just watch it!

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Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

This was the first Perry Mason film ever made, with Warren William as Mason, who is superb in the part, much better than Raymond Burr, who always annoyed me so much I could not watch the later Perry Mason films. Mason's assistant Della Street is here played by Helen Trenholme, a beautiful and talented choice, but she inexplicably left the film business after making this and one other film in 1934, and that was it. The best performance in the film is by Gordon Westcott, as a distraught client in a state of high anxiety and 'aggravated melancholia'. Unfortunately, he died not long after in a polo accident, which deprived the screen of a real talent. The direction is excellent, with lots of retreating dolly shot 'pullbacks' to add dynamism to the action. Mary Astor does well, but then when did she not? Hats off to Lightning the Dog, who is seen howling splendidly like a wolf in the initial shots of the film. I'd like to have one like that around the house, wouldn't you? Lots of character, not anybody's poodle, not a wimp. The plot of this film is wonderfully complex, a true brain-teaser. This is a Perry Mason film with serious intent, and not a pastiche. It is well worth watching.

The first of six Warner Brothers mountings (the first of four with Warren William as Erle Stanley Gardner's charismatic investigating attorney, Perry Mason), it is frequently held to be the least of the series, but that's probably too harsh a judgment. It still merits rediscovery by anyone fond of the famous character or stylish 30's mysteries. Warren William is a fine first draft for the character TV would take to its heart two decades later.Many sources look at the other great detective series which were springing up in the 1930's from Dashiel Hammett's Nick & Nora Charles (in the popular THE THIN MAN series) to Earl Derr Biggers' Charlie Chan (the second longest running film series ever!) almost as fast as print authors could create new characters - THE CASE OF THE HOWLING DOG went before the cameras barely a year after Mason first hit print - and find the Warners' PERRY MASON series fairly light weight.In truth the series only managed six episodes, with Ricardo Cortez and Donald Woods succeeding William for the final two films. This sort of programmer mystery frequently only ran slightly over an hour and would almost certainly have been done as series television two decades later. The character WAS the basis for a long running daily 15 minute radio series before CBS put Raymond Burr in the role of his career for a marathon run starting in the 1950's and inspired more than two generations of actual attorneys.THE CASE OF THE HOWLING DOG (and the later Warners' Mason films) had the decided advantage of being drawn with some faithfulness from actual Gardner novels. That was one of the chief distinctions as well as one of the weaknesses of this "...DOG;" some confusion over wives among the wealthy and a dog that may or may not be howling in the night. A large portion of the film is given over to novel-like exposition giving the background of the characters and the dispute which will provide the courtroom fireworks in the last 15 to 20 minutes of the film where Perry Mason shows the style he is famous for.Mason has an enormous office in this one (Raymond Burr's Mason would have been jealous) as well as the basic support staff Gardner created which would stay in various forms through all the later Perry Mason incarnations - secretary Della Street (in the Warner Brothers' series her unrequited love would eventually be returned) and Detective Trask among others.Tall, thin Warren William with his pencil mustache (also a striking Sam Spade in the second film version of Hammett's "The Maltese Falcon" called Satan MET A LADY) made a fine Perry Mason. Some commentators fault the series for allowing the writers and directors (a different one for each of the six films) to vary the "character" of Mason too much over the three years the series ran, but for the first four films the inherent dignity and intelligence of William proved a foundation almost as interesting as the firm one Burr would provide twenty years later. (Did this actor *ever* look young or innocent? William's craggy visage has even more sophisticated "danger" in it than the today better remembered Humprey Bogart!) The style on this specific Perry Mason entry carries the substance, but the substance is good enough. Give it a look if you can.

This is the first of the Perry Mason movies. Warren Williams brought the famous lawyer to life in much the same way that Raymond Burr would breath life into the Erle Stanley Gardner character for television in 1957. Surprisingly the first incarnation of Perry Mason is not that far from the later television creation. In the first movie as in the first television episodes Perry is a conniving shrewd barrister who not only bends the law but at times uses tricks that may actually be illegal. The Warren William incarnation would change with his next three films with Perry becoming a womanizing boozer. In "The Case of the Lucky Legs" Warren Williams' Mason has trouble staying sober long enough to do his job. After Warren Williams left the role, Ricardo Cortez and Donald Woods tried the part on for size and did fairly decent portrayals of the sharp-witted counselor. Television's Perry Mason also changed with time, but rather than going in the direction of playboy souse, being the McCarthy era, Raymond Burr's portrayal made Perry a scholarly type who won his case through sheer knowledge of the law and thorough investigation procedures.The first Perry Mason movie, "The Case of the Howling Dog," is possibly the best in the entire series. It was remade for television, turning out to be one of the best in the Raymond Burr series. Much of this is owed to the cleverness of the original book written by mystery writer Erle Stanly Gardner, but Warren Williams and later Raymond Burr should also be given credit for making the whole thing work.Warren Williams is ably assisted by a covey of fine actors and actresses including Mary Astor who would later make a permanent mark on movie history playing Brigid O'Shaughnessy in John Huston's classic "The Maltese Falcon." Della Street is there to aid Perry with a hint, as with the later TV series, of a romantic connection between the two. The character of Paul Drake does not appear but would appear in the next film, "The Case of the Curious Bride," as Spudsy Drake, played by the fine character actor Allen Jenkins, who plays Det. Sgt. Holcomb in the first film. Unlike William Hopper's TV Paul Drake, Spudsy is more of a comical sidekick for Perry, more in line with William Katt and William Moses' Paul Drake in the made for TV Raymond Burr Perry Mason movies. Also missing from the Warren Williams Perry Mason's are Hamilton Burger and Lt. Arthur Tragg. In their places we find Det. Sgt. Holcomb and District Attorney Claude Drumm, ably played by Grant Mitchell.The case this time is extremely complicated. The viewer has to follow the events concerning the Cartwright's and the Foley's very carefully, especially in the beginning. Talk about wife swapping! Gradually Perry and his associates are able to unravel the mystery but wait, there is a twist at the end that you don't want to miss just when you think the whole thing has been worked out and the guilty person exposed by Perry.Warren Williams not only plays Perry with gusto but adds much humor to the goings on. If you think Raymond Burr is the definitive Perry Mason, seeing this film may change your mind.

