Nice effects though.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

This is the second of Erle Gardner's Perry Mason mysteries put on film. Warren William again stars and does a great job in the role. This is also the first of two appearances of Claire Dodd in the role of Della Street. She is by far the best in the early film roles. This Street plays off Mason's witticisms with equal wit. The repartee between the two is quit good and sprinkled throughout this film. Dodd's Della is equally attractive, intelligent and quick on her feet, yet also proper and not so flirtatious as others who play her in the early films. Dodd also imbues her character with a deep attraction to her boss. "The Case of the Curious Bride" is also the first look with some depth at Mason's epicurean side. The opening scene has him with a friend selecting the best crabs – probably at the Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. He later is going to prepare a dish he calls "Crab ala Bordeaux." Those are huge Dungeness crabs they are picking over. In my years of crabbing on the Oregon Coast, we seldom got crabs that large. A note for those not familiar with these Northwest crabs – they are cooked as soon as possible. The crabs Mason and friend are looking at and handling have all been cooked already. The audience can clearly see steam and the top of the cooking pot to the left. The mystery in this film is another excellent brain-twister that only Perry Mason and his team of detectives can unravel. And all the cast are very good in their roles. Allen Jenkins is a hoot as Spudsy Drake and Olin Howland is very good as Coroner Wilbur Strong. One other small smile comes with a very short appearance of Errol Flynn. I won't give away any of the story here, but have to mention that there is a tear gas scene that is riotously funny. True, these first movies of Gardner's famous lawyer-detective have a quite different character than millions of TV viewers and later movie fans saw with Raymond Burr. And, the Mason creator, Gardner, apparently didn't like these early films. But he was developing the character as he went along, and Perry Mason evolved after a few books into the courtroom centered mysteries that millions became familiar with from the 1950s on. But I think these early films – especially the first four with Warren William at the helm, are great entertainment. They provide some spice and humor. And they may more accurately reflect the people, customs and behaviors of the various social groups of the time. Toward the end of this film, Margaret Lindsay's character, Rhoda, says to Perry: "You're so wonderful. If only you couldn't cook."

If I recall my movie history, CAPTAIN BLOOD was released 8-1/2 months after this second Perry Mason programmer. Given the fact that Flynn receives 7th billing without any lines and what appears to be :30 screen time at the end of the picture (is that really him under the sheet earlier?) it leads me to believe that his role was largely left on editor Terry Morse's floor. It has an unsatisfying plot (go back to the first one for murderer's defense) and is padded with annoying scene fades. The camera trickery gets old fast and it's almost as if Curtiz is showing he's stooping to work on a make busy B-assignment. Cute Claire Dodd is wasted, but the Dellas in these things are eye candy. Uber WB character actor Allen Jenkins does his best to butch up Warren William's entourage. Mayo Methot, just 13 years away from her liver explosion in a cheap Portland hotel appears sober. There's elements akin to Nero Wolf (the food fetishist) and S.S. Van Dine here and some awesome mid-30's Lincolns on screen but ultimately it's a time waster, only of any real interest for a peak at Errol Flynn. Just don't sneeze or you'll miss him.

Although Warren William had already played Perry Mason in Alan Crosland's The Case of the Howling Dog (1935), and would continue to play the attorney/detective in The Case of the Lucky Legs and The Case of the Velvet Claws, it's this second outing that all classic film addicts are anxious to view, chiefly because it marks the Hollywood debut of Errol Flynn.Actually, although Errol's role is important, it's also quite small. He doesn't speak but appears very briefly in a flashback. It's Warren William who steals all the limelight and is given all the brightest lines. With the exception of Olin Howland, the other characters are in the movie simply to supply William with "business"—and this being an "A" production—plenty of it. Even the title heroine, nicely played by Margaret Lindsay, disappears for most of the action. We also see very little of Della Street. It's Mason who makes things happen all the way, as he strides through the vast backlot and studio sets at a frantic pace, trading verbal blows right, left and center.The speed of the narrative is ingeniously reinforced by a snappy quick-zoom/focus-out editing style (which was picked up in a popular TV series 20 years later). Other credits are likewise highly professional, but, despite all this cinematic dexterity, I feel the movie tends to outstay its welcome. The plot is too thin, and Lindsay's dilemma is not made sufficiently dramatic.

There seems to be a wide divergence of opinion on the quality or otherwise of this one, whether it's poor and dull or witty and fast. I plump for the latter, even though Warners' portrayal of the lawyer left something to be desired, turning him into potentially yet another run of the mill private eye for the b market. But the production values in this were pretty high and it was directed by Michael Curtiz with panache.Woman comes to Perry Mason played again by William Warren for help because her first husband she thought dead has come back to shake her and her new rich husband down. Her first husband gets his instead, from then on the game is on to find whodunit and why, with some witty if sometimes improbable plot twists along the way. From the outset with Perry and his laconic coroner friend buying lobsters for the creation of a new gastronomic sensation to Errol Flynn's flashback appearance it carries you along on a tide of incessant lighthearted repartee and swift soft focus fade out's and in's. Typecast Allen Jenkins plays Perry's helper the brash and loyal Spudsy in what must be one of his finest performances ever, he weaves in and out of the story as a perfect counterpoint to his boss. Favourite bits: The all-too-short scenes in Luigi's restaurant on that "nutty night"; Perry and the coroner's continual smart ass one liners; the cosy relationship depicted between Perry and the newspaper men; Jenkins getting knocked out by the 2nd husband; Flynn's bit.It should be a great watch for fans of b&w 30's detective films (and maybe screwball comedies too), I certainly have always enjoyed this 2nd entry in the series. But not to be taken too seriously.