Perry Mason (TV Series) The Case of the Floating Stones (1963) User Reviews

Interesting casting ...

[tforbes-2 · 7/10 · 24 January 2020]

"The Case of the Floating Stones" may not have been the best episode of the seventh season, but it sure has some interesting casting. Instead of William Talman, we have Walter Brooke (The Green Hornet, The Graduate) as the district attorney, and he does a fine job.

Irene Tsu has the distinction of being one of THE youngest defendants on the entire original show. She was only 18 when this was made, and the episode aired the night before John F. Kennedy's death.

And yes, the plot isn't that great. Not every episode is going to hit all cylinders, but the casting is a treat.

Yes, we learn the fate of the stolen goods

[Panamint · 6/10 · 17 August 2020]

**Spoiler alert** Like most viewers I missed the fate of the stolen items the first time I watched this episode so I watched it again and yes we learn where the goods are. Watch the entire episode and concentrate, its revealed subtly and in a poorly written way, but its there. If you consider who did (or didn't) smuggle what and listen to a small couple of lines of dialog by Drake and the young lady near the ending, you can get it.

Irene Tsu is very young (about 18 years old) and is OK as the defendant but the episode would have been better if she had been allowed to perform in an 18- or 19- year old manner rather than the way she is directed and be-wigged here. Burr seems a bit disinterested. Mason in this episode lacks his usual gravitas (gasp!)- the only episode of the series I have encountered such a phenonenon, clearly the fault of the director and writers.

There are a lot of muddled interactions between the characters during the middle of the episode, on a ship that is traveling sans Mason, Della, or Drake. "The Case of the Floating Stones" seems rather thrown together and falls short of the usual high standards of the series.

Where are the diamonds

[chiefs1970 · 6/10 · 24 May 2019]

I was just as surprised as other viewers as this episode was about stolen diamonds that lead to a murder, however, the diamonds were never recovered once Perry Mason just calls a witness who as usual makes a full confession. One of the few stories where even the happy 40 seconds at the end does not leave us with understanding how the case was solved since the items at the heart of the show are not recovered by the totally innocent defendant.

Sinker

[darbski · 6/10 · 30 August 2018]

***SPOILERS*** I agree with the other reviewers, and I can't really criticize what they've said. Not really, but I wall say that I found Irene Tsu quite fetching. It seemed that the writers ad director tried to cram too many "just at the last minute" things, or coincidences, into one episode to suit me. I've seen this episode a number of times (Yeah, I'm a Perry fan), and the one big question to me is "what really happened to the package?" I'm NOT gonna get complicated here. I'm just gonna remind people of when they were young, and mom made them (us) take a bath to scrub off the dirt and other stuff we'd collect on our bodies - remember? Yup. a lot of it stayed in the tub, didn't it? This package had rocks in it. It sank. Quickly. Where the pilots park the ships (docks) isn't part of a natural drainage, but more like a big bathtub. The water will drop, but doesn't run out from the piers and jettys like it does closer to the middle or drainage of the bay (Frisco). I contend that anyone who worked around and on those docks knew that, and would realize that there was NO current in that space, but that the water would settle. They should ahve had a good chance of finding the package, and solving one of the main problems in this case. Della was beautiful. I'll give this one 6.

The Fate of the Diamonds That All the Other Reviews Seemed to Miss

[tsperos-62389 · 5/10 · 9 May 2020]

I give this episode 5 stars because anything with Irene Tsu *and* Joyce Jameson in the same program is worth the 60 minutes alone. But I'm really writing this review because it seems the other 6 (so far) who have written reviews didn't catch what happened to the diamonds. It is explained completely. The diamonds never left Hong Kong. They were put on the pilot boat that dropped Irene Tsu off on the big sgip at the beginning and were picked up by the Hong Kong pier police and were waiting for Irene Tsu's character to go back and pick them up at the end of the episode. Okay? Everyone clear?

Zirconium

[zsenorsock · 3/10 · 19 May 2008]

Every series, no matter how good, has a few clunker episodes. This is one of the Perry Mason clunkers, I think thanks to director Don Weis who directed this one and never came back to do another.

The story involves diamonds smuggled from Hong Kong. Juli Eng plays Irene Tsu who is accused of killing Ralph Iverson (Jerry Oddo in an annoyingly over the top performance) for cheating her out of her inheritance.

