Perry Mason: The Case of the Lady in the Lake (1988) (TV)

Director:

Ron Satlof

Writers:

Shel Willens (written by)
Erle Stanley Gardner (characters creator)

Release Date:

15 May 1988 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

Plot:

A tennis player is accused to having killed his wife, a rich heiress. The facts are against him as he was seen in the arms of his former girlfriend in the night before the murder. This is a case for Perry Mason.

Plot Keywords:

Perry Mason | Sequel | Detective | Courtroom | Character Name In Title

Cast

Raymond Burr	...	Perry Mason
Barbara Hale	...	Della Street
William Katt	...	Paul Drake Jr.
David Hasselhoff	...	Billy Travis
John Beck	...	Doug Vickers
Doran Clark	...	Sara Wingate-Travis
George DelHoyo	...	Frank Travis (as George Deloy)
John Ireland	...	Walter
Liane Langland	...	Lisa Blake
Darrell Larson	...	Skip Wingate
Audra Lindley	...	Mrs. Chaney
David Ogden Stiers	...	D.A. Michael Reston
Terrence Evans	...	Sheriff Ed Prine (as Terrance Evans)
Richard Jury	...	Hans (as Ric Jury)
Nadya Starr	...	Polly Neff

Runtime:

95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Denver, Colorado, USA

Company:

Dean Hargrove Productions

Movie Connections:

Follows Perry Mason: The Case of the Shooting Star (1986) (TV)

A solid if unspectacular entry in the Mason TVM series

Billy is a retired tennis player who has moved into resort building with his wealthy wife Sara. When she is found drowned out in the lake, Billy is charged as he had the most to gain and all clues point to him. Mason agrees to defend Billy and begins by looking into her past and a kidnapping incident on the lake as a child. Meanwhile Drake tries to track down Billy's old girlfriend who has quit her job and gone missing.

Boasting a `big' star role for Knight Rider and Baywatch star David Hasselhoff, this films actually is quite lacking in terms of plotting. The set up seems quite deliberately to hark back to an event in the past to the point that you know it must be tied up with what's coming. Even though this is obvious, it is still impossible to guess the killer - and Mason's `isn't it true' is quite a stretch and should have been shouted down by the DA so full was it of conjecture! Mason never really gets to grips with the characters involved and even Drake's section is dull and it's clear that we're not meant to really know what he's going to find until the very end.

The cast are pretty average. Burr is reasonable assured in the role but Katt is starting to look tired - he brings nothing to the party in this film apart from the usual stuff. Hale is underused although Hasselhoff is good in his minor role - or at least as good as he usually is (I'll leave you to your own opinion). The rest of the support cast basically fail to really make an impression and there are a handful of women with 80's clothes and haircuts who really look alike and don't stand out.

Overall this will satisfy Mason fans but will certainly not win over any new fans to the series. The plot is not great, even by the standards of the series. While it is still worth a watch if you are a fan, I must admit that I wasn't ever really totally won over by this film.