The Case of the Velvet Claws (1936)

Touches You

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

It is not a Perry Mason movie, really - it's Warren William playing yet another devil-may-care, debonair, witty character who is a lawyer but spends most of his time as a detective. The movie aims to be a comedy mystery and does pretty well with that but falls far short of The Case of the Lucky Legs. In part, this is due to a rather bland supporting cast - Claire Dodd as Della Street and Eddie Acuff as the unfortunately named "Spudsy" Drake are both bland and unmemorable. Their predecessors in Lucky Legs (Genevieve Tobin and Allen Jenkins) were better served by the writers and gave sparkling performances. The acting highlight goes to Clara Blandick as Judge Mary F. O'Daugherty, the judge who marries Della and Perry. Blandick is only in a couple of scenes but makes the most of them. She is probably best remembered for playing Auntie Em in The Wizard of Oz. The Velvet Claws plot is a bit convoluted with Eve Belter hiring Mason (at the point of a gun) to stop the local gossip rag from publishing a story (that's both untrue and could ruin a politician's career). The rag's publisher is murdered, Belter accuses Mason of the murder - even though this accusation is not true (Belter thinks she actually committed the murder), Mason is a very forgiving sort and continues to defender her. The humorous overtone in the movie is the fact Perry and Della get married and that their honeymoon keeps getting interrupted; oh, that and the fact that Perry has a bad cold he gives to everyone he meets. This is an entertaining little programmer with the always highly watchable Warren William. Not the best in the series but it's still recommended.

Nonsensical title aside, this entry in the Perry Mason series was nonsensical. See? Nonsensical sentence describing a nonsensical movie. Make sense? More so than this picture did. In this one, Perry Mason, gets married but a series of events prevents him from consummating his marriage, irritating his new wife and confounding the rest of us trying to follow an incoherent story.See other reviews for a plot summary, but this picture was an attempt to incorporate a mystery with screwball comedy, two popular genres in the 30's. It almost succeeds in the former but flops in the latter. The mystery moves with lightning speed and defies the viewer to follow along, while the comedy ranges from pale imitation Nick and Nora to sub-par vaudeville. Acting is good - Warren William is trapped here with bad material but soldiers through, Wini Shaw is a big shot in the arm, and Claire Dodd (Mrs. Mason) is lovely. Eddie Acuff, on the other hand, is miscast as Spudsy.Not a good entry in the series but an OK time-killer that is very tough to keep up with. Every so often you will feel a reel must have been missing which would explain some unanswered questions. For instance, what Velvet Claws?

I saw this together with another Perry Mason film from the very same year. They could not be more different.The other film leveraged the detective genre and the Gardner formula. It used the twists, the detective and the trial as intended.This one is more of a Thin Man clone: banter, silliness. It has Perry as simply a detective. There is a twist, and it could have been very effective. (The person accused and protected by Mason believes she is the killer and tries to frame Mason.) But it gets lost in the attempt at entertainment of a different kind. I think what happened is that Warner decided to change their approach after this and get back to what makes Perry work.On the relationship with the audience, there is an implied link when Perry addresses a jury; that link has him directly speaking to us. In this one, that is gone and the relationship with the viewer is established in a more theatrical way: they act silly and we are supposed to giggle.Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

Perry Mason and Della Street marry at the beginning. I don't think that ever happened in the TV series.This is a sleek, stylish movie, with good acting and chic sets.I had forgotten that Wini Shaw was in the opening credits and was wondering who that fabulous fatale femme could be. In a dark wig she is very persuasive as the precursor to the betraying woman of film noirs, which would follow a few years later.What a talent she was!