Perry Mason: The Case of the Poisoned Pen

David Warner is at a mystery writer's convention. When he drops dead, an autopsy shows he has been murdered by a poison administered in a drink. Any of a dozen writers in the room could have done it. They all have motive, since he stole books from each of them.... except for the one whose wife had an affair with Warner. Fortunately, one of them gets to Perry Mason first, so we know she didn't do it, even though she winds up on trial for it. Is it too much to hope for a witness in the chair to confess?

It's a fairly good entry in the TV Movie revival of the series, starring Raymond Burr as Perry and Barbara Hale as girl Friday Della Street. Everyone else from the original show was dead. William Moses aids Perry in the investigation. The supporting cast of suspects includes Cindy Williams and Kiel Martin.

The the earlier entries, Burr faced a woman ADA in court. In this one, he does not beat a woman, but Andy Romano.

At an award ceremony for writers, celebrated author, Bradley Thompson (David Warner) causes quite a stink as not only do his fellow writers despise him for stealing their ideas over the years but he ends up in a confrontations with both Della Street (Barbara Hale) and Ken Malansky (William R. Moses) as his book based on a Perry Mason case led to the death of an innocent man. But when Thompson collapses and dies from poisoning it is Bradley's former wife Martha Robertson (Barbara Babcock) who is charged with the murder. Fortunately Martha has Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) in her corner along with Della and Ken.

A very good Perry Mason mystery that has shades of Agatha Christie. There are good amount of suspects, some colourful like Cindy William's character, and enough suspense towards the end. The twist and turns are really good as well as the chases - William R Moses sure does a lot of running!

Bradley Thompson is one of many crime/thriller writers who are attending a conference, although he is there to collect an award for his work. During the ceremony Thompson is heckled by Ken Malansky, who accuses him of twisting the truth in a book he wrote about one of Perry Mason's cases. When someone fatally poisons Thompson's drink at the conference party, the police round everyone up as suspects, before charging Della's friend Martha when the poison is found in her room. Mason agrees to defend Martha and the investigation begins into the group of authors who all seem to have had a grudge against Thompson for one reason or another.

Despite starting in a rather unusual manner with a flashback of the suicide of one of Mason's clients followed by a potentially different link between Mason and the murder suspect, this film falls in with formula quite quickly once Della's friend becomes suspect number one in the case. The story is not as interesting as other films of the series and none of the writers/potential murderers really engaged me, however it still manages to do what the series usually does. Mason does his questioning while Ken chases a person who, although not the killer, is key in the case, and Della just floats around as various star guests ham up their brief spots with Burr. The film lacks tension and this is the fault of the material - the series itself is hardly a good example of how to make a courtroom thriller, but this one is particularly lacking in thrills or tension.

Burr is as solid as ever as Mason, even enjoying some good humour during the trial itself. Moses is not as good an actor as Katt but he seems to fit the basic action man role easier than Katt did and he is good value here. He has a few fun chases and these give him enough to do even if the material as a whole doesn't provide real excitement often enough. Hale has little to do yet again but it's nice to see McEachin in his usual jovial role as Brock. The `oh, look it's...' actors here are David Warner and Cindy Williams and both are OK, even if Warner has limited time and is only asked to be a monster of sorts. Romano is a reasonably well-known face thanks to recent role and he makes a good foil for Mason as the DA, even if he could have done with more material (this was his first of two appearances as this character). The rest of the authors are OK but none really make a big impression and Babcock's Martha is just way too weak and inconsequential to be an interesting suspect.

Overall, this is an OK entry in the Mason series but it is slightly less interesting than usual. It gets a bit better towards the end thanks to a couple of chases involving Ken and the usual twists in court, but generally the film lacks tension and involvement thanks to a script that is lacking urgency or genuine suspense. Fans such as myself should be still be happy enough with this film as it sticks to the usual formula and does it reasonably well. However this is fairly middling stuff.

Perry Mason: The Case of The Poisoned Pen finds Perry, Della, and Ken at a mystery writer's convention where David Warner is getting an award. Warner is one piece of work, a lot of the writers there have at one time or other worked with him, in fact he used their efforts to bolster his flagging creativity. Now he's writing some memoirs about his life and they promise to reveal a lot about his rivals, all of whom are now successful mystery writers in their own right.

When Warner winds up poisoned, though plenty of these people could have done the deed as Warner was poisoned at a cocktail reception that everyone including Perry Mason and his crew were attending, suspicion falls on Barbara Babcock, who actually married Warner at one time. But of course she didn't do it.

This film was the farewell appearance of actor Kiel Martin who is best known for playing Detective J.D. LaRue in Hill Street Blues. That show had one of the great ensemble casts ever put together for a series and Martin was always enjoyable.

What I like about The Case of the Poisoned Pen was the portrayal of the individual who is the killer. I can't say more, but as it turns out the perpetrator is one evil individual.

Catch this film and see what I mean.