Perry Mason: The Case of the Silenced Singer (1990)

Truly Dreadful Film

That was an excellent one.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

***SPOILERS*** Coming to the defense of his good friend and former law student Jack Barnett, Tim Reid, in the murder of his wife rock singer Terri Knigt, Venessa Williams, Perry Mason, Raymond Burr, can't make heads or tails in who would want to have murdered her! The sweet kind and lovable Terri didn't seem to have an enemy in the world. Sure things weren't exactly going right for Terri in her relationship with her hubby Jack but that seemed to have been ironed out with Jack now in charge of Terri's upcoming L.A live concert that's to net her, and Jack, a cool million dollars. Terri in fact hasn't been herself the weeks before her death becoming impossible to both work as well as in Jack's case live with. Something was on her mind that was eating away at her and made her a paranoid personality! Was it the upcoming L.A concert that she may have felt she wasn't 100% ready to do or was it something else! Something that was just too depressing for her to confide in with the many friends who were around and more then willing to help her out with! Checking out all the clues in Terri's murder Perry's assistant PI Ken Manlansky, William R.Moses, doesn't come up with the reason Terri was murdered but come up with who's the person or hit man who was hired to murder her! It still takes a while for Perry to unearth a motive for Terri's murder and when it finally comes to the surface in his cross-examining of Terri's good friend Becky De Leo, Marilyn Jones, it's absolutely mind bending! ***SPOILERS**** No doubt about it Terri Knight was brutally murdered but the reason behind her murder is so out of the ballpark or courtroom that it made you, as well as Perry Mason, feel that in Terri being killed was in fact the best thing that could have ever happened to her! That in preventing Terri from facing the horror she was to face in what was waiting for her in the very near future!

Another very good Perry Mason film where a singer, with a changing personality, is murdered and her second husband is arrested for this.As always, Perry uncovers a slew of others who could have done the victim in.You know that something is really amiss when of all people, Alice Ghostley, is killed by the killer as she same him at the scene where he didn't want people to know that he had been there.Other potential suspects include the woman's first husband, and two female friends.The ending, as always, is a real shocker. You'll almost feel empathy for the killer until you realize that he or she tried to blame the first husband out of revenge for his previous affair.As the singer, Vanessa Williams sparkles. Her singing, in flashbacks, is absolutely sparkling. Wonder if she did her own singing.

Off the bat I will say that Perry Mason: The Case Of The Silenced Singer is one of the more unusual entries in the Mason film series. It has a different twist to the normal ending that we expect from a Mason film. The Perry Mason team is defending another attorney Tim Reid who is married to Dinah Ross like pop star diva, Vanessa Williams. Things haven't been going so good in the marriage of late, in fact Vanessa's becoming one royal temperamental piece of work. She's alienating a lot of her close friends. Which makes for a lot of potential murder suspects besides Reid when she winds up shot to death in their hideaway apartment.It's the 911 tape of an anonymous witness calling in about a disturbance that sets Raymond Burr to thinking the police have the wrong man. Of course the discrepancies there might also have invoked some interest even among the satisfied homicide cop James McEachin. But then we wouldn't have the film.When Burr sends Billy Moses off to investigate the discrepancies in the tape he has a very nice and whimsically funny scene with Alice Ghostley who's confronted the killer without realizing it. It's the highlight of the movie.I think you'll like the different twist on the usual Mason ending here.

Terri Walker is a famous singer who is about to start her concert tour with a big show in Denver. Her husband and manager Jack tries to keep her happy but she is tense and uptight and takes it out on those around her. During a rehearsal she storms out refusing to do the show. After a very public fight Jack follows Terri to their flat where they have a fight. After making up, Jack leaves to pick up something for Terri, but returns to find that someone has murdered her. The police don't believe a word of it and arrest him for murder. Jack enlists the defence of his old law professor Perry Mason and the case begins to be put together. Mason interviews all those who could have had Terri killed while Malansky tries to track down the killer who was contracted to kill her.The films of Perry Mason are often very much of a muchness - even fans such as myself have to admit that they are never that good even if the formula always seems to work reasonably works. Basically the rule is, if you like one then you'll like the majority of them. The Case of the Silenced Singer uses the basic formula that the series is famous for (Mason interviews suspect after suspect, Malansky/Drake chases a lead and the case ends in a twist) but it does it better than I have seen before (and I have seen the majority of them). The plot here is the basic murder case but it is well written and a lot more engaging than usual. On top of this the delivery is much better than usual. Instead of Mason just interviewing people, we actually get flashbacks and more insight than usual. Malansky's investigation is also a lot tougher than usual and the killer, Harry, is a lot more of a threat than other hitmen in the series. Malansky usually is stuck with a dipsy female sidekick in his investigations but here he has woman trouble more than anything else and it makes it more fun. Of course it isn't perfect and it does have flaws (surely Harry would have killed Ken at some point? He had enough chances to do so and get away) but lets not forget that the whole series is a series of tv movies and this marks itself out to be one of the best of the bunch. However, with an ending that, while a little difficult to swallow perhaps, still stands out as very different from the usual Mason fare.On top of this the film has managed to gain a pretty starry cast - albeit over time. Burr is good as Mason but he lets others act here and he saves his performance for the court case where it belongs. Moses is also good here as he is given more of a meaty section of the film and rises to it. Hale is barely in the film but her loss is our gain as the time goes to a great cast. Reid is good and is recognisable from sitcoms from tv (Sister, Sister for example) and Alan Stock will also be a surprise face for those watch the UK show Dream Team! Also Rachins will be well known from LA Law. Angela Bassett has an early role and she impresses even with little time. Another surprising role was the beautiful Nia Peeples (recently in Half Past Dead) who played Malansky's love interest with a lot more heart than the others have - but she does benefit from a more interesting character than usual. Alice Ghostley has a small role but may be vaguely recognisable for a few roles in big films in the 1960's. Vanessa Williams does really well and is rewarded in a way that most `victims' in the series are not - by being given more time in the flashback scenes. The music has dated but it makes it more interesting and helps us see Terri as a person rather than just the unpleasant person that we see at the start.Overall this is a great Mason film, as much by design as by good fortune. It sticks to the usual formula in essence but it changes it enough to improve it - by using the flashbacks, darkening Malanksy's plot, using his female partner really well and allowing the characters to be more than the usual one dimensional red herrings that they often become. The film also benefits from a cast that has become more famous with time (in particular very good turns from Bassett, Peebles and Williams) and the plot itself is stronger than ever - a plot only made better by a conclusion that is a lot better than the usual twist out of nowhere. Those who have only half enjoyed Mason movies in the past will find this to lack the usual weaknesses, meanwhile fans like me will be really pleased with a film that is easily the best of the whole series.