StunnaKrypto Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Ameriatch One of the best films i have seen

Maidexpl Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

JLRMovieReviews Warren William stars in the first of four films as Erle Stanley Gardner's attorney, Perry Mason in "The Case of the Howling Dog." In fact, to the best of my knowledge, I believe Warren William was the first actor to portray "Perry Mason" on film. I will be reviewing not just this film but all four films here. It opens with a man whose nerves are shot because his neighbor's dog won't stop howling. He comes to Perry Mason for help and also about the distribution of his assets in his will. Perry wants to dismiss this frivolity about the dog but finally acquiesces to help him when he is paid a fee of $10,000.00 cash up front and he finds out that the man wants to leave his money to the woman residing in his neighbor's house. The story picks up from there. Mary Astor, who has always been great in everything she does, gives good support in this lively and complicated tale of murder and dogs. I have always liked Warren William in his films with his strong and vociferous voice, as he is usually a strong force to reckon with, either a unscrupulous cad or as the law. Obviously, this is the latter. This film is the best of the four and "The Case of the Velvet Claws (the fourth with my rating of 8) comes a close second, as they center on the story and less on comic relief. My main complaint of the second two, "The Case of the Curious Bride" (rated a 7) and "The Case of the Lucky Legs," (rated a 6) is that they rely too much on comedy and paints Perry as a boob, despite his reputation as a first- class attorney. He is also seen as a bit money-hungry and superficial. Three actresses played Della Street, Claire Dodd in the second and fourth and Genevieve Tobin in the third. Ms. Tobin was my least favorite as Della, despite the fact she is a competent actress. "The Lucky Legs" (#3,) concerning a beauty pageant, was too flighty a film with little to no suspense. "The Curious Bride" has Margaret Lindsay as a past amour of Perry who now needs helps and while the film was modestly good, directed by "Casablanca" director Michael Curtiz, it was not as compelling as the first, despite the presence of Errol Flynn in a flashback as the victim in question. The last one, "Velvet Claws" is quite good with clever lines. In fact, these films are peppered with quick one-liners, but the addition of Allen Jenkins as "Spudsy," his right-hand man and his antics gets a bit tiresome. All in all, despite my dissatisfaction of too much comic relief, I think you'll be entertained. I particularly liked the twist ending of sorts in "Velvet Claws." Please discover Warren William as Perry Mason and then find his other films like "Skyscraper Souls" and "The Match King," and you'll see what you've been missing with such a prolific and dependable actor of the 1930s and early 1940s. He was very good when they used his dramatic skills to deceive and defend you.

MartinHafer Having seen one of Warren Williams' other Perry Mason films, I wasn't all that excited about seeing his first from the series, THE CASE OF THE HOWLING DOG. However, to my surprise, this film was exceptional for a B-detective film--with a very good plot, characters and acting. It was very different from the later "lady killer" Perry Mason films--and frankly, making Mason competent and not just a perv chasing skirts was a good idea.The film begins with a very convoluted encounter Mason has with a really bizarre client who is whining about some "barking dog". None of it makes much sense, even to Perry and the viewers are supposed to be confused. Later, however, all this actually makes a lot of sense. And in an interesting twist, Perry is very willing to help a woman beat a murder rap--even when she really is guilty! This isn't as bad as it sounds, as she has very good reason to kill the jerk! Warren William's character is more subtle and competent than in the later films. In later films, helping out clients is far less important than cooking and bedding women! A very good example of a well-made B movie.

John Esche 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.

rja-6 This is the movie that got me interested in the character Perry Mason and I began watching the old television series because of this film. It's a shame that Warren William didn't make more of these films because he was great in this. I like the little comic bits in the movie. I think it's a classic. I have it in my collection. Warren William was a very good character actor and it's a shame we don't see more of his films shown on tv.