If you are old enough to have watched Raymond Burr portray the famous defense attourney created by Erle Stanley Gardner then these Movie Collections are musts. Though he has aged the spark and ability to convey the steel trap of a mind that Perry Mason possessed is still there in spades. The two feature length movies in this collection were shown on television in 1987.
The Case of the Sinister Spirit:
Very successful horror writer David Hall (played by Matthew Faison) is about to release his latest novel. Before he does so he invites several guests to a hotel he has completely rented out for them. Each person he has invited has been written about and usually not in a flattering way in his new novel. On the first evening he plays a series of cruel pranks on each of the guests which angers them all. None more so than businessman and publisher Jordan White (played by Robert Stack). He arranges for a plane to fly him out the next morning.
Before he can go David Hall asks for a meeting with Jordan late at night. While Jordan is climbing up to the appointed meeting spot two shadows are seen fighting in the penthouse window by the hotel manager (played by Kim Delaney). Next a body comes hurtling down to the ground. It is David Hall and he is very dead. Jordan arrives just then for the hotel manager to see him peering down over the balcony.
Jordan is charged with the murder after a photo of him and a woman who is not his wife is found in David Hall’s possession. Motive has been established. Jordan calls upon Perry Mason to be his lawyer. Once Perry and Della (played by Barbara Hale) start the investigation they uncover that every guest that weekend at the hotel had a reason to want David Hall dead. This is certainly not an open and shut case.
The Case of the Murdered Madam:
A former Madam named Suzanne (played by Ann Jillian) has it in her mind that she is going to blackmail four businessmen. When she turns up dead it becomes a case for Perry Mason.
Perry is brought in because Suzanne’s husband Tony (played by Vincent Baggetta) is an old friend of Della’s. He has been arrested for the murder of his wife. The police believe he found out his wife used to be an escort and madam and it drove him to kill her. It is up to Perry, Della and Paul Drake Jr. (played by William Katt) to get to the bottom of things.
