Perry Mason (TV Series) The Case of the Vanishing Victim (1966) User Reviews

Reason not to drink and fly

[kfo9494 · 8/10 · 10 January 2012]

Some of the best things about this episode are the way Perry uses the judicial system for his client. We get to see Perry use the Judge's chambers to get around his client being arrest and how he uses the 'best-evidence' clause of judicial procedures to have the charge against his client dropped.

The episode involves Stacey Fielding and Miriam Fielding. Their marriage is not the best and Mr Fielding even comments to others that his wife would like to see him dead. Anyway Mr Fielding is going to pilot his plane to Salt Lake City. His wife, Miriam, has backed him the usual stuff which contains a flask with whiskey.

During the flight the small planes crashes and burns. And when the FFA and Lt Drumm start looking for the cause of death they find out that the whiskey contained a powerful sleep agent. And all evidence points to Miriam as the one who killed her husband. Perry comes to her side to defend her against the charges presented by Hamilton Burger.

SPOILER ALERT-- Not long afterwards Mr Fielding is found alive and now we have a possible murder but we do not know the identity of the dead person. Someone is dead and someone poisoned the whiskey. Who? and How? Before the show ends the questions are answered inside the Judges's chambers and someone confesses without being warned of his right to remain silent. (not sure if they could use that confession in court). Anyway Ms Fielding will be able to walk the streets of LA unabated thanks to Perry.

A nice tight show that is interesting. Maybe not the most exciting episode but one that provides the viewer with a good mystery.

Reprise

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 4 March 2022]

This is the story of a man who is supposed to be on a plane, but the plane crashes without him on it. So who was that guy who died? He has had a terrible relationship with his wife and she ends up being tried for murder. I think the strength of the episode is the series of misdirections Perry causes. A pretty good episode.

Unusually good for the last season show

[bdosher-56652 · 9/10 · 10 September 2020]

This plot is well done, better than most of the 1965-66 season show's, this one keeps you guessing, you don't want to leave the room for long because you might miss something important. Actress Jeanie Cooper drives a beautiful 65 Riviera and gets out in heels and a mini coat. This really is one of the best ones from this time frame, writing and director was not great during this period, the best shows are from the years 1958-1963

The Case of the Poisoned Flask

[zsenorsock · 25 August 2008]

Based on an original mystery by Erle Stanley Gardner, this script by Frankel and Hampton is a good one. When Stacey Fiedling's (George Wallace) small plane crashes, the autopsy reveals he was poisoned. His wife Miriam (Jeanne Cooper) is accused of the murder. But in investigating Perry and Paul discover there's a lot more to the story than it seems and Perry questions in court if the body of the man in the plane really is Stacey Fielding.

If the story about a pilot and a drugged flask sounds familiar, it may be because there's an episode of "Columbo" ("Swan Song")starring Johnny Cash that combines the same elements, though the rest of the story is quite different. Once again the sultry Lisa Gaye enlivens the show with her performance as Laraine Keely, a beautiful lab assistant to Stacey Fielding. At the same time she's sexy and tough. She has a nice intro scene as she gets out of the shower. Richard Erdman is good as Judd and S. John Launer gets more to do than usual as the judge.

Paul gets to be embarrassed while looking for a witness in Denver. He doesn't notice he's being trailed by Lt. Drumm until its too late. Some private detective!

Vanished? Reappeared

[darbski · 10/10 · 10 July 2017]

It's a good adaption of a previous episode called "The Case of the Fugitive Nurse", and a lot of the same elements appear in both shows. One problem I have is that the airport attendant stepped WAY out of bounds when he called L.A.P.D. to report a homicide; even if he DID suspect it. See, ANY airport in the United States is under the jurisdiction of the F.A.A., and NOT local homicide. These guys investigate all kinds of airborne crimes, and they are not about to surrender authority to anyone else, unless it gets just too messy for them. If that happened in reality, the bumpkin who overstepped like that would be looking for a new job. One other point, when Perry and Paul were waiting for Drum to get in from Denver, he arrived in a DC-3!! I DON'T THINK SO -- not in 1966. A 727 would be a lot more like reality.

This story is more refined than the one used for a model, and a little more complicated. Perry's client drives a beautiful Riviera, and there is a G.T.O. parked across the street from Lisa Gaye's place in Modesto. I sure hope Perry had Della type up a new check for Paul on this case, after Perry gave his original to Drum. He earned every penny of it in this one. One thing that kept the action going was the tricks that were played, back and forth, until Perry calls on the better nature of the two runaways. Good episode, great acting, excellent action.

Some Observations and a Correction

[dejavue52 · 10/10 · 14 November 2022]

The scene between Perry and Burger outside his office was worth a 10 in itself.

When Lt. Drumm was at the airport when the FAA was searching through the rubble they had collected, he said that he was looking for the flask that the pilot had been chugging out of before he took off. Then Det. Brice came over with the large plaid fabric container in which the flask had been. How did it get into the container when the pilot had been drinking from it just before he fell out of the sky?

The poster kapelusznik18 said that the exchange between Perry and Burger in the courtroom was "shyster-like double-talk". It was perfect rule of law and if you want to understand it, use CC on your TV. And if you've watched PM episodes for a while you should be familiar with the way lawyers speak at times in court.

