p e n g u i n d e v i l

Especially me. I am still around but spare time seems sparse and the movies just aren’t getting watched too much. One thing that is getting watched is Perry Mason. Now I imagine I haven’t said this here before, assuming that it goes without saying, but Perry Mason is more that just a great Ozzy song, it is unquestionably the best TV show ever made! Due to KPTV, what used to be our local independent TV channel, Perry Mason has been on TV every weekday at noon for my entire life. Or at least 30+ years. That being the case, entire summers would go by when Perry at noon and Star Trek at 5pm (thanks again, KPTV) were the points to my day. I watched god knows how many hundreds of episodes over the years. Though every show follows the same story (murder/Tragg gets it wrong/Burger gets it wrong/Perry knows they’re wrong, but just doesn’t quite know what’s right/at the last minute Perry gets someone [usually someone who wasn’t even a suspect] to confess from the stand) the show never gets tiring! But back to the present. A good while back we got ourselves all 10 DVD’s of the First Season of Perry Mason and, wow, what else can I say, it was the best and now it’s even better!

Certainly the best DVD buy I’ve made (well, except for maybe the UK Russ Meyer boxed set and the Blind Dead coffin set), I am continually being re-amazed. These are the full original episodes and as such they are 10 or so minutes longer than the ones I’m used to. And those minutes are put to great use. I don’t recall ever seeing so much of Paul Drake (and his office and his sports car and the way he works), Perry comes across as much tougher and sneaky (law-breaking even) than I remember… They’re just great. They look good, the Gardner stories are still a lot of fun and the added time adds a lot of character and depth to these already great shows.

Oh yeah, we’re about half-way through and the best episode so far has been episode 11, “The Case of the Crooked Candle”. When two women are waiting at the beauty parlor and it’s time for the next appointment… For Mrs. Bradford. Strangely, they are both named Mrs Bradford. They then learn that their Mr Bradford’s both have the same first name… And in fact, both of these women have the same address! Then Mr. Bradford turns up murdered… Obviously, something funny is going on in the state of California!