The Case of the Irate Inventor (1960) User Reviews (7)

Perry at the top of his game in this episode.

[kfo9494 · 9/10 · 8 June 2012]

This show turns out to be a very interesting episode of 'Perry Mason'. Not so much for the crime but more in the line of watching Perry manipulate a written contract. To me, that was the most interesting part of the entire episode.

The story centers around Jim Frazer an inventor and part owner of the Hayden Electric Company. He has been working on an anti-collision device for a period of time but is not perfected. Jim's wife, Thelma Frazer, has been seeing another man behind his back and Jim decides to separate for a period of time so he can work on his invention without distractions. So he moves out of the house.

Since Jim has been away from work for so long the other owners of the company, Robert and Arthur Hayden, use a formula in the contact that states they can buy out Jim's shares if he does not return before 5pm the next date.

Jim gets a call from Lois Langley, a friend of Thelma's, to return to town. When Jim returns he finds his private workshop ablaze and Thelma amid the flames. With the evidence learned from the scene, Jim is soon placed in jail and charged with the murder of his wife.

Perry now leads us through trying to save Jim's shares of the company and also defend him in court against the murder charge. With Paul and Della's help, Perry leads the viewer through a host of lies and cover-ups to find the true murderer.

The episode is one that keeps the viewer alert as we see what Perry's action will be in order to keep his client free plus retaining partnership in the company. This one is very interesting which is always a good show. Good Watch

Note- William Talman is in this episode. Since he was still fired at the time, this episode had to be filmed before his run-in with the law.

Legal Dexterity

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 10 October 2013]

Thomas Coley plays the title character in this Perry Mason episode, a man who is guarding his invention rather closely though a pair of brothers he's in partnership with. It's his wife CeCe Whitney is the one who winds up dead, her body found in a burning house. Then it's Coley who needs Raymond Burr to defend him against a murder charge.

This is an episode where Perry Mason shows his legal dexterity in more than just criminal law. To protect Coley's invention he has him sell his rights for the sum of $1.00 to another party, that being one Della Street. Those two brothers were not happy with having Barbara Hale as a partner.

One of the best Mason episodes, don't miss it if you're a fan or not.

As an engineer, I loved this episode!

[AlsExGal · 9/10 · 2 January 2023]

Perry Mason has dealt with the art world, orchid farms, and the theater. It's good to see a case shift to a world with which I am familiar - that of engineering.

Inventor James Frazer leaves home to work on his invention, telling his wife, Thelma, that he'll file for divorce later. Three months go by and nobody has heard from Frazer. He is partners in the Hayden Electronics company along with the Hayden brothers. The Hayden Brothers tell Thelma that if James does not return to the office in person by 5PM the next afternoon that they have the right, by contract, to buy him out at what the company was worth several years ago, about a tenth of what it is now. Later that night James does return home, but his house is ablaze and Thelma is dead inside. James is arrested for the murder of his wife, so he is in double trouble. He not only is accused for murder, he could be legally cheated out of his rightful share of the company that he helped found since he is in jail and unable to come to the physical location of the company. Enter stage left Perry Mason.

Perry gets to show his abilities in the area of contracts in this episode as he plays those (legally) thieving Hayden brothers like a violin. Della Street also shows her loyalty here, as she could have easily forced a large payout to herself and maybe not retired but had a secure retirement in the future. Given that it should be obvious by now that it is as likely for Perry to pop the question as it is for Matt Dillon to do the same for Miss Kitty, maybe that would have been the wise thing to do.

Of interest was how fascinated everybody was with Frazer's invention of the card key - he uses it on his door as a lock, and whether or not it is easily reproduceable by a novice is a critical part of the case. The card key was invented in Norway in 1975 and first used in the United States in 1978. So Frazer would have been far ahead of his time given this is set in 1960.

Recommended even if you are not an engineer.

Proximate

[darbski · 10/10 · 16 August 2017]

**SPOILERS** Probably, we'll see. I titled this essay "Proximate" because it was ALL related to what was closest to the subject. For one, the inventor's wife being in an unsatisfying marriage because he husband loved his toys and inventions more than her; the sexy next door neighbor who was close to a business partner, and an employee of the inventor; the two men I just mentioned for sleezy sexual reasons with the sexpot; and the invention that was supposedly gonna be worth millions.

