"Just one more thing...": Rewatching Columbo

[Angela Channing]

The Greenhouse Jungle

I don't remember this episode quite as well as some of the others but I agree it's a good episode but not a great one. I think it's the first time when a actor playing a major character in a previous episode returned to play another character. This time Ray Milland was less interesting than his first appearance and seemed to spend his entire screen time being angry, short-tempered and shouty.

What I like about this episode was that it has a lot of comedy. The scene when Columbo runs down the hill is one of the most memorable Columbo scenes ever and also very funny and Ray Milland's contempt for just about everything and everyone around him leads him to delivering several funny put downs and throw away comments.

Bob Dishy looks a great deal like another actor I can’t quite get to the front of my brain and it was distracting for the entire episode.

That's quite a surname to live up to! Could it be Kevin Dobson you are thinking of or maybe they just have similar hair/toupees?

The final little flourish with Mrs Columbo’s revived African Violet was very cute indeed.

The episode even ended with a touch of gentle humour.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

This time Ray Milland was less interesting than his first appearance and seemed to spend his entire screen time being angry, short-tempered and shouty.

Oh gosh yes. So much outraged bellowing. If we didn't know who the killer was I'd have thought he was far too obvious to be it.

What I like about this episode was that it has a lot of comedy. The scene when Columbo runs down the hill is one of the most memorable Columbo scenes ever and also very funny and Ray Milland's contempt for just about everything and everyone around him leads him to delivering several funny put downs and throw away comments.

Yes, it's definitely an entertaining episode on that level.

That's quite a surname to live up to!

Isn't it just?

Could it be Kevin Dobson you are thinking of or maybe they just have similar hair/toupees?

Yes, I think Kevin is one of the people who crossed my mind, and I'd say that influenced my thinking that his character was a counterpart to Kojak's Crocker. There's a bit of Vince Vaughn in there as well. Perhaps Michael Rapaport circa Deep Blue Sea. He also looks quite like someone I've known in real life.

But there's also a resemblance to another actor who I still frustratingly can't place ( I'm thinking it's someone from a late Nineties/early Noughties slasher, but I'm also trying not to think too hard as that never works).

The episode even ended with a touch of gentle humour.

It felt perfectly fitting for this episode. I really liked the ending.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

The Most Crucial Game

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To say sport doesn’t interest me is a huge understatement, so I must confess to feeling a little nervous at the abundance of locker room chatter and cheering crowds at the stadium (I think the game in question is the one that Americans call “football” that’s nothing like actual football, but it’s not important to know, thankfully). I needn’t have worried. After what felt like a slow few opening minutes, once the murder plan started moving I was invested.

The first, pre-Columbo act was nice and meaty with time spent with both killer - Paul Hanlon - and victim - Eric Wagner. It’s a little surprising, then, that Hanlon’s motive is rather oblique. It’s evidently something to do with taking control of the sports empire, and perhaps getting closer to Eric’s wife (Dallas’s Donna Culver Krebbs herself). But it’s never that clear and motive isn’t really explored during investigation.

Robert Culp is back for a second appearance, marking the first time in the series that an actor has played two different murderers. Hanlon is most easily distinguished from Brimmer by the very Seventies moustache. He’s as good value as always, treading the line between smooth and shaky; amused and irritated.


Valerie Harper has a brief-but-memorable appearance as a high class sex worker. Is she the first character to kiss the Lieutenant? I think so. But will this be the only time he’s sexually harassed?

Dean Stockwell had one of the best character introductions as Eric. We first meet him after a particularly heavy night. The bedside phone is ringing and we see his foot sticking out from beneath black satin sheets (more Seventiesness) that cover the rest of him - including his head. An arm reaches out and takes the phone and he gradually surfaces. Hanlon asks if he’s alone, and Eric has to fumble about the bed with his arm in order to confirm he is. There’s no mistaking he’s a playboy bachelor.

The murder weapon is perhaps the most inspired to date. Using a block of ice to deliver a fatal blow to someone emerging from a pool, then simply dropping the ice into the pool seems pretty foolproof.

