Donald Woods is Perry Mason in the last of the Warner Brothers' series, with Ann Dvorak as Della Street. Woods is adequate, but little more under the direction of William Clemens. Tom Kennedy is on hand as a dumb hotel detective, and while I usually find him enjoyable, this one has him as annoying, present to hold the vital clue, but unable to remember what it is until almost the very end, at which point the entire mystery is solved.
But what a mystery! It has so many plots and pieces that it is nigh unto indescribable... but it has a script so adept that it makes perfect sense as it goes along. How can a bishop, who must speak in public, stutter? Who is really the grand daughter of Douglas Wood, and who killed him, and why? Will the murderer confess on the witness stand? It's classic clockwork mystery writing. Too bad the acting isn't more compelling, but perhaps, given the essential 'B' nature of this movie, there wasn't screen time enough for plot and acting.
But what a mystery! It has so many plots and pieces that it is nigh unto indescribable... but it has a script so adept that it makes perfect sense as it goes along. How can a bishop, who must speak in public, stutter? Who is really the grand daughter of Douglas Wood, and who killed him, and why? Will the murderer confess on the witness stand? It's classic clockwork mystery writing. Too bad the acting isn't more compelling, but perhaps, given the essential 'B' nature of this movie, there wasn't screen time enough for plot and acting.