<p> Perry Mason was among the most instantly recognizable figures to emerge from television's early years. Those horns of doom that announced his presence, that unflappable demeanor, his congenial battle for justice with DA Hamilton Burger in a system where fairness was presumedit's all part of pop culture's DNA and helped set the stage for courtroom dramas to come. </p> <p>The new four-disc DVD “Perry Mason Season 7: Volume 1” collects the episodes that originally ran from September 1963 through January 1964. Kennedy was in the White House during those first months and the Beatles were on the horizon, yet there are curiously few signs of a changing world aside from a passing reference to race and a courtroom packed with multi-ethnic spectators, which would have been considered a subtle nod toward inclusion at the time. The Mason series was end-game film noir from the orchestrated jazz score through the deep shadows and stark lighting, which traced canyons and craters across the faces of good guys and bad. It was a series that resisted the rise of color and conveyed its essence in black, white and muted shades of gray. </p> <p>Plotwise, stock melodrama bumped against genuine surprise. The pleasure was always in the familiar characters, especially Raymond Burr's portrayal of Perry Mason's tireless pursuit of justice, which involved a willingness to expend extraordinary effort (“every possible possibility” he says in one episode) to save his clients from the always looming gas chamber. Burr had previously played Hollywood heavies and brought the implication of toughness to his part, even as he left the great attorney's personal life unspoken. We gather he liked modern art from what he displayed in his office, but can assume little else. In contrast to the more garrulous characters of recent crime and court series, Burr's Mason was hidden in plain sight. </p>
