"Perry Mason" The Case of the Gallant Grafter (TV Episode 1960) Poster

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7/10
Interesting episode- a lot of information to digest
kfo949425 May 2012
Even though this episode was a good watch- there is so much going on during the show that at times our senses become cloudy with all the content. We have a company having a stockholder meeting for a possible take-over, a theft of company's funds, a bitter divorce, backstabbing friends and yes- a nasty murder.

The main plot has to do with the company's CEO, Edward Nelson. He is being accused of theft from the company's checking account. All this right before Frank Avery tries to get the stockholders to elect him the new CEO.

When Robert Doniger, an employee of the company, calls Mr Nelson to confess to the theft- agrees to repay the money- he is found dead by Perry and Della in his apartment. But Mr Doniger's body is not the only one in the apartment. Mr Nelson was hiding in the kitchen. And to make matters worse, Mr Avery also comes by for a visit and sees his rival, Mr Nelson, inside the dead man's apartment. Needless to say, the stockholders will not be happy.

Perry defends Mr Nelson for the murder and makes his way through evidence presented in court. And we as viewers, get some good courtroom action as one of the witnesses is trapped when the testimony is found full of falsehoods.

Even though this episode is crowded with more potholes than a unpaved highway- we do get a good mystery. The acting is good and the story interesting. -- There is a lot of content in this show.

Good watch.
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7/10
Hotbed of Intrigue
bkoganbing27 April 2012
Herbert Rudley is Raymond Burr's client in this episode of Perry Mason. The company that Rudley is president of is one hotbed of intrigue and corruption and he's charged with the murder of an accountant who embezzled $112,000.00.

All this is played out against a background of a ruthless Vice President trying to take the company out from under Rudley in a proxy war. Rudley's wife is suing him for divorce and her paramour happens to be the guy doing the embezzling. And another secretary is in turn blackmailing the paramour for a cut of the loot. Warning to the immediate world, don't send your resumes into this place for a job.

Burr and William Hopper have to sort through a large list of suspects to untangle this mess. Nevertheless they come through. This episode is worth a look.
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8/10
A complex plot even by Perry Mason standards
AlsExGal25 December 2022
The episode opens on a man who looks like he is hiding his identity - thick glasses, ridiculous get up - wanting to open a bank account. Over five weeks he deposits 112 thousand dollars and then at the end of that time he withdraws the money in cash and into a briefcase.

In a parallel plot, a CEO is in a fight with Frank Avery for control of his company. When his books are examined that pesky 112 thousand dollars I mentioned is missing. There are, however, five checks signed by the CEO for that amount for somebody that nobody at the company has ever heard of. Frank Avery plans to use this at the stockholders meeting - that the CEO either stole the money himself, or that he allowed somebody else to steal the money right from underneath his nose.

Did I mention that the CEO's estranged wife has his assets frozen until a divorce settlement is reached, preventing him from using his own funds to replace the missing money?

All of this leads to murder, except this time, very uncharacteristically, the victim is not unlikeable although I did marvel at his cheek.

This time around, Perry Mason seems a bit puzzled as to how to attack all of the moving parts of this case.
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10/10
Two seldom-mentioned attributes
info-169515 October 2014
Two seldom-mentioned attributes of Perry Mason episodes, that contribute to their excellence, are the masterful use of music and the spacious length of episodes. The music, which is contributed by Russ Garcia and many other masters of the genre, is an almost operatic background. In fact, the music sometimes makes the episode. Too, as originally aired, the episodes were as long as 53 minutes, which allowed much more plot unfolding that today's TV episodes of about 40 min. Then there are the excellent screenwriters like Seelig Lester, whose characterizations are unforgettable. Wish I could have met some of the contributors to the show.
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9/10
Big Business Chicanery
Hitchcoc7 January 2022
I thought this was one of the better Mason episodes. First of all, it involved the ins and outs of a corporate takeover. Secondly, a sketchy divorce. Thirdly, underlings having knowledge and control of elements beyond their pay grade. Throw in greed, deception, and carelessness, and it works very well. I do have a relatively unrelated issue. Many of the cases end with a rich person paying his fee with a check and announcing, "This should cover your fee." What kind of lawyer wouldn't have settled on a fee ahead of time? Does this guy just guess at how much he owes? What if the amount was glaringly inadequate or way over the top? I know it's nitpicking but it takes a bit of the reality out of the equation. That aside, this was one of my favorite Perry Mason shows.
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10/10
Un-Happy
darbski2 August 2017
Warning: Spoilers
**SPOILERS** Don't read any further, if you haven't seen this episode; which I strongly recommend. The story has been covered already; I want to briefly address the ending. In spite of the way things were going in their marriage, it was Perry's client's WIFE who was the cheater, and even after she had gotten what she wanted, she was still willing to help send her husband to the gas chamber. Though she HAD to know her husband was trying to protect her, she was cold enough to wipe him out financially, and then help convict him of a murder she was part of.

