People are waiting in Perry Mason's outer office; his secretary, Della Street, tells them that he is "very busy." Inside the office we see the great lawyer working—on a crossword puzzle. The level of seriousness never rises very high in this fast-paced series mystery.The plot is pretty standard but fun—a grumpy old millionaire (Harry Davenport) is sure that someone is out to kill him. His big old estate is populated by a couple of grandkids, a granddaughter's fiancé, a nurse, a caretaker….and one night the house burns down with Davenport in it. His will, it seems, was recently changed— requiring that the caretaker and the cat stay on at the house. Perry Mason, who wrote the new will for the old man, sticks around to investigate: "I represent the cat." Ricardo Cortez is pretty good as Perry Mason; he manages to shift fairly smoothly from silly to suave to serious crime-solver as the plot progresses. (Much as I like Warren William, I have to say that Cortez plays Mason in his one attempt with a little more of an edge.)The rest of the cast includes June Travis as Della, and Gordon Elliott (later Wild Bill) as a spoiled grandson who throws a shoe at the cat. The plot thickens occasionally but keeps on moving quickly, culminating in a courtroom surprise. Lots of fun for us fans of 1930s series mysteries.

I really loved Warren Williams' 1st Perry Mason film, THE CASE OF THE HOWLING DOG. As with most viewers my introduction to Perry was Raymond Burr, but despite WW's very different look and behavior, I felt I was still watching the "real" Perry. Not so in the follow-ups, where outrageous comedy all but pushed the murder mysteries to the back.What a shock it must have been when WB did THE CASE OF THE BLACK CAT with Ricardo Cortez. This film seems designed to be the "anti-WW" Perry Mason movie. Cortez' Perry plays it straight, as does Della; for the first time Paul Drake is actually called "Paul" instead of "Spudsy", and we finally get to see D.A. Hamilton Burger! While much thinner than Burr, Cortez has a vaguely similar look and attitude, and the general format familiar to anyone who's watched the TV series is recognizably present, including the courtroom scenes at the end where Perry solves everything.It's a very well-made film, but if I have any problems with it it's this: Perry doesn't seem to stand out much, and Della, Paul & Burger do so even less. Also, the mystery is SO complex, after watching it twice uncut, I STILL can't make heads or tails of it! It all comes together at the end, in a very long-winded monologue from Mason. I expect this sort of thing from Hercule Poirot, but wouldn't a courtroom judge insist on a lot further testimony from others to corroborate what Mason says? It's almost a shock when Mason asks for a dismissal and the judge agrees, instead of the guy telling Mason his head's spinning from everything Mason just said! I suppose the biggest mystery concerning this film must be, WHY did they only do ONE film with Cortez and his supporting cast? (But then, I'm also wondering why WB seemed bent on sabotaging the series after Warren William's excellent debut installment as well.) Maybe Hollywood just didn't like mysteries that were too "intelligent".

This movie is called "The Case of the Black Cat" because horror films were popular money-makers at the time of its release and the use of "black cat" in the title made it sound more ominous. An alternate moniker was "The Curse of the Black Cat." Apparently the producers thought that title was too misleading. The Erle Stanley Gardner Perry Mason story on which it is based was labeled, "The Case of the Caretaker's Cat," which was the title of the TV version when it played on the old Raymond Burr series. The cat and its caretaker owner are at the center of the plot; so that title makes more sense. Why not use a black cat in the 1936 film version? When the movie was being made, the "black cat" reference in the title had not been proposed; that the cat in the story was gray and white spotted determined the kind of cat to use in the picture.To most fans of the Erle Stanley Gardner character, the definitive Perry Mason will always be Raymond Burr. The first big screen Perry Mason was Warren William and he made a dandy. His "The Case of the Howling Dog" is one of the very best in the William series. Unfortunately, the three follow-ups in which William played, while entertaining, were not up to the standards of the premiere feature. Ricardo Cortez, said to be a difficult actor with whom to work, does very well with the Perry Mason character, making "The Case of the Black Cat" one of the best translations of Perry Mason from book to screen.The initial screen perception of Perry Mason was one of a debonair, skilled, yet at times unscrupulous, counselor-at-law who would use almost any trick to win a case. His courtroom shenanigans were part of the show. Even Raymond Burr began his TV program in that vein, becoming more law respecting and less law bending as the series progressed. Ricardo Cortez assays the role more along the lines of the later Raymond Burr personification of Perry Mason, though still willing to bend the law a bit when it helps his client, in this case a gray and white-spotted cat.That the Perry Mason mysteries were not one-dimensional but at times highly complex was one reason for their popularity with amateur armchair sleuths. "The Case of the Black Cat" is no exception. A rich invalid, Peter Laxter, hires Mason to help him rewrite his will. Not long after the will has been changed, Laxter's mansion burns to the ground with Laxter in it. Perry convinces District Attorney Hamilton Burger (Guy Usher) to conduct an investigation. The findings show that Laxter had been dead for some time before the house burned. His heirs become the prime suspects, including Wilma Laxter (Jane Bryan) who runs a waffle house, since she had been disinherited by the new will.Another prime suspect is heir Sam Laxter (Gordon Elliott aka Wild Bill Elliott). The caretaker, Charles Ashton (George Rosener), has a cat, Clinker, who meows at the moon so much it keeps Sam Laxter awake. He throws items at the cat, threatening to poison it if the mewing doesn't stop. The caretaker appeals to Mason for help after receiving yet another threat from Sam Laxter, this time in the form of a note. Thus Perry takes the cat as a client and the fun begins.

Excellent pre-Raymond Burr filming of a Perry Mason novel! I was lucky enough to see this on TCM (since it isn't on video). At first I wasn't expecting much, but found Ricardo Cortez to be an excellent Perry Mason! Why Warner Brothers didn't keep him for other movies in the series I don't know! That's probably why Perry Mason wasn't that successful until the tv series came along. It would be nice to see this title on DVD.