Tag Archives: Deborah Brown

I Watched Perry Mason: The Case of the Fatal Fashion (1991, Dir. by Christian I. Nyby II)

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

Perry Mason (Raymond Burr), Della Street (Barbara Hale), and Ken Malansky (William R. Moses) are in New York when an old friend of Perry’s, magazine editor Lauren Jeffreys (Diana Muldaur) is accused of murdering a rival editor, Dyan Draper (Valerie Harper). Dyan was infamous for writing about the personal lives of celebrities in her column so there’s a ton of possible suspects. While Ken teams up with a mobster named Tony Loomis (Robert Clohessy) to search for clues, Perry finds himself facing off against a young district attorney (Scott Baio) who is smarter than he seems.

This Perry Mason movie is unique because, for once, the prosecutor is as good an attorney as Perry.  It reminded me of how, when the movies started, David Ogden Stiers always played the prosecutor and came across like someone who would probably win if he has going up against anyone other than Perry Mason.  Even though I immediately thought of Bob Loblaw as soon as I saw him, Scott Baio gives a good performance as a lawyer who worships Perry and can’t wait to face him in court.  For once, there’s mutual respect between the two sides.

The mystery was another one of those where I was able to guess who the killer was from the start.  They had to really stretch things to get the mob involved so that Ken could team up with Tony.  (Ken wanted to bring the killer to court while Tony just waned to shoot them.)  Also, it was obvious that Raymond Burr was not doing well when he filmed this movie.  In almost every scene, he’s either seated or leaning against something.  There are only 6 more Perry Mason films featuring Burr after this one and one of those aired after he died.  Burr still gives a commanding performance whenever Perry’s in court, though.  Sick or not, there’s no other attorney you want on your side.

I Watched Perry Mason: The Case of the Poisoned Pen (1990, Dir. by Christian I. Nyby II)

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

When an arrogant true crime writer named Bradley Thompson (David Warner) is poisoned while attending a writers conference, his ex-wife (Barbara Babcock) is arrested and charged with his murder.  Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) and Ken Malansky (William R. Moses), who had their own run-in with Thompson, defend her in court and try to track down the real murderer.

This was a good whodunit.  The mystery was pretty easy to solve but all of the suspects were memorable and the supporting cast, which included Cindy Williams, Tony Lo Bianco, and Earl Boen, were entertaining to watch.  My favorite character was Max Mulgrew, a tough-guy crime writer who was played by Kiel Martin.  When Mulgrew was asked if he hated Thompson enough to murder him, Mulgrew says yes but he would have shot him instead of poisoning him!

Amy Hastings, who Alexandra Paul played in the previous three movies, is not in this movie and nobody says anything about her so, hopefully, her character has moved on.  Without Amy around, that means that Della (Barbara Hale) gets to help out with the investigation for once.  It was nice to see Della showing why she was the best assistant that Perry could have ever hoped for.

I remember enjoying this movie when I watched it with my aunt a few years ago.  I enjoyed it again when I watched it last night.

Late Night Retro Television Review: Baywatch Nights 2.5 “Circle of Fear”

Posted on by Lisa Marie Bowman

Welcome to Late Night Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Tuesdays, I will be reviewing Baywatch Nights, a detective show that ran in Syndication from 1995 to 1997.  The entire show is currently streaming on YouTube!

This week, something is stalking Ryan!

Episode 2.5 “Circle of Fear”

(Dir by Bruce Kessler, originally aired on October 27th, 1996)

This episode opens with a blonde woman performing some sort of strange, witchcraft-related ceremony in the middle of the woods, spinning around until she apparently dies.  The next morning, Diamont Teague approaches Mitch and asks him to head out to the woods and investigate the scene of the ceremony.

As I watched Diamont talk to Mitch about witchcraft, it occurred to me that the Baywatch Nights format change that occurred between the end of season one and the start of season two led to some unanswered questions.  For one thing, where has Garner disappeared to?  Are Mitch and Ryan still private eyes or are they now just hobbyists?  (We haven’t seen them in their office since this season started.)  Even more importantly, who is Diamont and how does Mitch know him?  Why is Diamont continually asking Mitch and Ryan to investigate every strange thing that happens in Malibu?  Does Diamont work for the government or is he just someone who is obsessed with the paranormal?  Where does Diamont live?  Where is Diamont from?  Why can’t Diamont ever investigate anything on his own?  Why does he always tell Mitch and Ryan to do it?  At the start of the season, Diamont pretty much just showed up out-of-nowhere but everyone on the show acts as if he’s been around forever.

At the site of the witchy ceremony, Mitch and Ryan find the remains of an altar and a burned book.  A trip down to the local occult library reveals that the book is an ancient magical text.  Ryan buys an edition of the book and she takes it home with her.  Sitting alone in her new apartment, Ryan finds herself mysteriously compelled to read aloud from the book.  That turns out to be a mistake as Ryan soon finds herself being followed by a spirt that apparently wants to possess her and causes harm to come to anyone who annoys her, including a flirtatious waiter and an obnoxious plumber.  Can Mitch and Ryan drive the spirit out of Ryan’s apartment without Ryan losing her security deposit?

I enjoyed the episode, even if I’m still not quite clear on why Mitch and Ryan are taking orders from Diamont.  After being underutilized over the past few episodes, Angie Harmon steps into the spotlight here and she gives a strong performance, especially in the scenes where she’s first realizing that an unseen spirit is manipulating her and her actions.  Harmon’s down-to-earth style provides a nice match to David Hasselhoff’s more “dramatic” style of acting.  (Indeed, there’s a part of me that thinks this series would have lasted longer if it had dropped the Baywatch connection and instead focused on Angie Harmon solving mysteries and battling ghosts, goblins, and ghouls.)  Baywatch Nights seemed to really hit its stride with this episode.

Next week, Mitch and Ryan travel into the past!