Perry Mason: The Case of the Glass Coffin (1991)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

A world famous illusionist called David Katz (Peter Scolari) is arrested for the murder of his assistant Kate Ford after a magic trick involving a floating glass coffin goes horribly wrong. Katz is a married man but had a one night stand with the murdered woman who attempted to blackmail him when she became pregnant with his child. Witnesses overheard an argument between them in which Katz threatened her, and as always, the prosecution believes it is an open and shut case. Yet, with ace defence attorney Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) on the case, there is most certainly going to be several other people with motives for wanting the selfish, mean and vindictive Ford dead coming out into the open. They include Katz's wardrobe assistant Betty Farmer (Julie Sommars) whose sister was fired from the show at Ford's hand. Then there is Max LeMar (Dennis Lipscomb), a rival magician and former Katz mentor, who believed that Katz was plagurising his work and wanted revenge. And Katz's wife, Judy (Kim Braden), was enraged that Kate Ford was pregnant with her husband's child...A standard, strictly to formula but still very enjoyable Perry Mason revival TVM. If you can get around the predictable plot development it is quite satisfying with a very good denouement with Burr still a commanding presence as the world's best defence attorney. As ever the client is an old friend of Perry's - 'How many old friends could he possibly have?', you will doubtlessly ask . Nevertheless, there is a more emotional centre to it this time since as well as trying to clear Katz for murder, Perry is also helping him to save his marriage to Judy which had been on the rocks for quite some time.William R Moses' Ken Malansky's action man part is more enjoyable here than usual. This time he is hounded by a young, attractive, rookie private eye called Terry Weidner (played by Kate Vernon who turns in a likeable performance) who thinks she can give her career a boost by helping Perry Mason crack his case. Of course, Ken is not too keen and doesn't like people getting in the way and stealing his thunder. Yet, the budding private eye is always one step ahead of him and stumbles upon important leads before he does and even saves his life. The pair journey to a rural Colorado town called Hastings where the murdered woman grew up to gain evidence for the defence. The result is some amusing knockabout as they have to do battle with the close knit community who don't like outsiders poking their noses in and turn some heavies on them to drive them out of town. Kate Ford's father owns a salt mill, which provides the town with its prosperity, and many years before, a crime connected to the murdered woman was covered up due to her father's position. Could it be connected to the murder? The feel for the close knit town and its hostility to outsiders is nicely conveyed in Brian Clemens' (The Avengers) script, and combined with some nice location work, is very effective under Christian I Nyby 11's direction.The acting, writing and all other technical aspects are up to par here and Clemens' script plays fair with the audience with all the clues running neatly into a logical whole so that the impact of the solution is not diluted by plot holes and absurdities.

THE CASE OF THE GLASS COFFIN is one of the late-stage Perry Mason movies put out by NBC. This one's about a magician's act which goes horrifically wrong with tragic consequences, a story which has been done to death over the years in the mystery and detective genre, although there's enough involvement in the storyline (and enough red herrings and suspects in the cast) to keep it watchable, albeit not the best of its type.The main problem this story suffers from is the writing, which is needlessly convoluted in places. As usual, the character William R. Moses plays seems completely extraneous to the main thrust of the story and the action clichés he gets involved in (fist fights, car chases, and the like), although amusing, seem like padding. The main story is better although the final explanation is a bit lacklustre, throwing in a ton of material that threatens to overwhelm the viewer. I also found the decision to hold the court proceedings in the magician's theatre a bit ridiculous. Burr and Hale bolster the story as always and the familiar Bob Gunton is good value as the prosecutor.

***SPOILERS*** The made for TV movie "The Case of the Glass Coffin" seems to be the first case that defense attorney Perry Mason, Raymond Burr, handled that he not only won which is like almost 100% of the cases he takes on but was actually an eye witness to!It's when world famous magician David Katz, Peter Scolari, did his flying coffin act at Denver's famous Paramount Theater that when the latch opened to show that no one was in it the coffin girl Kate Ford, Nancy Lee Grahn, suddenly popped out and fell some 30 feet to her death by breaking her neck! As things soon came out it was Kate who blackmailed David in getting her to be the coffin girl which may well have been the reason for him to do her in!Threatening to go public in David having an affair with her on a cold night back in Portland, after having one too many shots of Yukon Jack, Kate has the evidence in her being impregnated by him! Now with both his marriage to his faithful wife Judy, Kim Barden, as well as career in jeopardy David may well have been driven to murder Kate in order to keep her from talking! What ended up in saving David from taking a trip to the Colorado State death house was Terry Weidner, Kate Vernon, who secretly videotaped the entire glass coffin event that in the end proved that David was in fact innocent! ***SPOILERS**** Innocent in him not knowing that he was set up to take the rap by something who was part of the glass coffin act! Someone who had it in for Kate and waited eight years to get the chance to kill her for something she did back in her home town of Hasting when she was then known as Greta Eisner!It's both Perry's legman and human punching bag Ken Malansky, William R.Moses, as well as Terry who tracked down Kate's previous existence as Greta Eiseman and what it had to do with her being murdered as Kate Ford eight years later. Malansky for his part really gets worked over by some local homeboys for his snooping around in Hastings into business that Kate's pop Mr.Henry Eisner, Richard Jury, wants him to keep his nose out of! In the end the truth comes out in what exactly Kate or Greta did back there that had someone go so far as to get a job with David's magic show so that he or she can get their hands on her and put Kate in the local hospital morgue! Something that was covered up back in Hasting and kept from seeing the light of day until Malansky and Terry finally unearthed it!

Perry Mason: The Case of the Glass Coffin finds Raymond Burr defending David Copperfield/Rick Blaine like magician Peter Scolari from a murder charge involving one of his assistants. A trick involving a suspended glass coffin in midair goes awry and the body of Nancy Grahn comes a tumbling out.Nancy was one of six female assistants who work with the act and we learn two things about her. First in a moment of drunken weakness, Scolari got seduced by her and she claims she was impregnated. Secondly she is living under an assumed name and had a secret from her past.Billy Moses who probably never thought he'd be doing such rough stuff back in law school gets to tangle with a couple of good old boys when goes seeking the truth in Grahn's home town. A little more action than usual for Ken Malansky, he almost gets himself killed. One big flaw in this mystery is simple forensics. The medical examiner's report should have provided concrete evidence that the victim was killed in such a way that Scolari could not possibly have done the deed. The police should have been looking in a different direction for the killer. When you see who the killer is you won't blame the individual, but you'll also see how the investigating officer James McEachin got it wrong from the start. It kind of spoils this particular Mason film.