A Great Series

derfmeistr

I appreciated many of the earlier comments. Yes, black and white was perfect for the show. The world was a dark one, filled with murderers, blackmailers, embezzlers. And the theme music is wonderful, suited to that world but also conveying the sense that the truth would inevitably be revealed and justice done.

I would add a few thoughts.

Yes, there was a formula and one of the features (not yet remarked upon) was that typically the murder victim was an absolute creep. He deserved to die and many of the other characters (including, of course, Perry's client) wanted him dead and/or had a motive for killing him. (Perhaps the notion of having the murder victim be a decent man would have been too troubling to the viewers.)Quite often, in an early scene, after a confrontation with the prospective victim, Perry's client-to-be--speaking out of legitimate pique given the prospective victim's bad behavior--says "I'll see you dead" (or words to that effect) and of course there's always at least one witness to this encounter. Indeed, many of the characters were at the scene of the crime at or about the time it happened (how odd that so many of them would converge at that location at about the same time!).

Having started to watch the reruns again over the past few months I was struck by how often blackmail features as a plot point. The prospective victim is often blackmailing one or more other characters. The blackmail victim has a secret he/she doesn't want revealed.

In a way, this is quaint. I assume the teleplays mirrored the society of the time--anyone might have an embarrassing secret and viewers would understand why someone would pay hush money.

Today it's harder to shame people and my sense is that we don't see blackmail quite as often in our films noir. Reflect, by the way, on the secrets that are the subject of the blackmail in this series--the blackmailer has information about a character's criminal record or that a character is illegitimate. Would people care enough about that sort of revelation these days to pay blackmail? Put another way, there's much less to fear from the judgment of the community these days. To "judge" someone is actually politically incorrect in many quarters.

Another thing that struck me as quaint is the wonderful formality of social relations. Everyone is on a "Mr.," "Mrs." or "Miss" basis. When Paul Drake interviews a witness, he addresses him as "Mr Smith;" the witness addresses Paul as "Mr. Drake." While Perry, Paul and Della are on a first-name basis among themselves, each uses the formal address to refer to the other when in the presence of third parties. Thus, Perry might say to a client, "Miss Street will find you a hotel room." The gentlemen wore hats. Call me nostalgic, I guess.

Of course, speaking as a lawyer, I must say (as I'm sure many others have) that there is much that is fanciful about the courtroom scenes. But they do resonate for anyone who--lawyer or not--would at least like to imagine that a trial really is, or can be, a search for the truth, where lies are exposed and we have the satisfaction of seeing an abject confession by a broken and weeping wrongdoer.

score /10

derfmeistr 2 July 2005

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1116796/