MovieChat Forums > Perry Mason (1957) Discussion > TCOT Howling Dog

TCOT Howling Dog

posted 8 years ago by bcstoneb444
2 replies | jump to latest

***spoilers***
This otherwise enjoyable episode – clever premise, good characters, excellent cast – for me is marred by bumpy pacing and unresolved plot threads. For the first three quarters of an hour or so the pacing – moderate, even somewhat leisurely – seems just right, but then in the quintessential witness stand confession, Thelma Brent’s story, at best convoluted, is made all the more confusing by the hurried pace.
Unresolved plot problems: whatever happened to the nurse at the sanitorium that Ann Rutherford clobbered over the head with a … skillet(?). Also: I didn’t see that the Evelyn Forbes impersonator character was really necessary. Yes, reasonable doubt and the taxi driver’s recollection and all that, but: there was never any dispute that Miss Forbes actually took the taxi to her hotel. And all the business with the handkerchief… But most of all, what happened to the impersonator lady? She didn’t even take the stand (at least not on camera).
And, for that matter, what happened to the Gregory Wallcott character? Was he indicted for perjury? Or theft?
Aside: somewhere along the way Perry says that impersonating someone is not a crime. Legally is this accurate?

[–] JohnD61 8 years ago

Impersonating someone with intent to commit a crime would of course be illegal, but simply getting into a cab would not, even if you said your name was something other than what it really was.

[–] hilaryjrp 8 years ago

Are you a newcomer to "Perry Mason?" I suggest watching this episode at least a few more times before judging it. TCOT Howling Dog's plot is the most sophisticated of the entire series; many people consider it one of the series' top ten, if not #1.

Perhaps you can re-watch it and see if at least one of the questions you ask is answered by Perry's reliably stunning foreknowledge of who the murderer actually is. His methods aren't always transparent.