VividSimon Simply Perfect

GrimPrecise I'll tell you why so serious

MamaGravity good back-story, and good acting

Listonixio Fresh and Exciting

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . Perry Mason's movie career in the 1930s, as its hard-to-follow convoluted plot bears no scrutiny whatsoever. A synopsis of this story might read something like this: Two Australian moms with look-alike daughters the same age run across each other in Salt Lake City, and decide to live together. When Mom A lets slip that her daughter's estranged grandpa is an L.A. millionaire, Mom B immediately hires a detective agency to plant HER OWN DAUGHTER in the Rich Guy's house as a second grandchild. Since this impostor's kind of cute, Gramps instantly announces plans to give 75% of his grandson's inheritance to the stranger girl. Mom A's wedding minister arrives from another continent to inform Mom A of this nefarious plot. Mom A goes to meet her adopted-out grown daughter and her estranged father-in-law, not realizing that Mom B has stolen her registered gun in order to off the Rich Guy before her own daughter is exposed as an impostor. Mom B shoots the millionaire four times, but that's okay, since the Real Killer is one of the Private Eyes with whom she's in cahoots. He shoves the Death Car into the Bay, drowning Mr. Money Bags before he can bleed to death from Mom B's bullets. At best, THE CASE OF THE STUTTERING BISHOP is an argument against gun registration.

sddavis63 This really isn't a particularly exciting or even entertaining story, but to be honest I only watched it strictly out of curiosity. I belong to a generation that only knows Raymond Burr as Perry Mason - and only in syndication, since the series was on the air several years before my time. Even in syndication, I never made a habit of watching the show, but I caught enough episodes that I associate Raymond Burr with the part, so I was curious as to how well another actor would work in the role.In this case, the other actor was Donald Woods, with whom I'm slightly familiar. He was quite passable in the role - not especially exciting (as fits the story to be honest) and very different than Burr, but passable. All the normal characters are there. Ann Dvorak was quite good as Della Street, Joseph Crehan as Paul Drake and Charles Wilson as Hamilton Burger. Like the TV series, Perry really acts more like a detective than a lawyer, and the courtroom scenes are restricted to the last 20 minutes or so of the movie and they move at quite a frenetic pace. The story itself is confusing. It deals with Mason being asked by an Australian bishop to help defend a woman accused of manslaughter many years before. The bishop then basically disappears from the story so the title is somewhat misleading, and there's questions about an inheritance and another murder. The whole thing becomes very complicated to be honest, which makes it less compelling.Having said that, it's worth watching for a look at "early" Perry Mason, and has definite value as a curiosity on that basis. (6/10)

dougdoepke Maybe you can keep up with the plot convolutions better than I could. Finally I lost track of the yellow or pink or white raincoats and threw in the towel. Anyway, it's a mildly entertaining Mason entry, at best. As a matter of fact, it looks to me like Warner Bros. had lost interest in the series—(for example, compare the sparse production values here with the richly produced The Case of the Curious Bride {1935}). This was the last installment and features a boyish Donald Woods as the legal wizard and sleuth. Frankly, in my book, he lacks the forceful presence required to bring off the role in authoritative fashion, and was, perhaps, a last minute replacement for the more familiar Warren William. Ironically, it's this installment that more closely resembles the TV show with its first-part dramatic setup and second-part courtroom pyrotechnics. Too bad the exotic Ann Dvorak is largely wasted as a recessive Della Street— with her distinctive looks and lively personality, she should have been one of the suspects. All in all, the 70 minutes is for hardcore fans of the series and for fans of the perennially addled Tom Kennedy as the aptly named "Magooney".

Arthur Hausner Donald Woods and Ann Dvorak were fine as Perry Mason and his secretary, Della Street, but it took me a while to get used to not seeing Raymond Burr in the Mason role. The complicated plot involves two women named Janice who claim to be the heir to the fortune of Douglas Wood, and an Australian bishop who asks Mason to see Mira McKinney, who can prove which one is the real one. But Wood is killed going to the rendezvous with McKinney, who is charged with murder. In customary Perry Mason style, there is a final courtroom scene (in this case only a hearing) where Mason flushes out the killer and the phony Janice. I enjoyed trying to follow the plot and the comedy that was prevalent. Tom Kennedy suddenly remembers an important item when he hears the name "Sampson," because it involves a ship called "Delilah." Woods always asking Dvorak to remind him to give her a raise when she gets a good idea (a running gag). Even the bishop, who explains he stutters only when under some emotional stress, provides some comedy at the end. He sheepishly stammers "g-g-goodness g-g-gracious" when three of the principal women kiss him goodbye.