By Richard Harland Smith
The Case of the Lucky Legs
Brief Synopsis
Perry Mason tries to stay on the wagon while investigating the murder of a crooked beauty contest promoter.
Cast & Crew
Read More
Archie L. Mayo
Director
Warren William
Perry Mason
Genevieve Tobin
Della Street
Patricia Ellis
Margy [Clune]
Lyle Talbot
Dr. [Bob] Doray
Allen Jenkins
Spudsy [Drake]
Film Details
Also Known As
The Girl with the Lucky Legs
Genre
Suspense/Mystery
Release Date
Oct
5,
1935
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
The Vitaphone Corp.; Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the novel The Case of the Lucky Legs by Erle Stanley Gardner (New York, 1934).
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 17m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
9 reels
Synopsis
When Margy Clune wins first prize in the Lucky Legs contest, she is delighted because the money will allow her to marry Dr. Bob Doray. To her surprise, Bob is upset by the fact that she has displayed her legs to everyone in town. Before she can collect her winnings, however, Frank Patton, the promoter of the contest, leaves town with all the money and Margy goes after him. Mr. Bradbury, the owner of the department store where Margy is a model, travels to San Francisco to ask for the help of lawyer Perry Mason. Mason's detective, Spudsy Drake, locates Patton, and Perry pays him a visit. While he is waiting for the elevator in Patton's building, Perry sees Margy sneaking down the stairs. Upstairs, Perry finds Patton's body. Investigating an address on Patton's desk, Perry discovers that Margy is staying with Thelma Bell, another of Patton's victims. Margy admits she was in Patton's apartment but insists that he was already dead when she got there. Perry tricks Thelma into confessing that she was in the apartment when Patton was killed, but she claims he was killed by a man. Because Patton was murdered with a surgical knife, the police suspect Bob, but Perry reveals that the real murderer is Bradbury, who was in love with Margy and stole the scalpel from Bob's car in order to frame him.
Director
Archie L. Mayo
Director
Cast
Warren William
Perry Mason
Genevieve Tobin
Della Street
Patricia Ellis
Margy [Clune]
Lyle Talbot
Dr. [Bob] Doray
Allen Jenkins
Spudsy [Drake]
Barton Maclane
Bisonette
Peggy Shannon
Thelma Bell
Porter Hall
Bradbury
Anita Kerry
Eva Lamont
Craig Reynolds
Frank Patton
Henry O'neill
Manchester
Charles Wilson
Ricker
Joseph Crehan
Johnson
Olin Howland
Doctor
Mary Treen
Mrs. Spudsey
Joseph Downing
Sanborne
Eddie Shubert
Cop Martin
Isabel Withers
Proprietress
Jack Richardson
Clerk
Milton Kibbee
Clerk
Ned Norton
Clerk
Ferdinand Schumann-heink
Clerk
Eddy Chandler
Cop
Jack Kennedy
Policeman
Bud Jamison
Bartender
Don Downen
Bellboy
Kit Guard
Bellboy
Harry Mount
Bellboy
Leo White
Waiter
George Chandler
Pilot
Billy Wayne
Checker
Roger Gray
Detective
Lillian Worth
Blonde
Stanley Mack
Gas man
Lee Phelps
Attendant
Dell Henderson
Robinson
George Guhl
Casey
Robert Dudley
William Bailey
Florence Fair
June Travis
Crew
Film Details
Also Known As
The Girl with the Lucky Legs
Genre
Suspense/Mystery
Release Date
Oct
5,
1935
Premiere Information
not available
Production Company
Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Distribution Company
The Vitaphone Corp.; Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the novel The Case of the Lucky Legs by Erle Stanley Gardner (New York, 1934).
Technical Specs
Duration
1h 17m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
1.37 : 1
Film Length
9 reels
Articles
The Case of the Lucky Legs -
After Raymond Burr, Warren William is the actor most associated with the role of Perry Mason, the brilliant defense attorney/detective created by mystery writer Erle Stanley Gardner in 1933. A year after Gardner published his first Perry Mason novel, Warner Bros. brought the character to the big screen in The Case of the Howling Dog (1934), a largely faithful adaptation of the fourth Mason book. The success of MGM's The Thin Man (1934) prompted Warners to change their tack with the remaining five entries in its Perry Mason series, lightening the overall tone and remaking the dogged Mason and his loyal secretary Della Street into witty bickerers with a fondness for cocktails, in the style of Thin Man protagonists Nick and Nora Charles. The Case of the Lucky Legs (1935) was William's third film as Mason, and begins with the character passed out drunk before settling into a murder plot centered around the embezzlement of funds from a beauty competition. Faithful to the source book, the film reaches its conclusion without ever going to trial but also changes the familiar character of Mason's investigator friend Paul Drake into the comic relief Spudsy Drake, played by Allen Jenkins. William would leave the series after The Case of the Velvet Claws (1936), with Mason played in one film each by Ricardo Cortez and Donald Woods. The Case of the Lucky Legs was dramatized for TV in a 1959 episode of the long-running CBS series starring Raymond Burr, with Mason solving the crime in court.
By Richard Harland Smith
By Richard Harland Smith
The Case of the Lucky Legs -
After Raymond Burr, Warren William is the actor most associated with the role of Perry Mason, the brilliant defense attorney/detective created by mystery writer Erle Stanley Gardner in 1933. A year after Gardner published his first Perry Mason novel, Warner Bros. brought the character to the big screen in The Case of the Howling Dog (1934), a largely faithful adaptation of the fourth Mason book. The success of MGM's The Thin Man (1934) prompted Warners to change their tack with the remaining five entries in its Perry Mason series, lightening the overall tone and remaking the dogged Mason and his loyal secretary Della Street into witty bickerers with a fondness for cocktails, in the style of Thin Man protagonists Nick and Nora Charles. The Case of the Lucky Legs (1935) was William's third film as Mason, and begins with the character passed out drunk before settling into a murder plot centered around the embezzlement of funds from a beauty competition. Faithful to the source book, the film reaches its conclusion without ever going to trial but also changes the familiar character of Mason's investigator friend Paul Drake into the comic relief Spudsy Drake, played by Allen Jenkins. William would leave the series after The Case of the Velvet Claws (1936), with Mason played in one film each by Ricardo Cortez and Donald Woods. The Case of the Lucky Legs was dramatized for TV in a 1959 episode of the long-running CBS series starring Raymond Burr, with Mason solving the crime in court.
By Richard Harland Smith
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Motion Picture Daily reviewed the film as The Girl with the Lucky Legs. For more information about other Perry Mason films see The Case of the Howling Dog (above) and consult the Series Index.
