The Case of the Velvet Claws (1936), directed by William Clemens

The Case of the Velvet Claws is directed by B movie director William Clemens and runs a mere 60 minutes, effectively moving the Perry Mason franchise into B moviedom, perhaps the reason it was Warren Williams fourth and last appearance as Mason.  By this point Mason bears little resemblance to Erle Stanley Gardner's original character, even though the film is based on a Gardner story.  Gardner's strength is in his courtroom scenes but The Case of the Velvet Claws has only two scenes in a courtroom, run by Judge Mary F. O' Daugherty (Clara Blandick):  when Perry marries Della Street (Claire Dodd) in the morning and when Della wants an annulment in the evening.

It is not even clear how Mason solves the murder of the owner of a gossip rag that is trying to blackmail femme fatale Eva Belter (Wini Shaw), though Mason is not beneath doing some modest blackmailing himself.  The attempts at humor in Tom Reed's script mostly fall flat, though I did like when a magazine editor asks Mason "Are you smoking something or putting it in your arm?" After a day of sleuthing by Mason and Spudsy Drake (Eddie Acuff) in drag, as Mason himself takes it on the lam after being himself accused of the murder, Perry and Della finally leave for Pinehurst Lodge on their honeymoon.