Perry Mason (TV Series) The Case of the Wayward Wife (1960) User Reviews

Three Vets from Korea

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 23 May 2012]

Marshall Thompson, Frank Maxwell, and Richard Sutton were three veterans from the Korean War who were POWs and escaped with Marshall Thompson supposedly killed. Sutton wrote a book about the experience and has been living pretty good with Broadway play and movie deal in place. So imagine his chagrin in finding Marshall Thompson still alive and claiming Sutton's book was based on his diaries.

The plot gets a bit too complex because it turns out that Maxwell has been blackmailing Sutton and Sutton has been blackmailing others for a totally unrelated incident. It all falls on his widow Bethel Lesilie who is arrested for her husband's murder and gets Perry Mason to defend her.

Perry is once again defending an innocent client, but the paradigm shifts as the killer is discovered in an unusual venue and will face a different kind of justice. Check this one out even if the plot gets a bit hard to follow.

Just wow

[sherryhowell50 · 10/10 · 2 January 2020]

I've been watching the DVDs in order, and this is my favorite so far. It's complete different than the usual, as it isn't the normal formula where the murderer confesses in court. I don't want to give it away, so I'll just say that the acting is amazing, and it's something different. It keeps you guessing and the turn in the end is unexpected.

Settlement

[darbski · 10/10 · 11 June 2017]

**SPOILERS** She is an interesting Actress, Madlyn Rhue. I always thought she was sexy, in that naughty, innocent sort of way, but, even though she didn't have the role of a guilty party, I still think she was great. In this show, she kinda looks like a cute beatnik.(R.I.P., Madlyn). I was surprised when I checked the IMDb to find that she'd only done one Perry episode. As usual, the acting is superb; it's the fact that the writers never grasped the idea that "you can't win 'em all" (Connie Mack).

Just once I would like a bone to be thrown for all of us "real deal" fans that realized, even back then that they didn't always get the killer. Quite frankly, the killer was actually a good guy, even though he made Perry earn his salt getting his client off. If the writers want to make a point, instead of "happily ever after", maybe they could have Perry explain to his client just how stupid they are. You know "If common sense was Buster Brown, you couldn't tie your shoes". A gentle reminder to them as he takes his payment for services rendered.

Of course, this Judge's pencil is just as loud as any gavel he might have wielded, and there was a sweet "3 "I"s objection by Burger (incompetent, irrelevant, and immaterial). It's REALLY cool when they are used by both Perry and Hamilton in the same episode.

At least the killer has the satisfaction of knowing Burger didn't get him. Also, Wilson probably had to do quite a bit of time in prison for all the dirt he spread around. One thing that is very disturbing to me is Arthur Poe somehow made it back to freedom with his sanity. He said that he'd spent three years in a Korean prison camp, and the several more in a Chinese camp. Now, I suppose Hollywood didn't want to anger the commies any more that they had to, but there are still some Americans being held by both countries; this is criminal. Don't get me wrong; if he was released, good. His timeline is just a little too tricky, though. They did have to sell the story. But what about the guys who NEVER got out?

Perry's client is caught in a tough spot, but she'll pull through, once her family reconciles from Marian's sneakiness. One can kinda forgive her, though. After all it WAS Sylvia who started it all by not calling the authorities at the initial event, wasn't it.

Very good show, Like I said, Madlyn was sexy, Della was beautiful, and in the office scene, she was taking shorthand notes studiously; the directors overlooked this necessity regularly.

Wayward Wife is Excellent Perry Episode

[philip-47230 · 10/10 · 20 January 2021]

Watching the Wayward Wife for first time. Interesting characters and good acting. Very well done. Recommended highly!

Betrayal on the Battlefield

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 7 January 2022]

A man writes a best selling book based on the diary of a guy he served with in Korea. The guy was supposedly dead but resurfaces. Soon there are principle players appearing. This is a neat little episode with some surprises and some good characters.

There's too much going on in this show- but somehow it worked.

[kfo9494 · 7/10 · 10 June 2013]

This episode could have been a mini-series. From a man claiming that his diary of life in a prison camp stolen, to a hit and run accident leaving a woman paralyzed, to blackmail about the accident and then a husband blackmailing his own wife - this episode has so much working against each other that at times it was difficult to keep all the situation separate.

