Show216
Who Talks Like That - When Perry is questioning Roger, he exclaims angrily, "I've already testified in direct examination that Pierre called me." Would anyone who is not a lawyer use the term "direct examination? It seems the script writers got a little lazy with this part of the script. DellaMason
Night-Owl Mason. A few minutes prior to the exact time of the murder, Paul (in Paris on a case for Jimmy Meacham) coincidentally makes an unplanned phone call to Perry's office, asking Perry to relay his URGENT report to Jimmy (Paul can't reach the Meacham mansion because a phone is off the hook).
*Outside the window behind Paul, the Paris street is bright and busy with pedestrians and auto traffic. The street activity suggests that the local time must be at least 9am, but to fit with the timing of events in LA revealed later, it must be earlier, say 7am Paris time (Paris sunrise was 6:13am if 12/13 May or 6:37am if 11 Aug).
*Outside Perry's office window it is dark.
*Paris clocks were (are) nine hours ahead of LA clocks, so it is no earlier than 10pm of the previous evening in LA and Perry is still at work (Stretching timings, it might be as late as LA midnight, 9am Paris).
Perry makes a sarcastic crack about Paul being up early but it's not Paul that's keeping onerous hours; Perry is burning the midnight oil again! (In my opinion, the busy street scene behind Paul is a stock-footage "Continuity Glitch"; the scene should have portrayed less activity for early morning.) Added by Gary Woloski, 1/14/12.
JetSet Drake. During this episode Paul makes two trips to Paris and return. On one of them Paul tells Arnaux that he made a side trip to Nice!! The apparent allowances for travel time are incredibly tight and Paul does other duties at destination and between trips such as sleuthing, tracking down Marie in Glendale and chauffeuring Perry, Jimmy and Marie in the big Lincoln convertible. He looks so fresh after warping through the time zones that he must have used the Star Trek Transporter! Yet Paul's effortless and almost-instant travelling works well as a plot device, even today when we are more familiar with global travel than people in the '60s. Part of the reason may be that the pace of the storytelling, implemented through the seamless editing, leaves the viewer with no time to even begin to question how Paul gets around so quickly. Also, 1964 audiences only had one chance to see the episode straight through with no replays. It's the Magic of Television! Added by Gary Woloski, 1/21/12.
+ I bet Perry hated seeing Paul's expenses for this "Drake JetSet" ;-) , Submitted by HamBurger, 5/31/2020
Thank you for the fascinating comments about Paris and all. The people involved in the episode's proceedings include at least two native speakers of French. So why, in court, is a note from one to the other in English? The testifier never mentioned that it was a translation, and no one questioned the accuracy of any translation. Also, the defendant is a non-native speaker of English, with a very noticeable accent. So why is there no translator for the defendant?, especially given that this is a capital crime. In any case, Jeanette Nolan looks 20 years younger with her wig and whatever else. And she's lots of fun here. Submitted by (lowercase, with a comma and period) masonite, 12/11/12.
+ And when the two French-speakers are talking togther, in private, they also speak English. Submitted by catyron, June 18th, 2018
We learn that Perry's Lincoln, which appears white, is really gray. DOD 02/12/19
At the end of scene where the Meacham crew has returned from the airport to Hacienda Grande and is drinking, ostensibly champagne, the butler, Victor, raises a glass to his lips and the seam in the plastic coupe is clearly visible. jfh 27Jan2017.
For a detective, Paul isn't very observant when the French PI scoops up Paul's money off the table in the French café. jfh 27Jan2017.
+ I believe that is Paul's subtle way of paying for information.
Character Names: Nellie's last name is DuBois. jfh 27Jan2017.
Blackmail 101: A blackmailer with any brains would have an "insurance policy". There should have been a letter that the victim was aware of, left with somebody (friend, lawyer, underworld boss, etc.) to be mailed to police in case of death. Submitted by H. Mason 4/8/15
[Comment moved to below Spoiler section.]
Good to see Della and Perry together in France at the end of the episode. jfh 27Jan2017.
Continuity: When Marie enters the pantry there are two bottles of vinegar (or whatever it is) sitting side by side on the shelf. When she's about to knock over one of the bottles it's now sitting on top of a can of food. Also in the pantry, curiously, is a can of mineral spirits or paint thinner laying on top of a box of puffed rice. A few seconds earlier it was another box of puffed rice. Very odd. Kilo 9/27/2018.
For me this is the closest thing to a comedy episode. The mood is kept light, the family are all characters who do not take themselves too seriously and the butler (Neil Hamilton) is the brains of the outfit! One of my favorite episodes.Daveh
Many TV dramas toss in an occasional episode with a comic tone. This may have been the intent here, but it doesn’t quite work. It’s as if our cast of suspects, with their overacting, and our cast of regulars are in two different shows. DOD 02/27/20
Le Monde de Perry This is the second episode - in only the past sixteen - in which the plot centers around characters who are French. As was often the case with "ethnics"- British, Germanic, Italian, etc. - seen in the series, the portrayals border on caricature, perhaps mirroring the old joke "Heaven is a World in which the lovers are all French, the policemen British, the mechanics German...while Hell is one where the policemen are German, the lovers are British, the mechanics are French..." observed by Notcom, 062919.
Two-fer Another instance when Perry solves two murder cases, one of which was not previously known to have been a murder. jfh 27Jan2017
+ Jeanette Nolan is just as vicious a murderer as she was in The Fugitive Nurse episode. Joe B. 04/26/21
++ I don't think these murders were vicious, at least not the first one. Her husband was dying by inches, with bad Parkinson's. I read the first murder as a mercy killing, and the second as an act of desperation to keep the less advantageous land deal from being forced through by Pierre -- whose only interest was a quick grab of a lot of money and an even quicker getaway. OLEF641 7/27/21
Although I really enjoy the episode (overacting and all), the motive for murdering Pierre does seem rather weak. After all, Nellie was still in control and she could've signed the deal with Tom while telling Pierre to be patient. There is also the time gap indicated at the beginning of the episode where Nellie's husband had been dead for six months. If Pierre was patient enough to wait that long, he could've waited another year and gotten the first big payday. Submitted by Kenmore 08/13/2023