Perry Mason (TV Series) The Case of the Wrathful Wraith (1965) User Reviews

Client on the verge of a nervous breakdown

[lucyrfisher · 8/10 · 25 June 2022]

Fragile, blonde Louise Selff is accused of murdering her husband - twice, leading to one of the most lame and awkward "let's all get together and laugh" last scenes in Clay's Grill.

From her first appearance in court with the most ridiculous hairstyle seen on the show (there is strong competition), Louise irritates the viewer by screaming, sobbing, flapping her hands and even mooing as she sits in the dock, inspiring even Mr Burger to call for a recess and a plea of insanity.

This is "hysteria" as seen in the early 60s. You were not supposed to "break down", but if you were going to, here's how to do it.

I was fooled by the camera that kept dwelling on Rosemary, Louise's confessedly "indigent" friend who has money troubles of her own and moves into Louise's - oh yes, it's an old dark mansion with those French windows that fly open at the slightest breath of wind, sending the flimsy gauze curtains flying in the breeze.

Has Mr Selff come back from the Beyond? Of course he hasn't, despite the efforts of psychic Miss Saint Sutton - an excellent turn by the actress. We don't see enough of the phoney crystal-gazer.

As somebody said, the core cast are so good that it doesn't really matter what ridiculous shenanigans go on around them. "Yes! I did it! It was me! Sob!" Let's hear it for the judges, too.

Fortune?

[darbski · 8/10 · 27 July 2018]

***SPOILERS*** I've seen this one before, and declined to cover it because other reviewers did such a good job. This time, though, I'm gonna say something. Just how is it possible for Perry to collect so many nutzo flip-outs? I'm speaking, of course of the propensity for clients who are koo-koo. This client, besides that persuasion, is also just not good looking...unless one REALLY likes Max Schmeling. I'm talking rugged, here. Plus, it looked like the great hair expert Annabel must have been on vacation. The lady's hair-do had to have been done by Red-D-Mix concrete corp. or another local company. Alright. I've been too hard on this actress; I'm sorry. My problem is that I feel if you're gonna have a client who has an unattractive part, it should be made up for in beauty. The acting was good, but not enough to off set the client's wreckage, in my opinion. It's a 7.

Perry exonerates his client twice in one episode

[kfo9494 · 10/10 · 16 January 2013]

In this unique and entertaining story we get a situation that is as odd as any Mason show in the collection. An episode that was excellent to watch with a story that was fascinating to the very end.

The episode begins as Perry is defending Louise Selff for a charge of murder. She is accused of murdering her husband on a yacht and disposing the body in the ocean. With the body never found and the testimony all circumstantial, the Judge throws out the charge due to insufficient evidence.

After the court hearing Ms Selff is haunted by seeing visions of her dead husband and verbal contacts from the grave. People are now believing that Louise is going insane and now telling that she actually has seen her husband. But things go from strange to bizarre when her husband is found recently shot on the balcony of the Selff estate. With Louise in possession of the murder weapon she will again go to trial for the murder of her husband.

Perry will again defend Louise Selff in court for the second charge of murder. In court, Perry will tiptoe through testimony involving a contract that will prove to be the reason for all the problems. Louise Selff is not insane nor is she guilty. The true murderer will be exposed and Perry will exonerate his client for the second time in one episode. -- One of the better shows in the last season of the series.

Ghost Story

[zsenorsock · 10/10 · 14 August 2008]

Outstanding episode starts with Perry clearing his client Louise Selff (Marian Moses aka Marian McCargo) of killing her husband Jamison (Former and future Lone Ranger John Hart!). The pressures of the trial have Louise almost at wits end and when she starts getting phone calls and seeing her late husband, people wonder if she's gone insane. But then again the body had never been recovered...until it shows up on Louise's terrace with a fresh bullet hole in it! Once again Louise is charged with murdering her husband.

This is one of the best season eight stories with excellent writing, stylish directing and good performances from both the regulars and the guest cast. William Talman gets a good scene when he offers to let Louise plead insanity. He feels a lot of sympathy for the tortured woman. Marian Moses or McCargo or whatever she was calling herself is outstanding as the tortured Louise. She's very convincing as a woman who is on the edge and might even confess to a crime she didn't commit just to move on. Ralph Balfour (Gene Lyons, Burr's future boss as Commissioner Randall on "Ironside") and Rosemary Welch (Jeanne Bal, Nancy Crater on the "Star Trek" episode "Mantrap") are outstanding in support.

If I have any quibble with this episode its in its uneven use of rain. Note how it tends to appear than disappear from shot to shot at times, most notably in the scene where Louise gets in a taxi leaving the courtroom. But that aside, they create a wonderfully atmospheric episode with rain, shadows and angles.

PERRY MASON AND TALES FROM THE CRYPT?

[tcchelsey · 10/10 · 10 October 2023]

Who else better to write this macabre story than the likes of Henry Farrell, who wrote two of the greatest movie chillers, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE and HUSH, HUSH SWEET CHARLOTTE, both starring Bette Davis. With that on your resume, you can afford to pick and choose, right?

