So, could this have been Raymond Burr's warm-up for his Perry Mason TV series? Not far out of the realm of possibility I'd say. But if Mason had this kind of dedication to his craft he wouldn't have made it out of the first season. Setting yourself up for a murder is a bit beyond the call of duty I'd say, and the same outcome (snaring Angela Lansbury for it) could have been achieved with a ten minute earlier heads up to the District Attorney (John Dehner). Why didn't he think of THAT?
Analyzing this little programmer for more than a few minutes will probably knock down your rating a notch or two, so in that spirit I'll give it a seven. If made today I think a good writer could really make the story a zinger, but you'd have to leave out the part of Attorney Carlson (Burr) admitting in court that he was Myra's (Angela Lansbury) lover. Seems to me that would would have been a strong case for conflict of interest or some other argument along those lines. Why the judge didn't call for a mistrial right then and there was the first thing that crossed my mind.
The other thing that gets to me in these early flicks is how quick the newspapermen manage to make it on the scene. By the time Carlson gets to the scene of the crime, there are already four reporters there to cover the story! What kind of a hot line did they have back in the Fifties?
Now it pains me to say it, and I'll deny it afterwards, but Angela Lansbury was actually pretty hot back in the day. I know, I know, forget about Jessica Fletcher for a minute and try to be objective. She was a good looking woman who always seemed to play a bad girl in the early days, starting way back in 1944 as the saucy maid in the 1944 remake of "Gaslight". You'd have to say she was a pretty good actress to make you want to hate her the way you wind up doing here. Which is why it's so cool to see the look on her face when the D.A. opens the drawer with the tape recorder. It was a move worthy of 'Murder, She Wrote'.
Analyzing this little programmer for more than a few minutes will probably knock down your rating a notch or two, so in that spirit I'll give it a seven. If made today I think a good writer could really make the story a zinger, but you'd have to leave out the part of Attorney Carlson (Burr) admitting in court that he was Myra's (Angela Lansbury) lover. Seems to me that would would have been a strong case for conflict of interest or some other argument along those lines. Why the judge didn't call for a mistrial right then and there was the first thing that crossed my mind.
The other thing that gets to me in these early flicks is how quick the newspapermen manage to make it on the scene. By the time Carlson gets to the scene of the crime, there are already four reporters there to cover the story! What kind of a hot line did they have back in the Fifties?
Now it pains me to say it, and I'll deny it afterwards, but Angela Lansbury was actually pretty hot back in the day. I know, I know, forget about Jessica Fletcher for a minute and try to be objective. She was a good looking woman who always seemed to play a bad girl in the early days, starting way back in 1944 as the saucy maid in the 1944 remake of "Gaslight". You'd have to say she was a pretty good actress to make you want to hate her the way you wind up doing here. Which is why it's so cool to see the look on her face when the D.A. opens the drawer with the tape recorder. It was a move worthy of 'Murder, She Wrote'.