"Perry Mason" The Case of the Ugly Duckling (TV Episode 1964) Poster

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7/10
Raymond Burr could have helped this episode
kfo94943 November 2011
It always amazes me that when a TV series has a episode concerning a supposedly ugly girl- they end up getting a female model and have her wear baggy shirts and matted hair. They consider this to be an unattractive girl that everyone will take at face value. Let them get one of my family members if they want ugly- but they get a beauty contestant winner and cast her as the ugly one. This happened in this episode.

Alice Trilling (beautiful Anne Whitfield) plays the supposedly ugly heiress that is the daughter of toy company (father died) and is line to get a lot of money when she reaches a certain age. She wants nothing to do with the company and lives by herself wanting a different life style. But she is upset at a doll that her father created called the Angie Doll. This doll has all the beauty that Alice feels she does not have and as a hatred for the doll.

Her uncle Harry Trilling (Ford Raney) is in charge of the company and is trying to get Alice to settle down and come back into the family's business. So he hires a man, Anthony Sharp (Adam Lazarre) to see her daughter and paint her picture. Alice finds out about this and confronts her uncle. She believes that her uncle hired Anthony to make her look bad and she get upset. They get into a scuffle and Harry is knocked to the ground by Alice.

Then we find out that Harry has died and Alice has been charged with her uncle's death. Enter Perry to defend her in court.

We meet some other suspects along the way like the jealous secretary, an unappreciated co-work and a competitor toy maker official. (No lack of suspects in this show.)

The guest stars seemed to handle the episode well. They were emotional and made the viewer interested in the outcome of the story. However, while watching it appeared that Raymond Burr was bored with the entire script. He was robotic in his movements and delivered lines as if all the scenes had just been written. It was like this was the first time he had seen the script and it was dress rehearsal. None of the flair we are use to seeing from his first years as Perry. Maybe it was because this was the last episode of season seven- but whatever was wrong it came across on the screen.

But the storyline and guest actors made this a better watch than most anything you can find on TV today. I thought the story was interesting and was held to the screen till the end of the show.

Note- Ford Raney that played Harry Trilling in this episode was a character actor in many shows in the 60's,70's,80's and 90's. He was still acting at the age of 95 before his death a year later in 2005.
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8/10
A few random thoughts...
Dick249 July 2009
Warning: Spoilers
I'm a little disappointed that no one has commented on this episode yet- not even the great zsenorsock in Brazil.

This is a pretty good episode in my opinion, not the best but far from the worst. One of the reasons I like it is because I think the actress who plays the defendant (Anne Whitfield in her first of three PM appearances) is so lovely. Of course she overdoes her part (most actresses in this series did, just a sign of the acting style of the 50s-60s) but she lights up the screen for me.

Typical of TV and movies depicting the "ugly duckling" they pick an actress who couldn't be considered ugly on her worst day, but then again I guess a truly ugly actress would have trouble pulling off the "beautiful swan" part.

************spoiler******spoiler********** The murderer who Perry uncovers is played by Max Showalter, another PM vet. This is the fifth of his six appearances and as usual his acting and his voice stand out.

If you look closely at the opening scene you will find Wlliam Boyett playing... what else? A police officer. Boyett should look familiar to anyone who remembers Dragnet or Adam-12, where he played various policemen including Malloy and Reed's supervisor Sgt. "Mac" MacDonald.

Last but not least, we get to see more than a couple of examples of the judge (the great S. John Launer in this episode) letting Burger know he'll have none of his objections to Perry's attempts to root out the truth. These are my favorite moments of each episode and I generally play along by shouting "sit down Hamilton!" at my TV.
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8/10
Dugly
darbski26 January 2018
Warning: Spoilers
***SPOILERS*** I must agree with kfo9494 when it comes to ugly. I've got both kinds in my life. You know - the kind that make a mud fence look like Elizabeth Taylor, and the kind that are beautiful to look at; kinda like a Diamondback Rattlesnake. Rod Serling did a great job of pointing out the perception of beauty in his "Eye of the Beholder" episode of Twilight Zone.

Now, if poor little rich girl truly wants to experience a good reason for poverty, maybe she could work at a street mission, or soup kitchen; maybe for her spirit she could join a nunnery? Huh? Okay, back to reality. One of the other reviewers mentioned Bill Boyette. He's one of those actors who got cast fairly early in his career as a cop. One of the first performances was in "Highway Patrol", and it fit so well, it stuck to him. Kinda like Spock to Nimoy.

