The BEST episodes of Perry Mason season 5
Every episode of Perry Mason season 5, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Perry Mason season 5!
There are few actors so closely tied to a persona than Raymond Burr as Perry Mason. This long-running series was built upon Erle Stanley Gardner´s many novels about a brilliant defense lawyer and his staff, that solved many a crime with surprise witnesses and stern cross-examinations.It was the first mystery series to feature chalk or tape outlines to mark the spots where bodies were found. Filmed almost exclusively in the Los Angeles area, Raymond Burr had Gardner's seal of approval in the role. The cases were usually won by way of pivotal confessions of witnesses, solicited by Perry Mason (Burr's) surgeon-like examination or with last-minute, key evidence brought into the courtroom by private investigator, Paul Drake (William Hopper). Della Street (Barbara Hale), Perry´s faithful secretary, was always at Perry's side in the courtroom where hapless Hamilton Burger (William Tallman) was the Los Angeles District Attorney who never seemed to win. As to the myth that Perry Mason never lost, there were 2 episodes where it did occur... but you'll have to watch to find out.The show was revived in 1973-74, with other actors in the familiar roles (Monte Markham as Mason), and then again with the some of the original cast, in a string of feature length TV films from 1985 until Raymond Burr´s death in 1993.
#1 - The Case of the Posthumous Painter
Season 5 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/11/1961
Artist Jack Culross fakes his own suicide and sees the sales of his paintings go through the roof. His only problem was that he forgot to inform his wife Edna of the scheme. After Edna sees a completed painting of Jack's that she knows he didn't finish while he was "alive" she gets wise. Edna manages to track down her "deceased" husband but they fight and she knocks him down. Then he's found dead. Edna must stand trial for murder.
#2 - The Case of the Shapely Shadow
Season 5 - Episode 16 - Aired 1/6/1962
Naive secretary Janice Wainwright carries out boss Morley Thielman's orders and places a briefcase containing more than $100,000.00 in a train station locker. Then she waits for the arrival of Thielman's ex-wife but Lt. Tragg arrives instead with an arrest warrant for Janice on the charge of murdering her boss. It seems as though witness Fred Carlyle saw a woman's shapely shadow through the shades of Thielman's office window shortly before the murder occurred.Carlyle believes the silhuette belonged to Janice. Perry manages to get to the bottom of things once the courtroom proceedings begin.
#3 - The Case of the Renegade Refugee
Season 5 - Episode 13 - Aired 12/9/1961
A journalist is murdered while tracking an ex-Nazi war criminal who may be posing as an executive at a company called Space Associates, Ltd.
#4 - The Case of the Ancient Romeo
Season 5 - Episode 28 - Aired 5/5/1962
Perry and Della go out for a night at the theatre to see Perry's actor friend, Steve Brock, perform as Paris in Romeo and Juliet. The lights mysteriously go out during the dueling scene between Romeo and Paris and when the lights are restored the audience is shocked to see that leading man Franz Lachman, playing Romeo, has been stabbed to death. When Steve is accused of the murder Perry decides to have the cast re-enact the final scene that was played before Lachman's death.
#5 - The Case of the Mystified Miner
Season 5 - Episode 21 - Aired 2/24/1962
Mason tries to clear his young, beautiful client after a twisting and wheeling plot of murder, kidnapping, and embezzlement unfolds.
#6 - The Case of the Pathetic Patient
Season 5 - Episode 7 - Aired 10/28/1961
Perry finds himself defending Dr. Wayne Edley who has been accused of committing two murders.
#7 - The Case of the Absent Artist
Season 5 - Episode 23 - Aired 3/17/1962
Cartoonist Pete Manders is elated when the owner of the comic strip "Zingy" offers to sell him the strip for a song. Pete is less than elated when he learns that his girlfriend Leslie is running away to Europe with Gabe Phillips, the strip owner. When Phiilips is murdered, Pete is charged with the crime and retains Perry's services. Investigating the case, Perry soon discovers that the deceased Phillips was leading a double life.
#8 - The Case of the Malicious Mariner
Season 5 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/7/1961
During a terrible storm at sea, First Officer Jerry Griffin dumps a million dollars worth of goods into the sea in order to lessen the chances of his cargo freighter sinking. Once on shore, Jerry is hauled before a maritime court which holds him responsible for the loss of the cargo. Captain Bancroft's testimony can clear Jerry but he is murdered before he can give it. Now Jerry stands accused of that crime too. Perry and Paul try to set things right once again.
#9 - The Case of the Poison Pen-Pal
Season 5 - Episode 20 - Aired 2/10/1962
A casual pen pal relationship leads to insider information and murder.
#10 - The Case of the Glamorous Ghost
Season 5 - Episode 19 - Aired 2/3/1962
Eleanor Corbin pleads amnesia after police find her running and screaming through the woods near her apartment building. Her loss of memory is of little help to her when she is later charged with murder.
