Movie Review: The Case of the Lucky Legs (1935) directed by Archie Mayo
Frank Patton (Craig Reynolds) has a pretty neat scam going. He poses as the representative of a major hosiery company who’s come to a small city to hold a “Lucky Legs” beauty contest. Patton gets local businessmen to front all the expenses for the contest to be compensated later by his company, while the money actually goes into his own pockets. The contest is held, one “lucky” lady wins, but is told that her thousand-dollar prize will be awarded the next morning as Frank didn’t carry the cash to the contest for fear of a stickup. Then he blows town in the middle of the night and the townsfolk are out several thousand dollars.
He’s done this in several widely separated cities, and in this pre-mass communication society, the word hasn’t gotten around. But this last contest may have been one too many. Margie Florence Clune (Patricia Ellis) could really have used that prize money as a nest egg to marry her sweetheart Dr. Bob Doray (Lyle Talbot), so she feels exceptionally betrayed. Also, former “winner” Thelma Bell (Peggy Shannon) got wind of the new contest and followed Patton to town. And then there’s bitter runner-up Eva Lamont (Anita Kerry) who suspects the contest was rigged by department store owner Colonel Bradbury (Porter Hall) who employs Margie and also has the hots for her.
Margie follows a clue to Los Angeles and disappears into the big city. After a couple of weeks, Col. Bradbury becomes worried and travels there to find her (and Patton). He decides to engage lawyer/detective Perry Mason (Warren William). Their first meeting isn’t promising–Perry tied one on last night and passed out on the floor of his office and is still hungover. His secretary Della Street (Genevieve Tobin) has to keep getting him back on track during the interview. But being the fast-talking slick big city lawyer he is, Perry manages to buffalo Bradbury into giving him a retainer to take the case.
With the aid of marginally competent private eye “Spudsy” Drake (Allen Jenkins), Perry soon tracks down Patton. Who’s freshly dead, a surgeon’s scalpel in his back. Perry tricks the police into (re)discovering the body so he can avoid explaining how he got into the apartment (breaking and entering), but circumstantial evidence makes it look like Margie is the guilty party. Can Perry work a miracle to keep her out of prison?
This entry goes heavy on the comedy. A major subplot is that Perry’s personal physician, Dr. Croker (Olin Howland) has done a physical and the lawyer is in terrible shape. As a result, the doctor has ordered Perry to have no excitement, no rich food, and especially no alcohol. Mr. Mason promptly spends most of the film’s runtime cheating on his diet. He and Della are constantly insulting the police (and roast each other as well, though Della usually gets the better barbs.)
Other bits haven’t aged well. We are introduced to Spudsy’s wife (Mary Treen), a perpetually angry woman who throws things at her husband (and Perry, by mistake) and sometimes connects, though off-camera. There’s also a stereotype joke about women being “catty.”
Dr. Doray is a jealous, controlling boyfriend with a bad temper, and a desire not to have his girl parade her legs in front of other fellows.
Perry tampers with evidence, hides witnesses from the police and generally plays fast and loose with the law. It’s all in a good cause, but wow is he close to getting disbarred. The police are not wittingly evil in this, but they are astoundingly stupid, try to avoid getting warrants, and need a sharp lawyer to hand feed them the real solution to the mystery.
Content note: murder, fisticuffs, domestic abuse. Closeups of women’s bare or stockinged legs for fanservice; Perry is shirtless in one scene. Alcohol abuse, smoking. It’s implied that Perry and Della have been doing some heavy petting.
This movie is very much “of its time.” It’s mostly funny and you can see the bones of the book’s mystery in it, but some aspects have not aged well. Most recommended for fans of screwball comedies as Della’s especially good in this one.
