Perry Mason (TV Series) The Case of the Jealous Journalist (1961) User Reviews

The Wrong Woman

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 7 November 2012]

Linden Chiles the new owner of a local newspaper is Perry Mason's client in this episode. Seems like his father and uncle both died during a fishing expedition with family friend Denver Pyle and he's inherited the paper and is running it. His cousins want to just sell the thing and reap the profits. His girlfriend Claire Griswold jilts him for another man. When she winds up dead as he said he would like to have killed her. Of course the cops take him up on it and William Talman once again looks like he has a good case.

But of course there's a lot more going on here than Chiles's love life and a battle for control of a newspaper. Naturally Raymond Burr gets to the bottom of it.

This episode and many other shows should teach the lesson that one should never utter words like 'I'll kill you'. They could put you in a jackpot and you probably won't have a Perry Mason to get you out of it.

A nice mystery to start season five.

[kfo9494 · 8/10 · 7 August 2013]

The owner of the newspaper 'Los Angeles Chronicle', Dan York, has been been killed in a raft accident on a Canadian vacation. Now a nasty family dispute will start when one side of the family wants to sell the paper and the other part of the family, wants to continue the paper.

When the 'Will' is read it appears that Joe Davies will get his wish and continue with the newspaper. The thing that pushed the entire situation to the Davies' side was that Joe's fiancé, Kerry Worden, is set to inherit a small amount of shares that will tilt the vote toward Joe Davies. However when announcing the engagement Ms Worden tells Joe that she is not to marry him but his cousin Ralph Quentin which will now tilt the side to selling the paper. And before leaving Joe does something that we all know is never good- he tells her that he will see her dead before she marries Quentin.

Guess what? The same day Ms Worden is found dead in her apartment and Joe is seen holding the murder weapon. Perry will have his hands full when he defends Joe Davies against some powerful evidence.

There is much more going on in this episode than meets the eye. Plus a lot of useless information, that at times, the viewer feels bombarded. But in the end it will come down to a person that needed money and just a little more time. Good watch.

Keep the Presses Rolling

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 18 January 2022]

This is about a newspaper in deep trouble. When the head honcho dies in a rafting accident, it falls on a young man to keep it going. There is no confidence in him and soon the weasels come out of the woodwork. The biggest thing is a tussle between two combating entities who will be affected by the old boss's will. There is a also a conniving woman who turns on people at the drop of a hat, anything for a buck. This was a neat episode with some interesting twists and turns.

Gordian Knot

[darbski · 10/10 · 27 September 2017]

**SPOILERS** It would take Perry to cut through the train wreck that the dead guy left for a will, wouldn't it? I'll summarize it and clean it up for the reader of this report. WHAT?? Who in the hell would do something this complicated in a bequeathment, unless he was completely twisted himself. Dead guy MUST have realized just how incomparably greedy his relatives were, to set up such a coil of avarice. One other small thing: THAT'S ALL?? All he had was a failing newspaper? Nothing else? Okay, so then he goes on a fishing trip. Wanna know WHY the newspaper is failing? Enter a complete fool; Perry's client.

The newspaper was already on the rocks when the rocky rapids finished dead guy, so who could save it? A rookie? Looks good in a Disney movie or Star Wars, but here? Like I been sayin... it must have taken a diabolical mind to fix up his relatives this way. The SMART thing, of course, as anyone with a working brain cell knows, was to sell out, and get out fast. Of course, if he was smart, he wouldn't need Perry, would he?

Now, Tilden Stuart had a very good reason for beating Kerry Worden to death with a poker. She was the worst of the lot; frankly. she had it coming, didn't she? He carried a dead body two miles over rough terrain, and set up the complicated arrangement that would have benefited both of them quite nicely, but she just had to squeeze him for more. He did all the work. She got just what she deserved. What is unforgivable, almost, is setting up Joe Davies. And, if ever there was a patsy just begging to be dumped on, it was him.

Perry figures all this out with the aid of some very clear photographs; and you've just gotta wonder HOW the Royal Canadian Mounted Police could have missed something so obvious, don't you? And a chart showing the REAL brains behind the land/business deals helps sort out exactly WHY he was probably gonna take it all, for a much lower cost than at first. The rest of the family is probably gonna be shocked to find that their profits will be much smaller thanks to their greedy squabbling. Yes, it does my heart good to see this kind of selfishness rewarded so fully.

In my opinion, the actors, or parts played by the nice dummies were the weakest. The best were the rats, with Jan Merlin (Ralph Quentin), taking top honors for being at his slithering snakiest. I mean, this guy backs up his dirtbag looks with real talent in playing these roles; just look at him and you don't trust him.

Tilden's (Denver Pyle), taking a ten count for Murder2, but he's getting an "A" for effort; he had a broken arm, for Pete's sake!!

Too many characters for too weak a plot

[ebertip · 6/10 · 4 November 2020]

The episode begins with three men in trouble in white water somewhere in Canada: Adam York (publisher of LA Chronicle). Prentice York, and Tilden Stuart (played by Denver Pyle). Only Tilden survives. Perry comes into the case as a transactional attorney, reading the will and acting as a transitional trustee. When explaining a point, Perry spouts Section 296 of the Uniform Death code related to "simultaneous" deaths. Perry is corrected on a factual matter by Paul, who notes the Mounties believe Prentice outlived Adam, which changes the outcome of the will. The coherence of the plot relies on Tilden Stuart knowing the will and the law, which is not clear from the episode version I saw on television. As to the plot, Adam's nephew Joe Davies wants to continue the Chronicle after Adam's death and believes his fiancee Kerry Warden will help him. Kerry is the step-daughter of Prentice and will get some stock voting rights if Prentice outlived Adam. As to the newspaper, the Quintin side of the family wants to sell and the Davies do not. Throw in bad guy Boyd Alison (played by Theodore Marcuse, who looks like a slimy evil version of Gavin McCleod) and a good woman (Miriam Coffey played by Bek Nelson), and you have a complicated mess. The police work of the Mounties was sloppy. The culprit does confess in court, breaking down to a blubbering puddle.

I needed time just a little bit of time

[kapelusznik18 · 5/10 · 1 January 2017]

***SPOILERS*** Overely confusing as well as mind twisting Perry Mason, Raymond Burr, episode that plays like a game of three card Monte with a power struggle involved in the taking over the newspaper L.A Chronicle after it's owner and editor Adam & Pertice York were killed while navigating , on a canoe, the dangerous Canadian rapids. Nothing like this happened before or since in a Perry Mason episode with the killer planning to take control of the newspaper by reversing the time of death between Adam & Pretice York to achieve his objectives.

Having Adam York's nephew Joe Davies,Linden Chiles, framed for his girlfriend Kerry Worden's ,Claire Griswold, murder had him-The killer- kill two birds with one stone that with both Kerry and Joe in no position to take control of the newspaper. It was Kerry who dug her own gave by jumping ship and planning to throw in her lot with the Quentin family, who own 50% of the newspaper, and Joe who was screwed, in him losing his control of the newspaper, by Kerry being caught red handed at her murder site it was a slam dunk that he'll end up getting away with his crime.

***SPOILERS***Giving the killer all the rope he needed to hang himself during cross-examination Perry tripped the killer up on his grand plan to take control of the newspaper in how he made it look like that the deaths of the York brothers took place at about 12 hours apart. What that had to do with him taking control of the newspaper doesn't seem to make any sense at all. But his murder of Kerry Worden to keep her from joining forces with the Quentin's-in taking control of the newspaper- and thus leaving him out in the cold does.