Marine Captain David Berman (Tim Ryan, who looked a lot like Bruce Willis) gets a transfer to Paris so that he can track down Dieter Krugman, a Nazi war criminal who killed his grandparents and crippled his mother (Teresa Wright). He is told that Krugman is now living under the name of Felix Altmann. David confronts Altmann at a health spa but, when someone else shoots Altmann, David is framed for the crime. Luckily, Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) is an old friend of the family’s. He and Ken Malansky (William R. Moses) hop on the first plane to Paris and Perry starts to read up on the Uniform Code of Military Justice so that he can defend David. Della (Barbara Hale) stays behind in Denver but Perry calls her a few times.
This was a good entry in the Perry Mason film series. The mystery was intriguing and the acting — from Ian Bannen, Ian McShane, Terry O’Quinn, Yvette Mimieux, and Paul Freeman — was excellent all around. Especially good was Teresa Wright as David’s mother. Some of her scenes were chilling and she gets a great moment at the end of the movie. Raymond Burr is as good as always but, for the first time, William R. Moses really feels like he belongs in the movie. This is the first time that I’ve seen Ken without wishing he was Paul.
It’s too bad Della had to stay back in America. I bet she would have enjoyed seeing Paris with Perry.

I’ve seen bits and pieces of the TV series but I have seen a few of the TV movies. Though been ages! I’m no expert as again I’ve only seen bits of the show. But seems to me the TV movies work better than most TV that continue from a show. Always feel as if something is amiss. Hart to Hart TV movies were ok but don’t fully capture the show same for Cagney & Lacy, L.A. Law and so forth. The closest was Murder, She Wrote. First 2 were sold TV movies. But again no expert on Perry Mason but they seem to do a solid job at capturing the series.
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