#11 - The Case of the Angry Astronaut
Season 5 - Episode 25 - Aired 4/7/1962
Astronaut Matthew Heller is suspected of killing his old service rival, General Addison Brand, after Brand is put in charge of the astronaut program.
#12 - The Case of the Missing Melody
Season 5 - Episode 3 - Aired 9/30/1961
Perry and Della attend the wedding of Polly Courtland to Eddy King. The ceremony is halted at the altar when Polly begins screaming, "No! No!" and hurriedly exits the church. It seems as though Polly had spotted slimy George Sherwin holding an envelope containing photos of her younger sister checking into a Las Vegas hotel with a musician named Bongo White. Sherwin plans to ruin Polly and her family's reputation unless she gives up Eddy for him. Sherwin's plan comes a cropper when he's found shot to death. Eddy King is arrested for the crime.
#13 - The Case of the Left-Handed Liar
Season 5 - Episode 11 - Aired 11/25/1961
Health club instructor Ward Nichols wants to marry the daughter of his employer, Bernard Daniels, but Ward's estranged wife, Veronica, is pressuring him for money and claiming to be pregnant. Things blow up in everyone's face when Bernard is found crunched with a dumbbell at the club. Perry, as usual, arrives on the scene to get at the truth.
#14 - The Case of the Roving River
Season 5 - Episode 15 - Aired 12/30/1961
Perry is hired to help settle a land dispute in the Manzana Valley but the key witness is blown up by a homemade bomb. As usual, Perry's client is accused of the crime.
#15 - The Case of the Injured Innocent
Season 5 - Episode 10 - Aired 11/18/1961
A really weird courtroom confession scene highlights this episode about the murder of a race car driver.
#16 - The Case of the Crying Comedian
Season 5 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/14/1961
Comic Charlie Hatch learns that the woman he loved and lost, Anne Gilrain, has escaped from a sanitarium to which she was forced to commit herself by her husband, Tom. When Tom Gilrain is murdered, Charlie is afraid that Anne did the deed and sets himself up as a likely suspect to protect her. Perry arrives on the scene to try and free Charlie from his abysmal stupidity.
#17 - The Case of the Jealous Journalist
Season 5 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/2/1961
The drowning death of a newspaper executive during a fishing trip sets off all kinds of repercussions at the newspaper itself.
#18 - The Case of the Captain's Coins
Season 5 - Episode 17 - Aired 1/13/1962
Historian Phillip Andrews tries to make a case that his fiancee, Evelyn Faraday, is entitled to a share of a shipping company fortune. Phillip then finds himself accused of murdering the company's top man.
#19 - The Case of the Crippled Cougar
Season 5 - Episode 22 - Aired 3/3/1962
Mike Preston is a bitter man who despises Hugh Jamison because he mistakenly believes Jamison stole $100,000.00 from him and is responsible for him being crippled. Trying to entrap Jamison, Preston makes a mistake and is set up for murder by the real thief.
#20 - The Case of the Borrowed Baby
Season 5 - Episode 26 - Aired 4/14/1962
A baby who mysteriously appears in Perry's office has a rare St. Christopher medal, which could help identify the baby's parents. If only the suspected father wasn't dead.
#21 - The Case of the Counterfeit Crank
Season 5 - Episode 27 - Aired 4/28/1962
A crazy man (or is he?), his dead nephew and a military base are tangled up in a confusing Perry Mason episode.
#22 - The Case of the Travelling Treasure
Season 5 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/4/1961
Perry and Paul are all set to go deep see fishing on a boat owned by their friend, Scott Cahill, but when Cahill's regular customer wants the boat for the weekend they have to charter another. Later, Perry gets word that the Coast Guard has boarded Cahill's vessel looking for stolen gold. They found some of the bullion and the corpse of an assclown named Karl McGovern. An autopsy reveals that McGovern was killed with a fatal dose of digitalis. Scott Cahill is charged with murder when the police theorize that he and the dead man were partners in stealing the gold. Writer: Robb White
#23 - The Case of the Impatient Partner
Season 5 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/16/1961
Paint manufacturer Amory Fallon suspects that his partner Ned Thompson is behind a mysterious fire and explosion.
#24 - The Case of the Unwelcome Bride
Season 5 - Episode 14 - Aired 12/16/1961
Wealthy Walter Frazer has always blamed his daughter-in-law Sue Ellen for his son Gregson's failures. You can only imagine how he feels when Sue Ellen is accused of Gregson's murder.
#25 - The Case of the Melancholy Marksman
Season 5 - Episode 24 - Aired 3/24/1962
Ted Chase discovers that his bitchy second wife, Irene, might have killed his first wife and contemplates revenge but someone else gets to Irene first. In his defense of Ted, Perry discovers that Irene's past was even more sordid and corrupt than previously believed.