Perry Mason (TV Series) The Case of the Tandem Target (1964) User Reviews

Double Trouble

[zsenorsock · 7/10 · 17 June 2008]

Phil Ober gets to play a dual role in this story about a wealthy man named Sumner Lodge who is killed when his brakes go out on a winding mountain road. Ober also plays one of the suspects, the man's meek brother Adrian. But it is "Star Trek" star Lt. Kelso (Paul Carr) as Con Bolton, a folk singer (his rendition of "The Riddle" song brings up the image of the way it was sung in "Animal House" in the scene where Belushi smashes John Goodman's guitar) who is the prime suspect and Perry's client.

The good supporting cast includes Ann Rutherford and Dan Seymour, but the one that almost steals the show in a brief scene is Pat Priest, as the seductive secretary Miss Young. Known as a "good girl" when she played Marilyn on "The Munsters", Priest shows she should have given many more opportunities to play the bad girl, because she is sizzling!

Bolton Unbolted

[darbski · 7/10 · 28 April 2017]

Let's start with the unavoidable **SPOILER**. They are here, trust me. I recently bought this part of this great series from Amazon, so I've reviewed it to make sure of what I'm saying, (I hope). First, yeah, the "father" is a real rat, and she's never gonna get a nickel out of him; of course, he gets conveniently killed, solving that problem. An interesting thing is Bolton's motorcycle; a Honda 250cc "Dream" nicknamed "nightmare". Leading link front suspension, low pipes, generally a good bike, a poor man's BMW; going along with their "You meet the nicest people on a Honda" advertising. The real problem in my mind is this: the car with disabled brakes is a Lincoln Continental. This car rides fairly low to the ground, and I'd just love to see either Bolton or Talley get underneath it to "adjust or fix" anything. One other small thing is when some of these actresses are called upon to cry, their cheeks and eye makeup is dry as Death Valley. Della is, as always, professionally beautiful ...

The Old "Bad Brakes" Bit

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 14 February 2022]

This is another inheritance thing where a whiney young woman feels persecuted. Granted, her stepfather (they are always evil, just like stepmothers) was a conniving jerk. He had moved in when finances went bad and began using some company funds. He probably should have let the daughter have her way and throw away her life. Just a kind of weak story where a man is murdered by a brake job. Not a very easy way to commit a crime.

Good and bad Ober

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 7 March 2013]

In this episode of Perry Mason, Philip Ober gets to play two parts good and bad brothers. Unfortunately the bad Ober is married to Ann Rutherford and controls the family finances and won't let his stepdaughter Natalie Trundy anywhere near her inheritance. Seems he does not approve of her boyfriend Paul Carr, in fact Trundy says he doesn't approve of any of her boyfriends.

Later on when bad Ober is killed in an automobile accident, it's found that the hydraulic brake fluid was gradually drained. Carr winds up Raymond Burr's client.

There are a few other suspects that are having to do with the business Ober was in partnership with Lonny Chapman including secretary Pat Priest and Dan Seymour who says that Ober stole a patent from his late brother. Not to mention good Ober.

I will say this that initially the perpetrator was shown not to have a motive, but that changes radically.

Not the best Mason episode, but not too bad.

The fight against the scourge of tooth decay

[kapelusznik18 · 6/10 · 10 January 2016]

****SPOILERS*** Somewhat ridicules Perry Mason, Raymond Burr, episode with Perry defending folk singer Con Bolton, Paul Carr, in a murder charge in the death of his girlfriend Irma Hodge's, Natalie Trundy, dictatorial as well as cry baby step father Sumner "My way or the highway" Hodge played by Philip Ober who also plays his wimpy brother Adrian in a duel role.

It's when Irma threatened to elope with Con that her dad Smuner threatened to withhold her inheritance from her deceased real father making it impossible for the two love birds to pay their bills. As all this is going on Sumber "My way or the Highway" Hodge after finding a mysterious note in his car seat takes off in a puff in his car and ends up in a highway accident that kills him. It's determined that Con a part time car mechanic was tinkling with Sumner's car just moments before if went off a cliff.

***SPOILERS*** Perry taking on Con's case brings out that there was something fishy going on between him and the brother of his former and now dead partner in business Day Seymour, Leo Lazaroff, involving a tooth filling formula that was to revolutionize the world of dentistry. And it was that secret formula not Irma's eloping with Con that may well have been the reason for his murder. As we were to see the person who did murder Sumner was so gilt stricken in what he did it didn't take much for Perry to get him to confess on the stand even though, as we were soon to see, he didn't really have the goods on him!

The Annual Car-Crash Death Episode

[bstassen · 7/10 · 8 March 2021]

The case initially unfolds about a paranoid Sumner getting police protection through his stepdaughter's boyfriend, a folk singer, really?, on a motorcycle, that carries it on a motorcycle?--and I still can't believe he'd have any motive, but he sits in the defendant's spot, when the judge asks "Mr. Mason, do you plan to present a defense," and Perry uncovers the unscrupulous business practices in the dental fillings business. Dan Seymour is his reliable self, but I still do not believe they went through the elaborate scheme to have Phil Ober play both Sumner (the evil twin) and Adrian, the twin with a conscience, and nothing comes from it? I can't believe this was done by the producer to save money on actors. Enjoy it, if you enjoy Paul Carr's folksinging. The episode "runs out of gas" at the finish line as we work through the last plots of season 7.

Good story - Bad ending

[kfo9494 · 5/10 · 2 November 2011]

This episode had some very good qualities. The story was interesting, the acting was good and the courtroom scenes was great. Then it crashed like the 1929 stock market.

I assume the show was running long and they only had ten more seconds of film in the camera. So with only seconds remaining, we get someone telling the how's and why's of the murder in a few fleeing moments before the show ends. What a waste to an otherwise good show.

The show centered around a young women named Irma Hodge (Natalie Trundy) and she was in love with a folk singer named Con Bolton (Paul Carr). The step-father Sumner Hodge (Philip Ober)disapproved of the relationship and throws out Con Bolton. There are some attempts on the step-father's life and all think it is Con Bolton.

Well finally Sumner ends up dead when his car goes over a cliff. A witness saw Con Bolton under the car right before Sumner drove off and over the cliff. So Con gets charged with murder and Perry defends him.

This is only part of the story to this episode. Sumner and Jack Talley (Lonny Chapman) own a dental business and a good bit of the rest of the episode hinges on that partnership.

Everything is going along nicely until we get a confession at the very last moment that I did not completely understand. It was like taking a flu shot- we anticipate the injection but it happens so fast we do not even realize that the shot has been completed.

A poor ending to a good story.