The Case of the Velvet Claws is a 1936 film directed by William Clemens. It's an adaptation of the Erle Stanley Gardner Perry Mason novel, The Case of the Velvet Claws.
A woman named Eva Griffin enters the law office of Perry Mason (Warren William). She seeks Perry's Mason's help in suppressing an embarrassing story that a scandal sheet is about to print, but does not immediately reveal that her husband George Belter is in charge of the paper. When George later ends up murdered, Eva accuses Mason of the crime. Additionally, there is some dispute about inheritance between Eva and George's nephew Carl, who is somehow being pressured by George's housekeeper Ms. Vickers into marrying her daughter Norma.
Fourth Perry Mason movie, also the fourth and last time Warren William played Perry Mason. The story was adapted again into a 1963 episode of the Raymond Burr Perry Mason series.
This work contains the following Tropes:
- And the Adventure Continues: The 1936 adaptation ends with Perry promising Della not to let anything else interrupt their honeymoon...only for a man to ask a taxi to go to the lodge they planned on visiting next.
- Blackmail: Ms. Vickers saw Carl committing murder, and uses it as leverage to force him into marrying Norma.
- Busman's Holiday: The 1936 adaptation has Perry taking on the case during his honeymoon with Della.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: When Carl asked George about Eva's murder attempt, the uncle only realizes after getting into the same position as before that he's about to be killed.
- Inheritance Murder: Carl murdered George after learning he's supposed to be the sole inheritor of his uncle's possessions.
- Not Quite Dead: Eva's shot did not kill George, but she fled before checking his body.
- Plot Allergy: In the 1936 adaptation, various people appear to catch the flu during the course of the investigation, but it turns out to be caused by a fur wrap.
