Despite being asked to take the case by an old friend (Mason Adams), Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) is reluctant to defend Johnny Sorrento (Michael Nader) in court.  Johnny is a former gangster who has been credibly accused of murder in the past.  Now, he’s on trial for killing his wife and not even Perry is totally convinced that he’s innocent.

Of the 18 Perry Mason films that I’ve watched so far, this was definitely the best.  This is the first time that I’ve seen Perry defend someone who he both dislikes and, even more importantly, distrusts and Raymond Burr was really convincing whenever he got angry at Johnny.  For once, the case wasn’t wrapped up as neatly as usual.  Solving the murder of Johnny’s wife meant delving into a past murder and it uncovered a lot of dark secrets.  The identity of the killer was a real surprise but there was a lot more going on than just solving the mystery of who killed Johnny’s wife.  At the end of this movie, Perry looked like he was about to cry, no matter how much Della (Barbara Hale) tried to comfort him.

Sharing much more would be the same as spoiling all of the movie’s twists and turns so I’ll just repeat that this is the best of the Perry Mason movies that I’ve seen so far.  The guest cast is great, especially Mason Adams and Paul Anka.  The Perry Mason films always follow the same plot and sometimes, they can blend together but this one made a real impression and really took me by surprise.