THE CASE OF THE GLASS COFFIN is one of the late-stage Perry Mason movies put out by NBC. This one's about a magician's act which goes horrifically wrong with tragic consequences, a story which has been done to death over the years in the mystery and detective genre, although there's enough involvement in the storyline (and enough red herrings and suspects in the cast) to keep it watchable, albeit not the best of its type.The main problem this story suffers from is the writing, which is needlessly convoluted in places. As usual, the character William R. Moses plays seems completely extraneous to the main thrust of the story and the action clichés he gets involved in (fist fights, car chases, and the like), although amusing, seem like padding. The main story is better although the final explanation is a bit lacklustre, throwing in a ton of material that threatens to overwhelm the viewer. I also found the decision to hold the court proceedings in the magician's theatre a bit ridiculous. Burr and Hale bolster the story as always and the familiar Bob Gunton is good value as the prosecutor.

they decide to post a list of "special extras" - I just wanted to inform IMDb that I was the usher at the beginning of the movie. Pretty silly to mention, but hey - that's just 10 seconds of my 15 minutes of fame, and I'm not letting it go unmentioned. I was in Denver when they shot the earlier parts of the episode at the Paramount Theater in Denver, Colorado. Peter Scalari worked very hard on the magic sequences and it was quite entertaining for all who were lucky to be invited to "work" as the audience. Although I never got to see Raymond Burr in action that day (they shot his parts a few days later), he returned to shoot another of his movies I signed up to work on but it never came to see the light of television. I know this makes for quite the biased commentary on my view of the film, but I enjoyed watching every minute. (even all the other ones that I wasn't in.) Cheers! Tommy Sandman

This babe has got to be the most appealing woman I have seen anywhere in a long time. I think she is just absolutely wonderful on the Matlock series. Thank goodness they are still running Matlock.. So wholesome, so exciting, such interesting stories.

David Katz is a famous stage magician who is putting on a charity show to benefit a children's charity supported by Perry Mason. On the day of the show one of his assistants, Kate Ford, tells him she is pregnant due to an affair they had, and tries to blackmail him. Later that night a trick appears to go wrong and Ford is killed and Katz arrested. Mason takes the case and tries to find out who else had a motive for murder. Meanwhile Ken Malansky travels out to Ford's hometown to get background information, only to find that some people want to cover something up.If you've seen one of these things then you've seen them all. The legal realism of these shows are always very doubtful but the drama is still enjoyable. Here for example the whole court is moved to the scene of the crime for some reason or other! Mason does his usual ripping into the witness stuff which is good but can get a bit tiresome because you know that they're all red herrings and the real person is only really examined at the end. Ken's investigation is better than usual here and it does have a genuine feel of PI work as facts are uncovered which expose the truth. It's nothing special but enjoyable.Burr, Hale and Moses are all very comfortable and don't try too hard. Moses loves his role as he gets to be an action hero and jump around despite his daft hair. The support cast all skulk around looking a little guilty in attempts to try and throw us all off the scent – they do alright. The usual `surprise face' in the Mason TVM's this time is Bob Gunton who does a good job as the Asst DA, but I always felt David Stiers was a better foil for MasonOverall this is nothing special and is pretty basic when compared to much more sensational courtroom dramas.