Every bit of it is indeed an invention, as was the legal/business trickery involved in the inventor's creation. Proximate cause of damage is a very real part of a legal reason for lawsuits, and Perry is the genius in that arena. He was in the Navy in WW2, and he MUST have known about an invention called the "Proximity Fuse" Too complicated to explain here, it was and is (in its other iterations) worth billions. The invention here was the technology, based on radar that was going to make everyone rich. Too bad somebody else owned the patents (there's a legal entanglement for you). This guy's toy didn't work very well, but in the future, with miniaturization, well, sure thing. And in the weapons/space race, miniaturization was the Holy Grail of technology, just ask Bell labs, Cal Tech, M.I.T., J.P.L., Johns Hopkins Physics Labs, etc., etc...

Perry connects it up when he has the facts, but the guilty party is also very smart, and takes the fifth, later claiming self-defense. Might just work, too. she gets a really smart lawyer, challenges evidence based on no real connection besides her own testimony and speculation; and pleads to Man 2. The brother of the other partner may get a slap on the wrist, but nobody's really gonna miss the dirtbag wife, are they?

Interesting ending with beautiful Della NOT asking for her one dollar (for the 40% of the company she owned), PLUS a good dinner out, which was a normal bargaining chip for Perry's firm. The other deal, is that one brother is somehow either dragged into the cesspool of this crime, or has neatly sidestepped it to hold on to his brother's part of the business (Proximity). Either way, he's in Perry's office trying to make nice with the inventor; Perry's gonna have to wake his client up to the realities of cutthroat business, and fast.

Well Written Script

[DKosty123 · 8/10 · 5 January 2019]

Often on this show when other writers are employed after most of Erle Garner's script 's have been used, the writers using his characters write a very good script. In this one, Marianne Mosner(writer) and Francis Rosenwald ...(writer) team up on their only episode and deliver a good one.

There are several times where Mason gets involved in corporate contracts during this series, never more effectively than here. The partner of the company seems to think he is a lawyer and has an iron clad contract to oust his partner in the company and steal his invention. Mason straightens them out and teaches him about the parts of his contract he has not written.

The avoidence technology here is a litle before it's time that the guy is working on . Particularly now that we are on the edge of having robotic cars.

Legal Hoop Jumping

[Hitchcoc · 8/10 · 10 January 2022]

Della should have taken the money and run. A sort of simple minded scientist invents a Gonkulator (the machine looks so stupid as to be laughable) and then runs out on his cheating wife. There are legalities with the firm he is employed by and soon he has to confront the wife. It leads to her murder and the inventor facing charges. The plans to avoid certain legalities are quite enjoyable.

The anti-collision principle

[kapelusznik18 · 5/10 · 12 July 2015]

***SPOILERS*** Having come up with this invention that would prevent planes trains as well as automobiles from crashing into each other James Frazer, Thomas Coley, has the blueprints for his invention stolen, or destroyed, from right under his nose when the shack he worked on them was set on fire with his estranged wife Thelma, CeCe Whitney, killed in it. With Frazer arrested for his wife's murder and put behind bars his business associates the Hyden brothers Robert & Arthur, Ken Lynch & Douglas Odney, plan to buy out his share of the firm for a measly $60,000.00 which in fact, when the anti-collision devoice hits the market, is now worth in the millions of dollars! It's Perry Mason, Raymond Burr, being the nice guy that he is decides to represent Frazer by at first having him sign away his control, 40%, of the company for $1.00 to his secretary Della Street, Barbara Hale, for safe keeping.

Perry soon comes up with proof that someone very close to Thelma had not only broken up her marriage to husband James by claiming he was having an extramarital affair but was using the Hyden Brothers, without their knowledge, to steal his invention and end up getting a piece of the profits, as a major share holder, when it becomes public.

***SPOILERS*** One of the few Perry Mason episodes when the person whom Perry brow beats on the stand doesn't brake down and admit his or her guilt under cross-examination. But when cornered with the facts uses the right, the 5th amendment, not to incriminate himself. Sill Perry got his point across that the facts were far more effective then a confession in proving his case! There's also the electronic genius Calvin Boone, Manning Ross, who tried to get credit for Frazer's invention-that could have possibly prevented 9/11 from happening-only to end up falling flat on his face when at the very end of the episode it was found to be a total flop!