The Case of the Black Cat (1936) Review - A weirdly fun Perry Mason movie

If you have an hour and ten minutes to spare tonight and love old-school detective yarns where people wear giant trousers, The Case of the Black Cat is absolutely worth your time.

Cozy mystery fans will eat this up. But if you can't stand old movies where characters explain the entire plot in a rushed three-minute courtroom scene at the end, you should probably skip it.

This isn't your grandma's Raymond Burr Perry Mason. Here, Perry is played by Ricardo Cortez, who looks like he just stepped out of a slick gangster movie.

He's got this pencil-thin mustache and a smug grin that makes you wonder if he's about to defend a client or steal their wallet.

The whole thing kicks off in a dark, creepy mansion. A grumpy old millionaire named Peter Laxter is bedridden and convinced someone is going to murder him.

He wants to change his will because of some family drama, but mostly he is worried about his cat.

Yes, a cat. A big, fluffy black cat named Clancey who apparently has a very specific set of legal rights.

The old man dies in a mysterious fire shortly after. Or was it an accident? (Spoiler: it wasn't).

What follows is a delightfully messy scramble of family members lurking in shadows, secret passageways, and people getting shot in the dark.

It feels a bit like those cheap B-mysteries from the era, maybe a little like Behind the Evidence but with more courtroom drama.

One thing that cracked me up is how they handle the cat's "testimony." At one point, Perry literally brings the cat into the courtroom to prove a point about whether it can climb stairs or not.

The cat just sits there looking incredibly bored, probably wondering why it isn't getting fed. 🐱

I love how cheap some of the sets look. You can tell the mansion's "stone" walls are probably made of painted cardboard.

In one scene, a character closes a door and the entire wall visibly shakes for a second.

And let's talk about Della Street. June Travis plays her here, and she spends most of the movie looking like she wants to roll her eyes at Perry’s antics.

She’s great, honestly. She has this quick, snappy way of talking that makes the dialogue feel much faster than it actually is.

The movie does that classic 1930s thing where they try to cram a 300-page book into 70 minutes. Because of that, some characters just show up, say two lines of exposition, and then vanish forever.

Like, who was that one guy with the crutches again? I already forgot his name, but he seemed very angry about a inheritance.

There is a really weird subplot about a nurse who seems incredibly suspicious for no reason other than she looks slightly sinister.

She just stands in the background of scenes looking like she’s planning a bank heist.

If you've seen other Warner Bros. mysteries from this era, like I Am a Thief, you know exactly what kind of pacing to expect.

It's fast, slightly confusing, and ends so abruptly you might think your TV cut out.

But that's the charm of these old flicks. They don't overstay their welcome.

Also, the music is hilarious. Every time something "spooky" happens, the brass section goes absolutely wild, like they're trying to scare you into paying attention.

Some little things I noticed:

• The millionaire's bed looks incredibly uncomfortable. It has like twelve pillows but they all look rock hard.
• Perry Mason smokes so many cigarettes in this movie. I think he lights a new one while the old one is still burning in the ashtray.
• The courtroom has about fifteen spectators who all look like they were kidnapped from the street and forced to sit there. One guy in the back row is literally asleep.

Is it a masterpiece? Heck no. But it has a cat as a key witness, and that’s more than most modern dramas can offer.