Henry did an oustanding job here, a story all about a woman called Louise Selff (played by Marian McCargo) believed to have killed her husband --but there's no body? Next there's some spooky seances(!), rumors that Louise is slowly going insane(!) and a situation where the supposed dead man comes back to life? A perfect puzzler for Perry Mason.

This is fun stuff, and as I have noted before, I always believed the final season was one of the best as all story options were on the table, and somehow the more offbeat, it all clicked, and with some fine acting.

Marian McCargo, prior to her acting career, was a recognized national tennis champion who later married California state rep Alfonzo Bell, and also helped him raise his sons. And yes, she does resemble actress Dina Merrill. Many other familiar faces here including Don Dillaway, playing a reporter, who played all types of roles in a long, long career. HOWEVER, he is best known (to all us movie buffs) for playing a baby's young soldier father ( killed in battle) in the goofy Laurel and Hardy comedy, PACK UP YOUR TROUBLES (1932). Not to be missed.

Try to figure all of this out?

SEASON 9 EPISODE 9 remastered CBS dvd box set.

Marian McCargo

[CherCee · 10/10 · 11 October 2023]

Marian McCargo (aka Marian Moses) played Louise Selff, the client that Raymond Burr (Perry Mason) exonerated twice in this episode. She was the mother of William R. Moses, who played Ken Malansky in the Perry Mason TV movies and Cole Gioberti on Falcon Crest. She tested for the part of Maggie, Cole's mother, but they said she looked too old! Then she tried out for the part of Maggie's mother, but she was deemed too young! She did end up with another part on the show. She was the grandmother of Remington Elizabeth Moses, the daughter of William and his ex-wife Tracy. She was the former mother-in-law of Tracy Nelson, the daughter of Rick Nelson & Kristin Harmon (Mark Harmon's sister). Tracy's brothers are Matthew, Gunnar (aka the band Nelson), and Sam Nelson. Tracy is known for her roles on Square Pegs (Jennifer DeNuccio) and Sister Steve on Father Brown Mysteries.

Most tiresome client

[carrie45 · 1/10 · 3 February 2014]

Would have liked this episode if the client hadn't been so tiresome and irritating. I had thought Perry's client who was the probation officer that rushed to the aid of his old girlfriend was my least favorite, or Noah Berry acting as the hick husband were worse,Oh, there are so many unlikeable clients. Ms McCargo plays a hysterical, whining rich woman who is so stupid, who would care if she's framed for murder? Her character has to be really irritating if I give a one star to a Raymond Burr show. I know strong, confident women were rare in those old shows, with Della as the exception. Honey West was an exception, too, but that's another show

The paradigm preserved

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 27 July 2018]

As this episode opens up we learn that Perry Mason actually had a case that went to jury and Marian McCargo was found not guilty. That sure would have shattered the usual paradigm for Perry Mason stories as he never lets cases get that far. But no matter he gets to defend McCargo again.

Hard to prove murder without a body maybe it was the DA's fault and he never should have indicted in the first place. Only now McCargo is being haunted by her dead spouse and one night he's shot to death at their home and she's found standing over the body murder weapon in hand.

McCargo delivers a fine performance as a woman really about to lose control. Even William Talman is feeling sorry for her as he offers to take a plea for temporary insanity.

But this time Raymond Burr acquits McCargo and in true Perry Mason style.

3 tries to get through it

[eckharp · 2/10 · 8 April 2019]

As a recent convert to perry mason, 3 seasons so far. I found this show to be so tedious that I fell asleep twice before powering through to the end.

Two for the Price of One

[Hitchcoc · 5/10 · 1 March 2022]

The defendant is such a mess that even though she get off, she will fly off the rails if she sees a mouse. The plot is one of those where a guy is thought to be dead, his wife is charged, and he shows up alive later in the show. I have to agree with the person who talked about how unsympathetic her character was. Perry didn't want her institutionalized but treatment for mental illness wouldn't be a bad idea.

SO EVERYONE IN THIS EPISODE LOST ALL THEIR SENSES BUT THE "6TH ONE"

[amplifehyer · 2/10 · 9 August 2023]

As a person who is in their thirties and have been watching Perry Mason for the last 10 years I think since my twenties and I am clearly clearly far from the days when this was actually broadcast on TV but my mom this was her age we watch this together but I'm I'm a person who likes old school mysteries but it's something about this episode that is just bothering me as some reviewers said the main character is a little bit on the annoying side and I'm going to incline to agree,

But there is things that people are doing that just seems very illegal and I guess I will put spoilers but how come nobody's noticing the people that are sneaking around through the whole entire episode until the end I'm like there were like missing dialogues and added dialogues and statements that were made that could have been easily answered but they left you with no answers and that's not good or conducive to a good mystery it made you go what and why is everybody so incompetent it was just hard to get through it's all over the place you really don't even care at the end of the show because a lot of people got away with a lot of little illegal things and nobody called them out on it and certain people could have been apprehended before situations happen because they were right there and it was easily explained but yeah this one gets a 2 out of 10

Yes my review is going to leave you just as mystified as I was watching this episode another thing is a lot of people in this episode had major aggression it was very aggressive a lot of people were talking very aggressively to Perry Mason Perry Mason was snapping back it was a mess!! LoL.