"Perry Mason" The Case of the Wrathful Wraith (1965)

TV Series:

"Perry Mason" (1957)

Original Air Date:

7 November 1965 (Season 9, Episode 9)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Perry Mason | Courtroom | Secretary | Lawyer | Murder Confession

Cast

Raymond Burr	...	Perry Mason
Barbara Hale	...	Della Street
William Hopper	...	Paul Drake
William Talman	...	Hamilton Burger
Richard Anderson	...	Lt. Steve Drumm
Dan Tobin	...	Terrance Clay
Jeanne Bal	...	Rosemary Welch
Marian McCargo	...	Louise Selff (as Marion Moses)
Douglas Dick	...	Ted Harberson
Lee Farr	...	Glenn Arcott
Gene Lyons	...	Ralph Balfour
Walter Brooke	...	Deputy D.A.
Winnie Collins	...	Willa Saint Sutton (as Winifred Coffin)
Robert Easton	...	Ed Allison
Geraldine Wall	...	Mrs. Stallman

Runtime:

60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Paisano Productions

Ghost Story

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Outstanding episode starts with Perry clearing his client Louise Selff (Marian Moses aka Marian McCargo) of killing her husband Jamison (Former and future Lone Ranger John Hart!). The pressures of the trial have Louise almost at wits end and when she starts getting phone calls and seeing her late husband, people wonder if she's gone insane. But then again the body had never been recovered...until it shows up on Louise's terrace with a fresh bullet hole in it! Once again Louise is charged with murdering her husband.

This is one of the best season eight stories with excellent writing, stylish directing and good performances from both the regulars and the guest cast. William Talman gets a good scene when he offers to let Louise plead insanity. He feels a lot of sympathy for the tortured woman. Marian Moses or McCargo or whatever she was calling herself is outstanding as the tortured Louise. She's very convincing as a woman who is on the edge and might even confess to a crime she didn't commit just to move on. Ralph Balfour (Gene Lyons, Burr's future boss as Commissioner Randall on "Ironside") and Rosemary Welch (Jeanne Bal, Nancy Crater on the "Star Trek" episode "Mantrap") are outstanding in support.

If I have any quibble with this episode its in its uneven use of rain. Note how it tends to appear than disappear from shot to shot at times, most notably in the scene where Louise gets in a taxi leaving the courtroom. But that aside, they create a wonderfully atmospheric episode with rain, shadows and angles.