Also I have a correction to a Goof posted where Lorraine Keely came out of the shower to see Mr. Mason sitting in her living room instead of her landlady and her hair was piled on top of her head. It was not wet as a poster had assumed. It was dry, so in order to have it absolutely dry as she left in her car all she had to do was undo the clips, comb it out, and voila she's done.

Lisa Gaye in a shower scene...too bad it was 60s TV and not 21st century Cinemax

[Dick24 · 10/10 · 8 September 2011]

Well this is the sixth and final guest appearance for the lovely Lisa Gaye on PM and while she isn't one of the lead characters she still makes quite an impression during her time on screen.

Our first glimpse of Ms. Gaye is not of her beautiful face but instead of her sexy and shapely legs as she is finishing up a shower. This is quite a tease and even though I knew there was no way it was going to happen I was screaming at my TV for the cameraman to pan up! I guess I was influenced by Booger's line in Revenge of the Nerds ("This is b___ s___! Pan down, I want bush!").

Well her introductory scene gets even better after she exits the shower and engages Perry in a discussion while she's wearing nothing more than a towel and an expression of disgust. Great stuff indeed.

The overall story is a pretty good one, involving the poisoning of a man while he's flying his plane to a business meeting. Perry casts enough doubt on the identity of the recovered body to frustrate Hamilton Burger greatly. The scenes of a flustered DA Burger screaming at his adversary and the judge are tremendous.

John Launer gives his normal fine performance as the judge and there are some other nice supporting performances too. But of course Lisa Gaye is the reason that this episode will stay saved on my DVR for a long time.

The last season of regular Perry Mason episodes

[IClaudius7 · 8/10 · 23 November 2020]

This is a re-tweaked prior episode of Perry Mason. This episode is based on The Case of the Fugitive Nurse, Season 1, Episode 22. If you compare the facts of both they are basically the same, only the dead man was part of a drug smuggling racket. The flask had something in it, and the pilot was mis-identified as perishing in the resulting crash. I thought I was having Deja Vu all over again like Yogi the Great. Pardon the pun, but Cheers !!! 🥂🍻🥃🍹🍷🍸🍾

Burger won't give up

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 15 April 2019]

Someone spikes George Wallace's beverage which he has packed in a thermos for a private plane flight he was taking. Since he was estranged from his wife Jeanne Cooper and she had remarked that she'd sooner see him dead when the plane crashes and the thermos is discovered she's arrested.

But Hamilton Burger really rushed here with an ill prepared case in that the body in the plane was not Wallace, but missing he is. Raymond Burr really made William Talman look stupid in this one. But when the charges are dismissed Talman rearrests her again.

William Hopper as Paul Drake is the hero here. He does more to unravel who was in the plane after all. And Cooper can walk free.

A more complex story and a bit of a departure from the Perry Mason paradigm.

Eh, reruns

[Marble X · 5/10 · 29 March 2023]

This story is a rewrite of The Case of the Fugitive Nurse (Season 1 Ep 22). Just enough tweaks to make it interesting, but not enough to make it fully distinguishable.

Not a bad effort but I always preferred ESG's original stories and I preferred the original of this story. It was a bit disappointing that the same murder device was used in both stories. I didn't find the characters likeable in either story, although I sympathized more with the wife in the original story. Also lacking in this rewrite was any comic relief, whereas in Fugitive Nurse, there was Kirby's wife and Gladys' family.

Performances in this episode are pretty good, with a familiar cast of guest stars.

Something told me that I shouldn't come home to Denver

[kapelusznik18 · 5/10 · 4 March 2015]

****SPOILERS**** It's when the private plane of chemist to the rich & famous Stacy Fielding played by-not the late Governor of Alabama-George Wallace crashed into the Rockies on his flight Salt Lake City it became apparent that foul play was involved in his death. It's when the flask of booze was examined by the police that Fielding was guzzling, against regulations, down while on the flight was discovered to be laced with Veronal a powerful sleeping drug that his wife whom he was on the verge of leaving Miriam, Jeanne Cooper, was charged with his murder. In that she was to person who provided him with the flask just before he took off.

With Perry Mason, Raymond Burr, taking up Miriam's case he soon suspects that it wasn't Fielding who was on the crashed plane but someone else that whoever spiked the flask that he was drinking out off wanted dead! It's when Perry found out that the $100,000.00 in cash was missing from the "Late" Stacey Fielding's wall safe he surmised that he took off with it and planned to go undercover, with an assumed named, together with his sexy girlfriend Laraine Keely, Lisa Gaye, who's cheesecake photo Perry found in his apartment.

****SPOILERS*** With Miriam facing the death penalty if convicted in her husband's murder Perry now has the difficult task of not only proving her innocent but the fact that Stacey Fielding wasn't murdered at all! The big question is who in fact was the person who's charred body was found in the plane wreckage and even more important who was the one who eventually put him there! The episode is hampered with a lot of shyster-like double-talk between Perry and D.A Hamilton "Ham" Burger, William Talman, that not only goes nowhere but you'd need, which your not provided with, sub titles in English to understand. As the truth came out the person killed was plane mechanic Al Dolby, John Goddard, who was involved in drug smuggling and it was his partner, seeing that he was behind the wheel, who felt he wasn't getting his share of the loot who had him offed! As for Fielding he at the very last moment decided to drive to Salt Lake City, in order to see the sights, which not only ended up saving his life but given him a chance,for the time being that is, to start a new one and marry his girlfriend Laraine at the same time.