One of my all time favorites.

In other words,this film is a surreal ride.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

I think the writer of this Perry Mason story was either stoned or insane! After all, I can't think of any other excuse for such a strange and disjointed plot. When the story begins, Perry Mason is inexplicably marrying Della Street, his secretary! If this isn't hard enough to believe, Perry is kidnapped on his honeymoon by an armed woman. She later kills her husband and blames Perry...which makes little sense since Della witnessed the armed Mrs. Belter kidnap him in the first place. When the police show up at Mason's apartment looking to arrest him, his wife inexplicably says she has no idea where he is and acts as if he is a womanizer!! Does any of this makes sense? Not in the least.If this sort of stuff sounds nothing like the TV version of Perry Mason, you're right. In many ways, the Perry Mason movies with Warren William make the character more like the smarty pants rogue he generally played in other films. Plus, unlike the TV Perry, this one is a crime fighter versus a lawyer who spends all his time in court. Now this isn't to say the films are bad...though, unfortunately, "The Case of the Velvet Claws" IS....as it makes no sense at all and just frustrated me.

The Perry Mason series of mysteries from the 1930s are some of the best mysteries one could watch. One needs to pay attention to details throughout the film to follow the twists in the plot, which in this movie is very complicated. The movies closely follow the Erle Stanley Gardner mystery novels on which they are based. The Case of the Velvet Claws holds one's interest from beginning to end as Perry Mason cleverly addresses the case of a murder he is accused of committing by the woman he has agreed to defend in the case. Warren William plays the role of Perry Mason with panache and wit, and Clair Dodd is serviceable in the role of Della Street but plays the role unremarkably and without the flair one would hope for. If you are a fan of old, intriguing mysteries, you won't be disappointed with this gem.

I saw this together with another Perry Mason film from the very same year. They could not be more different.The other film leveraged the detective genre and the Gardner formula. It used the twists, the detective and the trial as intended.This one is more of a Thin Man clone: banter, silliness. It has Perry as simply a detective. There is a twist, and it could have been very effective. (The person accused and protected by Mason believes she is the killer and tries to frame Mason.) But it gets lost in the attempt at entertainment of a different kind. I think what happened is that Warner decided to change their approach after this and get back to what makes Perry work.On the relationship with the audience, there is an implied link when Perry addresses a jury; that link has him directly speaking to us. In this one, that is gone and the relationship with the viewer is established in a more theatrical way: they act silly and we are supposed to giggle.Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

Unfortunately this was Warren Willism's fourth and last foray in film as the omnipotent/ever-confident San Franciso(in film) lawyer Perry Mason. Warren William again gives a nice turn as the lawyer adding humorous touches with his witty deliver and his obvious talent for verbal repartee. The story; however, is not nearly as good as the previous three films as Perry marries Della Street(played again by Claire Dodd from the second Mason film The Case of the Curious Bride)and is held up when getting home from his wedding to enjoy his wedding night by a woman needing Mason's help in keeping someone's name out of a cheap gossip rag called The Tattler. The story then gets somewhat convoluted from there and William and Dodd do their best to throw one-liners everywhere they can hoping they stick. Some indeed do - but many just don't land, and that makes The case of the Velvet Claws the least of the William Mason films. The direction is not bad nor is the character acting though the guy taking over the Spudsy Drake role(Eddie Acuff) is nowhere as good as the previous actor Allen Jenkins. The fine comedic acting of Warren William - an actor who is definitely overlooked and forgotten by many - keeps this one relatively entertaining.