Although nobody is quite as broad and unreal as Oddo, this is filled with bad guest appearances. Victor Maddern is particularly bad as a notorious British smuggler, though I suppose some of the blame for his part can go to the script. Ditto Gertrude Flynn as the ship busybody and snitch, Agatha Culpepper. A real low point is the murderer's final confession, which is blurted out as if time is running out on the clock and one only has 3 seconds to confess as hammy as possible.

Only Ken Lynch as the top customs agent gives a solid guest performance worthy of the regular cast. A good deal of the action is set in San Francisco, including the customs office. It's too bad Perry didn't run into San Francisco Police Chief Ironside in his investigation. Now THAT would have been something!

an episode to forget

[kfo9494 · 2/10 · 3 October 2011]

As a fan of "Perry Mason" I watched many shows during the 60's and repeats in the 80's. I was thrilled to see this episode because I could not remember ever seeing this title. After seeing the episode I can now understand why it is forgettable.

It started out well with diamonds being taking from an older Asian gentleman and so the show begins. However donating nearly the entire show to the diamonds- the murder has very little to do with the diamonds.

From Hong Kong to San Francisco we get poor performances out of nearly everyone in the cast. Not only is the story confusing but the cast seems to be lost on how this is all going to come together. But have no fear. The writers sum it all up in 20 seconds when a court spectator makes a confession that is as sad and even more confusing than what the diamonds have to do with the story.

Anyway as much as I love "Perry Mason" this is one that you can pass on. From the plot to the guest actors this is a mess. And the only thing missing from the Asian stereotype is the line "We need more Calgon".

Whose got the diamonds?

[bkoganbing · 3/10 · 6 February 2013]

Perry Mason came a cropper in this episode with young Irene Tsu as a client. Originally this episode starts in Hong Kong where Tsu comes to claim a legacy from her grandfather Richard Loo recently deceased. What should be there, isn't there, a cache of diamonds, but Tsu gets reason to believe they're on ship being smuggled by Jerry Oddo.

Once in San Francisco the diamonds seemingly vanish and Oddo winds up dead with a knife in his back. Tsu is arrested and good thing she's already retained Raymond Burr.

I think the writers had some trouble deciding eventually who would be the guilty party. A last minute courtroom confession really came out of left field from the perpetrator. It may have even caught Burr unawares.

Not the best from season seven.

In the Rough

[Hitchcoc · 5/10 · 7 February 2022]

This is a really dull episode. Because it starts in Hong Kong there is an endless sea voyage back to California. During that time a nervous smuggler engages a con man to get some diamonds into the country. But that guy is stabbed in the back, literally, and a tiresome court case ensues. Don't bother with this one.

For No Good Reason

[biorngm · 5/10 · 5 June 2020]

This episode definitely was not the writers' best effort to produce a quality episode considering there have been gems over the years in every season the series was on the air. The story stayed out of the country for nearly half the run time focusing on a purloined treasure being transported allegedly by some ne'er-do-well. He supposedly smuggled diamonds to the United States by shipboard for the soon-to-be victim who purportedly stole the gems from the defendant's deceased relative.

Something is lost from the usual California locations where the plot usually lies. The prolonged emphasis on the stolen merchandise destroys the credibility of the episode along with the cast of actors feebly portraying characters.

The defendant appears to be wearing a wig for someone so young and the stereotypical parts played by other Asians is pathetic. If there is to be a court where Perry has to defend his client, please make the prosecuting attorney be worth the part, not some B-actor attempting to carry out the indicting process.

The characterizations of cast members were not so much confusing as they were non-essential particularly on board the transport coming from China to San Francisco. The story is a lame excuse to provide the audience something different aside from the Los Angeles area crimes leading to courtroom showdowns. Suggest sticking with the City, it is plenty sizable to provide all sorts of interesting scenarios.

The climatic revelation leading to the conclusion is apropos to the storyline, the mediocre acting and the overall episode's mundane nature. For season seven, this particular installment would be a definite disappointment, rating it low for bad everything.

Another Mason Midden....

[pmike-11312 · 1/10 · 7 March 2023]

As usual, a convoluted, largely non-sensical story from the PM "writers". The stuff of supermarket tabloids and paperbacks, adding horrendous dialogue, poor direction, and mediocre-at-best acting.

The ridiculous "courtroom confessions", the result of the overbearing pressure Perry puts on the perpetrator (LOL) are always laugh inducing in their utter preposterousness. This one, portrayed by Joyce Jameson - a middling character actor- is especially overwritten, overdirected, and overacted.

In the PM world of overacting, Joyce Jameson wins the award for this episode. Her incessant yammering, especially in the obligatory courtroom-confession scene is beyond grating.