A Perry Mason Mystery: The Case of the Wicked Wives (1993) (TV)

Director:

Christian I. Nyby II

Writers:

Joyce Burditt (written by)
Erle Stanley Gardner (characters)

Release Date:

17 December 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

Plot:

Anthony Caruso, an old friend of Perry Mason, comes to Denver on the request of Dee Morrison. She's married to famed photographer David Morrison...

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Perry Mason | Courtroom | Detective | Character Name In Title

Cast

Paul Sorvino	...	Anthony Caruso
Barbara Hale	...	Della Street
William R. Moses	...	Ken Malansky
Maud Adams	...	Shelly Talbot Morrison
Eric Braeden	...	David Morrison
Kim Alexis	...	Nina Morgan Morrison (as Kim Alexis Duguay)
Shelley Hack	...	Abby Walters Morrison
Kathy Ireland	...	Dee Morrison
Beverly Johnson	...	Jane Marlowe Morrison
Charles Macaulay	...	Dist. Atty. Hamilton Burger
Paula Marshall	...	Margo / Debra Walters
James McEachin	...	Lt Brock (as James Mc Eachin)
Leon Rippy	...	Tex
Yorgo Constantine
Dan Erickson

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Filming Locations:

Denver, Colorado, USA

Company:

Dean Hargrove Productions

Trivia:

This is the first Perry Mason mystery filmed after Raymond Burr's Death. Tony Caruso, Paul Sorvino's role, was named after the singer Enrico Caruso; the writers combined his part with Burr's rather than recasting the Perry Mason role, as a tribute.

Quotes:

Ken Malansky: Of all the courtrooms in all the world, she had to walk into mine.

Movie Connections:

Followed by A Perry Mason Mystery: The Case of the Lethal Lifestyle (1994) (TV)

Badly mis-judged film that just makes you miss Burr more than ever

Perry is away in Washington so Anthony Caruso covers his practice for him for a short while. Anthony is busy helping out his friend David Morrison to bring together al his old models for a retrospective photography collection. However David's ex-models are all his ex-wives and the animosity between them is very clear. On the first night of the shoot a witness sees David's current wife kill him and flee the scene. Anthony believes she is innocent and steps in to defend her. Meanwhile Ken goes after another woman who may have been having an affair with David and has since vanished.

Perry is `in Washington' for this film, which sounds like something you'd tell a child instead of having to explain that Granny has died. Indeed that is the case as Burr was dead and never made another Mason movie. However rather than have the taste and sense to finish the series, the producers decided to spin it out. In this instance that decision was ill-advised. The plot doesn't work. In order to get Anthony involved in a big case, it as to be with people he knows – thus the tortuous opening where he gets all the ex-wives together. This makes the film feel ill at ease with itself – Anthony never really rips into or exposes the suspects as they are all friends – plus none of the group seem to struggle with this at all, making it seem like they are strangers. Malansky's investigation is long and dull with moments thrown in just to try and liven things up a bit.

The conclusion is silly even by the standards of this series. Would you take something from the murder scene? Would you have it on you when you are in the witness box? No? Well the guilty party does and it is this that traps them – it's daft and he/she is totally unbelievable and it feels so very lame that it's hard to really care!

Sorvino is an interesting choice to play in the lead but he doesn't work. It doesn't feel natural having him walk round singing while one of his friends is a murderer and too much is made of him being an Italian. Aside from that I found it very hard to shake the image of Goodfella's Paulie from my brain and half expected him to order Ken to whack somebody! Sorvino struggles with a role that ties him into a case emotionally but doesn't allow him to express anything – I suspect he didn't want a second try and he didn't return for another role in the series. Moses is OK as is Hale but they are exposes without Burr and Hale has little to do. The support cast are OK but none are as interesting as the usual array of red-herrings etc. They are only good as eye candy as they are a few models etc – Johnson standing out cause she looks a lot better here than she has recently!

Overall this is a pretty poor film and it highlights how good burr was in holding everything together in a familiar way. This has a plot that is a bit of a mess, characters who don't ring true in a silly situation and the whole thing just crawls to it's dumb climax, by which time I'd long since given up caring!