The Case of the Frantic Flyer (9 Jan. 1960)

Howard Walters and his mistress, Janice Atkins, plan to rob Wade Taylor's company and fake Walters' death. Janice schemes with Roger Porter to double-cross Howard. Howard flies himself ... See full summary »

Director:

Arthur Marks

Writers:

Robert Bloomfield (teleplay), Erle Stanley Gardner (characters created by),

Stars:

Raymond Burr, Barbara Hale, William Hopper

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Raymond Burr	...	Perry Mason
Barbara Hale	...	Della Street
William Hopper	...	Paul Drake
William Talman	...	Hamilton Burger
Ray Collins	...	Lt. Tragg
Patricia Barry	...	Janice Atkins
Simon Oakland	...	Howard Walters
Rebecca Welles	...	Carol Taylor
James Bell	...	Zack Davis
Virginia Vincent	...	Ruth Walters
Ed Kemmer	...	Roger Porter
Wilton Graff	...	Wade Taylor
Richard Gaines	...	Judge
Jon Lormer	...	Autopsy Surgeon
Joey Faye	...	Motel Manager

Storyline

Howard Walters and his mistress, Janice Atkins, plan to rob Wade Taylor's company and fake Walters' death. Janice schemes with Roger Porter to double-cross Howard. Howard flies himself across country, calls in a bogus mayday, and crashes the plane in the mountains. He breaks his leg, however, and has to hole up for seven weeks with a prospector, Zack Davis. Carole Taylor, Wade's daughter-in-law, asks Perry Mason to find her husband Andrew. The crashed plane is found with Andrew's body, dead from a gunshot. Howard unexpectedly shows up at Janice's apartment but she thought he was dead. Janice sends Carole and Howard's wife Ruth to his motel. Howard is killed and Carole is arrested. Perry must follow the money to solve the case.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 January 1960 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Stage 4, 20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paisano Productions, Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

User Reviews

Veteran Actor Simon Oakland Is The Victim

This show in the middle of Season 3 is again written by a team of writers who seem to be writing some good shows to supplement the 85 episodes or so that are based directly on Gardnener material during the series.

I mention Simon Oakland here as he is a well known character actor from quite a few TV series. By the time Simon started his acting career, he was already over 40 and by the time of his death in the 1980's he had logged a lot of television work including his boss role for Darren McGavin's "Night Stalker".

In this episode, he is involved with a woman trying to steal over $300,000 dollars. He murders someone with a plane and breaks his leg parachuting to safety. Interestingly, this part of the plot is used later in an episode of Columbo with guest star Johnny Cash.

From here though, it varies as this episode gets a lot done in 52 minutes. Mason has to work pretty hard to find out who has done it in this episode.