What a bummer. But that's what happens to "Lightning" in what could be called "The Case of the Uncredited Dog." Lightning got the title role in this film because, among his other attributes, he was a "natural howler" and at the lift of his trainer's hand, would lift his head and howl like a coyote. The story, as we all know, tells of a dog's great devotion to his mistress. His mistress is murdered and the dog howls so mournfully that the neighbors are not only disturbed but begin to suspect that something is amiss in the neighborhood. The killer panics, kills the dog and brings in a non-howling ringer.The ringer is also played by Lightning because Lightning had the ability to howl on cue and not howl when given a don't-howl-now command. Lightning was a directors' actor if there ever was one.But, sans a credit (despite playing the title role and a dual role), Lightning found himself none-too-much in demand---you got any film credits?---among the animal casters at Central Casting and was about to give up the Show Business when he was spotted by poverty-row producer Burton King (who had an eye for talent on the hoof or, in this case, paw)and was immediately given the LEAD and the TITLE ROLE in "When Lightning Strikes," right there on the corner of Sunset and Gower. There is a star-with-a-bone marking the lightning strike spot. His performance in this film was such that Poverty Row producer S. S. Krellberg offered him the title role in "Man's Best Friend." Well, Hollywood being then what it is now (minus the meanness), any actor who has a lead and three title roles in his brief career (not to mention the ability to play a dual role and a death scene), is going to become a hot commodity and have scripts and choice-of-role offers coming from the major studios. His choices were limited to "which dog do you want to play", type-casting stuff of that retroactive-designated, politically-incorrect era. Lightning was a good actor but he knew his limitations and wasn't one of those "looking for a role to stretch my horizons" actors whose horizons mostly far exceed their abilities.Lightning padded over to Paramount and is the dog seen leading blind Ken Gordon (Cary Grant) around by a leash in "Wings in the Dark". While the film's leading lady, Myrna Loy, and Lightning hit it off from the first day of shooting, Louella Parsons hinted around in her Hearst newspaper columns that Lightning and Cary Grant were having rapport problems. And Lolly wasn't one not to have her facts straight. She later reported that the tension and dissension was dissolved by director James Flood when he said "Just follow the damn dog, Archie." Like most actors, Grant wasn't fond of getting upstaged. Or playing opposite a dog who had a stand-in named Cary.RKO then came calling, gave Lightning a term contract and Lightning joined Frankie Thomas roaming around Flanders in "Dog of Flanders" in which Lightning essayed yet another title role, a record for title roles until William Boyd came along as "Hopalong" Cassidy. His role in RKO's "Two in Revolt" is thought in some circles to also qualify as at least half-a-title role consideration, but there are those who think the revolting two the title referred to was the 1st and 2nd-billed John Arledge and Louise Latimer, although the 9th-billed Lightning the Dog and 10th-billed Warrior the Horse had far more screen time.But, shortly after "Two in Revolt" was finished, some exec at RKO decided that RKO didn't have to use real dogs in order to make dog films with dog stars and ordered Lightning off the premises. He then went to Grand National for a co-starring role in "Renfrew of the Royal Mounted" but balked at pulling a sled through the snow, and was replaced in the follow-up films of this series. Lightning retired, returned to his kennel in Toluca Lake and was seen often in the company of then-Toluca Lake residents Bing Crosby, Dick Powell and Helen Twelvetrees. He was fascinated with her name.Bio: Born Feb., 1930. Toluca Lake, California, USA. Parents: Peter and Gretchen Dog; Siblings: four brothers born the same day; Paternal Grandfather: Strongheart the Silent; Heritage: German; Representation/Agent/Trainer: Earl Johnson Source 1: "Dog Stars of Hollywood" by Gertrude Orr - copyrighted MCMXXXVI by The Saalfield Publishing Company, Akron, Ohio and New York, New York (both addresses thought to be in the USA-Unconfirmed) Source 2: RKO Radio Picture's 1936 press book- "Two in Revolt"Source 3: Movie Action Stories, April, 1936