Her accomplice was a deep schemer and manipulator who took advantage of a coincidentally negative occurrence to kill a man and frame her huz. The sexetary who cleverly decided to use her knowledge to extort the embezzler (and decedent), may not have been attached to the crime of murder, but had to be guilty of being untrustworthy, and attempted extortion.

The most obvious crook of all was the business partner who was a sneaky, scheming snake who was certainly guilty of Professional Malfeasance. He, of course, was kicked out of the company; probably losing anything he had invested through fines and penalties. All these characters' lives are ruined by this crime, all of them willingly.

Of course Perry's client lost his wife, but hung on to his company. That's what he had hired Perry to do in the first place, but he lost his spiteful, hateful, criminal wife (OUCH), and the innocent lady who lost her fiancé was out the man she loved. The guy who was gonna come clean and fix things legally; he lost his life. Like I've said in other reviews, Murder doesn't have happy endings.

There were several good looking brunettes in this episode; notably: Charlotte Austin (great ponytail), and Virginia Chapman (equally great Pixie cut). Della, is of course beautiful no matter what hairdo she's wearing. There was also Joan Staley, a sweetly pretty blonde of the Barbara Eden category. This was an excellent episode, with fine acting, and excellent direction once again, they get top actors to fill the bill.
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6/10
You've sunk pretty low! Going behind my back to get my wife's proxies!
sol121823 August 2012
Warning: Spoilers
****SPOILERS*** Strange and bizarre Perry Mason episode that has so many side plots that by the time the murderer is exposed that it seemed as if nobody on screen could care less who he or she is; Including the star of the episode who exposed him in open court Perry Mason, Raymonmd Burr.

It all started with an attempted hostile takeover of this investment firm by it's sleazy vice president Frank Avery, John Stephenson, who's using the firms President Edward Nelson's, Herbert Rudley, wife Sylvia, Virgina Chapman, to do his dirty work for him. Sylvia want's a divorce from her husband and if she doesn't get it she'll throw her support as well as her proxies or vote to Avery that will clinch the upcoming election for him as president of the firm. What later comes out in the wash is that Sylvia is in love with one of her husbands most trusted members of the firm Arthur Siddons, Charles Aidman, who plans to leave Edward with a very hefty divorce settlement that she and Arthur can live very comfortably on.

While all this is going on the person in charge of the firms finance department Robert Doniger, Philip Terry, has been embezzling the firm of $112,000.00 with him planning to use his ill gotten gains to impress his girlfriend Pat Martin,Fintan. As we and Doniger soon find out Pat couldn't less about the money but is really madly and truly in love with the love sick jerk money or no money!

Somehow Nelson implicates himself in Doniger's crimes by unknowingly endorsing the checks for the embezzled money. Now feeling guilty with Pat telling him to do the right thing Doniger is ready to return the stolen cash but something happens that prevents him from doing it; he's murdered! Now with all the evidence pointing to Nelson in Doniger's murder his lawyer Perry Mason gets into the act of finding Doniger's killer which could be just about anybody in the cast even the trial judge!

***SPOILERS*** A real hard nut to crack even for the great Perry Mason but he gets unexpected help for the killer himself who took advantage of Nelson's problems by murdering Doniger and using his death as cover to take off, with his girlfriend, with the $112,000.00 that Doniger embezzled! It was Perry's keen sense of time and space in Doniger's murderers movements during the crime that clinched the case for him and exonerated his client Edward Nelson. Doniger's murderer thought that he can get away with his crime by letting the law take it's course in his framing Nelson, the most likely suspect, for Doniger's murder. As things turned out he was half right! The law did take its course and with Perry Mason's expert cross-examination he not Edward Nelson ended up paying for his crime!
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