Carla Folk | Through the Shattered Lens

Truman York (David Soul), a painter who faked his death in a motorcycle accident five years earlier, reemerges because someone is selling forgeries of his work. When York turns up dead, a photographer (Mark Moses) is arrested for the crime. Luckily, the photographer went to college with Ken Malansky (William R. Moses) and Ken is able to convince Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) to take the case. (If you’re going to get arrested for murder, it helps to be a friend of Ken or Perry’s.)

I was disappointed with this entry in the Perry Mason series. It had potential but it never really reached it. I was more interested in how the artist faked his death for five years instead of figuring out who killed him. Raymond Burr was obviously unwell when he shot this movie and there were times when it was painful to watch him as he had to learn against a wall just to be able to stay standing while delivering his lines. I felt bad for Burr watching this because, even though he was great in the role of Perry Mason, it was obvious that he was in pain.

Maybe because Raymond Burr couldn’t do as much as usual, Ken got to do more than usual in this installment. What’s strange is that the accused photographer was also interrogating people and looking for clues. He had just been released on bail and he was on trial for murder. He should have been laying low instead of tracking down witnesses.

I love the Perry Mason films and I have so many good memories of watching them with my aunt. This one didn’t do it for me.

When singer Terri Knight (Vanessa Williams) is shot and murdered, her husband and manager, Jack (Tim Reid), is arrested. It’s a good thing that Jack’s professor in law school was Perry Mason (Raymond Burr)! Perry and Ken Malansky (William R. Moses) take the case and investigate to see who silenced the singer. (Does Perry know anyone who hasn’t been accused of murder? Someone even tried to fame Della!)

This Perry Mason movie was slightly different than those that came before it. It was full of flashbacks, showing how Terri became a star and went from being nice and innocent to being a diva. Every time that Perry or Ken would interrogate someone, it would lead to scene of Vanessa Williams wearing a wig and playing Terri at a different time in her life and career. There was also a lot singing and the movie actually seemed to be more focused on the music and showing Terri’s rise to fame than it did on solving the actual mystery. It was was if Perry Mason got dropped into the middle of a production of Dreamgirls. It didn’t really work for me because Terri wasn’t an interesting enough character to carry the flashbacks but it was still interesting to see a Perry Mason movie trying to do something different.

The most memorable thing about this movie was Angela Bassett, playing a fellow singer and a former friend of Terri’s. She even told off Perry Mason at one point! It was early in her career but it was easy to see that, from the start, Angela Bassett was obviously going to be a star.