"Your honor, Mr. Burger's devotion to the obvious sometimes causes him to confuse my client's interest with standing on a technicality." - Raymond Burr as Perry Mason
Perry Mason: Season 2, Volume 2 DVD Review
By Jonathan Boudreaux
In season one of Perry Mason, many of the scripts were based on the works of writer Erle Stanley Gardner. Gardner, a former lawyer, first introduced crime-busting attorney Perry Mason in his 1933 legal whodunit The Case of the Velvet Claws. By the second season of Perry Mason's nine year run on CBS, other writers were having a go at the Mason character. The result was just as entertaining.
Perry Mason (Raymond Burr) can get practically anyone out of trouble with the law in Los Angeles. Set in the late 1950s, Mason's Los Angeles is so quaint it seems to have only six buildings. With the help of his trusty assistant Della Street (Barbara Hale), and ace P.I. Paul Drake (William Hopper), Mason is always ready to poke holes in the cases of Los Angeles Homicide Division's Lieutenant Tragg (Ray Collins) and District Attorney Hamilton Burger (William Talman). He practically makes proving his clients innocent seem easy, no matter how much evidence is stacked against them.
With foes like Tragg and Burger, it almost is easy. In season two's opening credits, Mason gets some new evidence while trying a case. Paul and Della glance at it appreciatively, sure that the case will now be wrapped up. Mason then shows the new evidence to Burger and Tragg, who can barely suppress their yawns. Who needs evidence when the law is on your side?
Fans of the series who have only gotten the chance to watch it in syndication will be happy to know that this DVD set includes the full-length episodes. Television shows are often cut for syndication so that more commercials can be shoehorned into each episode. The episodes in Perry Mason: Season 2, Volume 2 run about fifty-two minutes apiece, possibly adding at least ten minutes per episode that may not have been seen since the show's original broadcast.
Once again, this season of Perry Mason has been split for this boxed set. Season 2, Volume 2 presents the final fifteen episodes of the season in airdate order.
Familiar faces in Season 2, Volume 2, include Marion Ross (Happy Days), Frankie Laine (Rawhide), Bobby Troup (Emergency!), Ann Rutherford (Gone with the Wind), Kasey Rogers (Bewitched), and Nancy Culp (The Beverly Hillbillies).
The fifteen episodes that make up Season 2, Volume 2 are divided onto four discs. The discs are housed in two slim, clear plastic keepcases, both of which hold two discs apiece. The fronts of the cases feature color production and publicity stills of Raymond Burr. The backs of the cases include titles, original airdates, and brief synopses of each episode. The interiors of the cases and the discs themselves include a "Scales of Justice" theme. The keepcases slide into a cardboard outer sleeve.
The static DVD menus are easy to use. Viewers can play individual episodes. Upon choosing an episode title, the episode automatically begins. The episodes are divided into chapters, but there are no scene selection menus.
