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.