Paularoc Review of The Case of the Velvet Claws

The Case of the Velvet Claws (1936)

An entertaining B mystery with Warren William

[6/10 · 30 March 2015]

It is not a Perry Mason movie, really - it's Warren William playing yet another devil-may-care, debonair, witty character who is a lawyer but spends most of his time as a detective. The movie aims to be a comedy mystery and does pretty well with that but falls far short of The Case of the Lucky Legs. In part, this is due to a rather bland supporting cast - Claire Dodd as Della Street and Eddie Acuff as the unfortunately named "Spudsy" Drake are both bland and unmemorable. Their predecessors in Lucky Legs (Genevieve Tobin and Allen Jenkins) were better served by the writers and gave sparkling performances. The acting highlight goes to Clara Blandick as Judge Mary F. O'Daugherty, the judge who marries Della and Perry. Blandick is only in a couple of scenes but makes the most of them. She is probably best remembered for playing Auntie Em in The Wizard of Oz. The Velvet Claws plot is a bit convoluted with Eve Belter hiring Mason (at the point of a gun) to stop the local gossip rag from publishing a story (that's both untrue and could ruin a politician's career). The rag's publisher is murdered, Belter accuses Mason of the murder - even though this accusation is not true (Belter thinks she actually committed the murder), Mason is a very forgiving sort and continues to defender her. The humorous overtone in the movie is the fact Perry and Della get married and that their honeymoon keeps getting interrupted; oh, that and the fact that Perry has a bad cold he gives to everyone he meets. This is an entertaining little programmer with the always highly watchable Warren William. Not the best in the series but it's still recommended.