Main Cast: Warren William, Margaret Lindsay, Donald Woods, Claire Dodd, Allen Jenkins, Errol Flynn
Release Year: 1935
Country: US
Run Time: 74 minutes
Plot
Errol Flynn makes his Hollywood screen debut as a corpse in this funny, fast-paced whodunit, the third of six Perry Mason vehicles produced by Warner Bros. from 1934 to 1937. Flynn's murder victim is one Gregory Moxley, the estranged and long-thought dead husband of Perry's client, Rhoda Montaine (Margaret Lindsey), who, in the meantime, has married a millionaire (Donald Woods) and is ripe for blackmail. Perry agrees to meet with Moxley, but finds him very much dead and this time for good. Rhoda naturally becomes the prime suspect, but, with the able assistance of his wisecracking secretary Della Street (Claire Dodd), Perry is able to reveal the identity of the real culprit, not in the courtroom this time, but at an elegant cocktail party. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
Review
At a fast 68 minutes, The Case of the Curious Bride remains a pleasure to watch albeit a far cry from the later television series. Instead of Raymond Burr's taciturn small screen interpretation, Warren William plays the lawyer-sleuth with tongue firmly planted in cheek and is awarded like-minded support by such familiar funsters as Allen Jenkins and Olin Howlin. The latter especially shines in a brief bit as a coroner who instead of exhuming a corpse uncovers a cigar store Indian. Replacing Canadian actress Helen Trenholme, Claire Dodd takes a breather from playing calculating debutantes and makes an entertaining Della Street, whose verbal sparring with William's Mason is apt to remind viewers of William Powell and Myrna Loy's groundbreaking repartee in MGM's The Thin Man (1934). ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
Anton Grot - Art Director, Carl Jules Weyl - Art Director, Orry-Kelly - Costume Designer, Michael Curtiz - Director, Terrell O. Morse - Editor, Bernhard Kaun - Composer (Music Score), Dave Abel - Cinematographer, Harry Joe Brown - Producer, Fred Jackman, Sr. - Special Effects, Brown Holmes - Screenwriter, Tom Reed - Screenwriter, Erle Stanley Gardner - Book Author
The Case of the Curious Bride is a 1935mystery film, the second in a series starring Warren William as Perry Mason. A woman learns that her first husband, presumed dead, is still alive, which makes things awkward for her since she has remarried.
