and white one that doesn't seem to mind being handled by anyone and yet in the story is a cause of much distress with its noisy howling.
Ripshin
Personally, I am not fond of this film, although Cortez is fine as Mason. The 1930s hosted a brief Warner Brothers series, with three different men in the lead. This is the only movie I have seen from the period.The plot is convoluted, with a few too many characters. I am assuming that all were in the original story - I would love to see the Burr television take that was apparently shot over twenty years later. Speaking of which, I am one of those who grew up on Burr's Mason, so it is strange to experience another actor in the role. This film wastes Della and Drake, in my opinion.Harry Davenport provides his usual supporting role professionalism, albeit in a B movie a few notches below what he was probably accustomed to.Definitely worth a viewing.
davelisalynch
Excellent pre-Raymond Burr filming of a Perry Mason novel! I was lucky enough to see this on TCM (since it isn't on video). At first I wasn't expecting much, but found Ricardo Cortez to be an excellent Perry Mason! Why Warner Brothers didn't keep him for other movies in the series I don't know! That's probably why Perry Mason wasn't that successful until the tv series came along. It would be nice to see this title on DVD.
