They Call It Murder | |
---|---|
Based on | The D.A. Draws a Circle and characters by Erle Stanley Gardner |
Written by | Sam Rolfe |
Directed by | Walter Grauman |
Starring | Jim Hutton Leslie Nielsen Ed Asner Jessica Walter Jo Ann Pflug Míriam Colón Robert J. Wilke William Elliott Carmen Mathews |
Music by | Robert Drasnin |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
Production | |
Running time | 95 minutes |
Production companies | Paisano Productions in association with 20th Century Fox Television |
Original release | |
Network | NBC |
Release | December 17, 1971 |
They Call It Murder is a 1971 American television film directed by Walter Grauman and starring Jim Hutton.
They Call It Murder is a two-hour television film produced by Paisano Productions in association with 20th Century Fox. It was a pilot for a proposed TV movie series based on characters created by Erle Stanley Gardner, who edited the script [1] by Sam Rolfe. Walter Grauman directed; Cornwell Jackson was executive producer. The film is loosely based on Gardner's 1939 novel, The D.A. Draws a Circle. [2]
The film went into production in 1969 and was completed February 9, 1970. [1] Jim Hutton stars as Doug Selby, district attorney of a small town outside Los Angeles. [3]
They Call It Murder was first presented December 17, 1971, on NBC. [1] Gardner had died by the time the film finally was given its world premiere. Paisano Productions had worked to launch a Doug Selby series for six years, while its series Perry Mason was in its prime. [4] No series materialized, and this TV movie marks Selby's sole screen adaptation. [2]
Perry Mason is a fictional character, an American criminal defense lawyer who is the main character in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason features in 82 novels and four short stories, all of which involve a client being charged with murder, usually involving a preliminary hearing or jury trial. Typically, Mason establishes his client's innocence by finding the real murderer. The character was inspired by famed Los Angeles criminal defense attorney Earl Rogers.
Paul Drake is a fictional private detective in the Perry Mason series of murder mystery novels by Erle Stanley Gardner. Drake is described as tall and slouching, nondescript, and frequently wearing an expression of droll humor. He often smoked cigarettes especially when he had a subject of interest under surveillance. He is friend and right-hand man to Mason, a highly successful criminal defense lawyer in Los Angeles.
Erle Stanley Gardner was an American author and lawyer, best known for the Perry Mason series of legal detective stories. Gardner also wrote numerous other novels and shorter pieces as well as a series of nonfiction books, mostly narrations of his travels through Baja California and other regions in Mexico.
Della Street is the fictional secretary of Perry Mason in the long-running series of novels, short stories, films, and radio and television programs featuring the fictional defense attorney created by Erle Stanley Gardner.
Hamilton Burger is the fictional Los Angeles County District Attorney (D.A.) in the series of novels, films, and radio and television programs featuring Perry Mason, the fictional defense attorney created by Erle Stanley Gardner.
Dana Scott James "Jim" Hutton was an American actor in film and television best remembered for his role as Ellery Queen in the 1970s TV series of the same name, and his screen partnership with Paula Prentiss in four films, starting with Where the Boys Are. He is the father of actor Timothy Hutton.
Doug Selby is a fictional creation of Erle Stanley Gardner. He appears in nine books, most originally serialized in magazines. He was portrayed by Jim Hutton in a 1971 television movie, They Call It Murder, loosely based on The D.A. Draws a Circle—the only film adaptation of the series.
Perry Mason is an American legal drama series originally broadcast on CBS television from September 21, 1957, to May 22, 1966. The title character, portrayed by Raymond Burr, is a Los Angeles criminal defense lawyer who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner. Many episodes are based on stories written by Gardner.
The New Perry Mason is a CBS TV series that ran from 1973 to 1974. It was a revival of the 1957 Perry Mason television series about Erle Stanley Gardner's brilliant defense attorney.
Gail Patrick was an American film actress and television producer. Often cast as the bad girl or the other woman, she appeared in more than 60 feature films between 1932 and 1948, notably My Man Godfrey (1936), Stage Door (1937), and My Favorite Wife (1940).
The following is a list of the Perry Mason novels and short stories by Erle Stanley Gardner, published from 1933 to 1973.
The Case of the Howling Dog is a 1934 American mystery film directed by Alan Crosland, based on the 1934 novel of the same name by Erle Stanley Gardner. It is first in a series of six Perry Mason films Warner Bros. made between the years 1934 and 1937.
The Case of the Curious Bride is a 1935 American mystery film, the second in a series of four starring Warren William as Perry Mason, following The Case of the Howling Dog. The script was based on the 1934 novel of the same name by Erle Stanley Gardner, published by William Morrow and Company, which proved to be one of the most popular of all the Perry Mason novels.
Perry Mason is a radio crime serial based on the novels of Erle Stanley Gardner. Broadcast weekdays on CBS Radio from 1943 to 1955, the series was adapted into The Edge of Night which ran on television for an additional 30 years.
The Court of Last Resort is an American television dramatized court show which aired October 4, 1957 – April 11, 1958, on NBC. It was co-produced by Erle Stanley Gardner's Paisano Productions, which also brought forth the long-running hit CBS-TV law series, Perry Mason.
The Case of the Black Cat is a 1936 American mystery film directed by William C. McGann and an uncredited Alan Crosland, based on the 1935 Perry Mason novel The Case of the Caretaker's Cat by Erle Stanley Gardner. The film stars Ricardo Cortez as Perry Mason and co-stars June Travis and Jane Bryan in her film debut. The film is the fifth Perry Mason adaptation distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures in the 1930s and the first in the series not to feature Warren William as Mason.
Perry Mason is a fictional criminal defense attorney, in works of detective fiction written by Erle Stanley Gardner.
A series of 30 Perry Mason television films aired on NBC from 1985 to 1995 as sequels to the CBS TV series Perry Mason. After a hiatus of nearly 20 years, Raymond Burr reprised his role as Los Angeles defense attorney Mason in 26 of the television films. Following Burr's death in 1993, Paul Sorvino and Hal Holbrook starred in the remaining four television films that aired from 1993 to 1995, with Sorvino playing lawyer Anthony Caruso in the first of these and Holbrook playing "Wild Bill" McKenzie in the last three.
This is a bibliography of works by and about the American writer Erle Stanley Gardner.