The main jest of the story involves a man named Ben Sutton that had been murdered. Ben had published a best selling book about his life in a prison camp. But it turns out that the book was actually a diary of another man named Artie Poe who was thought dead. But when Poe returns he wants his name on the book and the money that Sutton received. But Ben tells Poe that he has no money that he has been playing blackmail to keep his brother-in-law's accident quiet that paralyzed a woman.

When Ben's wife, Sylvia, gets a call that her husband had been killed, instead of calling the police, she goes to the crime scene and leaves evidence. Needless to say it will not be long before Lt Tragg will issue a warrant on Sylvia and Perry will defend her.

There's a lot going on in this episode. In fact way too much that tend to take away from the mystery but somehow it works. Just remember to keep your eyes on the diary it will lead to the end of the show.

Varies A Bit From The Formula

[DKosty123 · 7/10 · 27 December 2008]

This episode of the original series varies from the formula that became too often a staple in the series. Too often, the killer confesses in court to get Masons client off. In this one, while Mason gets his client off in the trial sequence, he does it without revealing who the killer is.

The plot is well set up and there a a few things dangled for the viewer that lead you off the track for a while. Overall, this is a good episode and it is always a pleasure to see this cast at work. This 1960 show is very much in the groove. The story line is a Korea vet showing up years after the conflict after being released from a Chinese POW camp. He finds out one of his fellow officers thought he was dead, and stole his diary and published it as The Ordeal. Now it is a best seller and he wants his name credited for it.

The whole traffic accident thing does not mesh well with the 21st century...

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 21 December 2022]

... or for that matter the last part of the 20th century. I'll get back to that later.

The main plot is about a Korean War vet, Arthur Poe, who was not only held prisoner in North Korea but was held for several years after the war in China. I'm not sure how he got out, but here he is in LA and in a bookstore he sees a book, written by an old war buddy and fellow POW, Ben Sutton, called "Ordeal" based on the diary that Poe kept in Korea. Not only did the fellow POW leave him for dead when they escaped, Sutton stole Poe's diary and has written this bestselling book as though the thoughts and experiences were his own. Poe goes to Sutton's home and confronts him about the plagiarism and the money Sutton has been making that should be Poe's.

Complicating this entire issue is that Ben Sutton is blackmailing his wife and brother-in-law over an auto accident in which a person was paralyzed. The issue is not that this was a hit and run. Apparently Sutton's wife has been paying for the accident victim's hospital bills and surgery. The entire issue is that the accident was never reported to the police.

I'm just not getting this. Was there no auto insurance back in those days? Plus, even one surgery would bankrupt one person today who insisted on paying for things themselves. Was there no health insurance in 1960? The usual issue is hit and run where somebody doesn't want to be held responsible for the victim's bills. The last thing you'd care about is if the police knew or not. But I digress. But for that matter, this plot also digresses into this confusing 1960 California accident law issue.

So much time and energy is spent on this that it rather pulls the light and air from the main plot. Without this distraction this episode would be an 8/10. Without the very unusual ending it would be a 6/10.

Well-written episode but can't give it a higher rating

[mozartsw2006-784-220779 · 6/10 · 6 October 2022]

Over my years as a "Perry Mason" watcher, I've seen this episode countless times. I've really tried to like it, but there's one "fatal flaw" (sorry, I couldn't resist) in this episode. It's the performance of Marshall Thompson as "Arthur Poe". I've seen a number of films and TV programs with Mr. Thompson in the cast, and found him a more than capable actor. However, in this episode, he seems to be sleepwalking through the role. T Mr. Thompson goes through the entire episode delivering his lines in an affected voice, speaking pedantically, showing little emotion. Perhaps it was his interpretation of a physically wounded man that was captured, imprisoned and struggling with the PTSD that would come from such a situation. Of course, we also find that he feels betrayed by his two fellow POWs, especially "Ben Sutton" who stole the manuscript for his POW experience, which is understandable. If an internal rage is what Mr. Thompson was seeking, his demeanor just doesn't work and lessens the overall effectiveness of the episode. Fortunately, the episode is saved by the performances of the rest of the cast, especially Bethel Leslie as the accused murderer, and Frank Maxwell as the other POW. A well-written episode that could have been even better with a more nuanced performance, or a different cast member.