As far as the other actors, one standout property of a Perry client is basic dumbness. In this case, the only character stupider than the defendant is the charcoal artist, who, of course, falls in love with her. The "happily ever after" factor in this piece is drenched in drivel. I did think that it was cool of Perry to point out that he'd have plenty of time to think over his mistakes while he was cooling his heels in the hoosegow.

One of the truly standout points in this episode is the camera's P.O.V. during Max Showalter's breakdown. There are a few of these (too few) in some of the presentations, and it must have taken a little envelope pushing to work it by the normally, staid, and cheap stick-in-the-mud line of thought that normally governed the courtroom direction.... Kudos, no doubt.

The acting was pretty good in this presentation, also. Thanks to S.A.G. and the casting department for their choices. As you can tell, my problem is with the story, not the acting. SPOILER -- don't read past this notice if you haven't already seen this episode. I thought one of the best parts of the show, was when Perry had the battery toy just banging away in constant repetition; driving Max closer, and closer to his breaking point. He nailed the door shut on him, even if he DIDN'T really admit his guilt. I gotta give it an 8.
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8/10
What head trips parents lay on their children!
williamsshearer27 October 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Previous reviewers missed the point of the title. Of course the actress is pretty! "Ugly duckling" refers to the concept of someone pretty THINKING they're ugly. She was pretty all along. She has a twisted self-image she received from her deceased father. He put a ridiculous provision in his will: if she doesn't marry by 21, she loses her inheritance of a toy company. Her executor, her uncle, keeps trying to get her to marry someone, because if she loses the company, he loses his job. He winds up dead, she goes on trial. Being Perry's client, you know she's innocent. As usual, plenty of other suspects. The doll designer, the uncle's secretary, the rival toy company head, the artist.
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8/10
Sargent Brice speaks with Perry
bstassen9 March 2021
This episode merits watching--as every character introduced winds up either connected (testifying), or with motive to murder Harry Trilling--a man we learn has only the acumen to sell major appliances, much less, figure out what to do with his troubled niece. I remember on Second City TV, where the station manager sat in a wheelchair so he could earn respect--that's Harry Trilling--and I believe it could have been a last minute decision to put him in the wheelchair--to have him look somewhat sympathetic--otherwise this character couldn't have made it through the second scene. Anne Whitfield has a gorgeous makeover--and someone that in earlier episode was hot--Constance Towers--is somehow convinced to wear a hair wrap--clearly, not the best look for her. Watch it once--enjoy it.
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7/10
Little Miss Bipolar
Hitchcoc15 February 2022
The young woman in this episode is attractive, even when her hair is a mess and she is overdoing it in the bar. But what she is is so in need of psychological help that she is a danger to herself. She is also victimized by a cruel condition in her father's will. But a problem with this episode is that the whole thing is so hard to believe. Almost no foundation is laid for anything. Still, it kept my interest.
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6/10
Max did well.
frederick-7211422 April 2024
I think Max Showalter's agitated confession at the end was very nicely acted. I love the little toy making irritating noises and motions throwing Max completely off his game. Much of the rest of the story was kind of silly. It's hard to see the young heiress really being so down on her appearance. At the end the fella drew a picture of her showing how pretty she was. The problem is that people with that kind of low self image can't see themselves as others do. They see themselves as unattractive. That's the inner self picture they see and unaided they cannot break past that ugly self image Good news it was just a story.
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4/10
A washing machine salesman with big ideas
bkoganbing21 March 2014
I think a psychiatrist would have a field day with most of the involved people in this Perry Mason episode. I also suspect a few issues among those who dreamed this one up.

Anne Whitfield, best remembered as Dean Jagger's granddaughter in White Christmas is the subject of one of those insane wills thought up by really screwed up parents. If she's not married by the age of 21 and she is the sole heir, her father's toy company will be sold. But her legal guardian is uncle Ford Rainey who likes being head of a big business, because as he's reminded often he was washing machine salesman before this windfall he'd like to keep going.

What Rainey does is hire an itinerant artist to play up to Whitfield and maybe marry her. Not easy as the young lady has self esteem issues and is never sure men aren't interested in her bank account. When Whitfield, Rainey gets dead. Of course she didn't do it, but she looks mighty good for it.

Adam Lazarre the artist is a truly unbelievable character, especially when he has a change of art. A plot gambit used in hundreds of films and TV shows, but not convincing here at all.

This was one Perry Mason episode I couldn't buy into.
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1/10
Bad direction
forryjesse31 August 2019
Another badly acted and directed episode. Main cast did a good job Guest stars were not believable and should have stayed unemployed. The later seasons really went downhill as to the acting and storylines.
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