Other elements of the plan, though, seem to negate it. Like driving a conspicuous ice cream van all over Los Angeles.

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[Mel O'Drama]

The Most Crucial Game​

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Lt. Columbo at times seems to have superpowers. How else can we explain his discovery that the water at the side of the pool was fresh rather than chlorinated?

His walk down the steps into the pool, accidentally soaking his shoes gave us one of my favourite running gags of any so far, when he started questioning random people about where they got their shoe and how much they cost. I could almost swear one guy told him his shoes were from “Millets on Wilshire”, but I must have misheard. As sturdy as their footwear is, Millets were surely never the kind of place to be located anywhere so trendy, even if they had operated outside of the UK. Naturally Columbo balked when finding out how much so and so’s shoes cost. Perhaps the downside of always investigating the rich and famous.

Speaking of lifestyles of the rich and famous, Robert Culp isn’t the only returnee. The Stahl House - first seen back in Prescription: Murder - is used quite heavily in this one. It’s a lovely building, gorgeously decorated and with a truly stunning outlook. It films incredibly well and it’s always good to see it.

I have mixed feelings about this episode’s Gotcha. It’s a brilliant piece of deduction and certainly helps show how keen his investigative skills are. Certainly, I hadn’t noticed the clock chiming earlier in the episode (though I’m sure if I rewatched it immediately afterwards it would be there). But with all the trouble Columbo went to, he came up with a missing sound that suggested Hanlon might not have been in his office at the time of the second call. But there’s nothing to suggest where Hanlon actually was. Hanlon easily put a feasible (if not completely convincing) spin on the “chick” he had found for Eric by saying it was actually a housekeeper. He’s not going to worry about a little thing like absent clock chimes when he can say the clock has stopped or slowed down or was out for repair or was covered up or something. Anything.

The ice block killing set my expectations high. I expected a really clever sting in the tail that would pull the rug out from under Hanlon and the audience. But, as it is, there’s no real proof. No murder weapon. No witnesses. Not even a real motive. Nothing more than a few bits of circumstantial evidence.

Even suspending my disbelief, this is the first episode where I find it very difficult to believe that Columbo has any chance at all of nailing his quarry. This I could swallow if the writing acknowledged it. But it seems that the writer expects us to be satisfied with an ending that’s full of holes.

John T. Dugan had previously written Season One’s Dead Weight, which was a fair episode. Far from the best, but with a satisfying enough gotcha. This is almost the reverse - a memorable episode that’s full of promise, but lacking at times in its attention to what should be its most important details. It doesn’t surprise me that The Most Crucial Game is his final Columbo episode.

Still, there’s a brilliant cast, beautiful cinematography at some photogenic locations, and some memorable little Columboisms that make this an extremely watchable episode. Albeit one to watch with low expectations.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

There's another great stadium shot in The Most Crucial Game which I loved so much I made it my computer desktop picture for a while. When you get to that episode it will probably obvious which camera shot I mean.

When I spotted that impressive shot of Columbo having some thinking time in the enormous, deserted stadium with its brightly coloured seats. When I saw this I immediately remembered what you’d said about it and knew this had to be it.

One thing that did really impress me with this episode was Jeremy Kagan's direction. As well as the stadium shot, there are the scenes of Hanlon swimming, taken from beneath the water. And a close shot of aeroplane landing wheels emerging from their hold while the plane is in flight.

Perhaps my favourite shot is the one of Columbo and Hanlon riding up the escalator at the airport. The static camera watches them from the top as they get closer and closer while conversing. The overall effect is that we’re lying at the top of the escalator. The bottom third of the screen is taken up by the moving escalator in the foreground. On the escalator in the background, the men are side by side not only with each other, but also with their own reflection, as each is mirrored in the glass at the sides. It’s a slightly showy and even attention-seeking move on the part of the director, but it’s memorable and - most importantly - it looks really good.

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In related news, it seems my ramblings in this thread have earned me an award. Thank you so much. It's very much appreciated and I'll pop it on the shelf next to my Columbo box set.

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[Angela Channing]

Although I've seen this episode a few times I don't remember the details of the gotcha which fits in with you saying it wasn't entirely satisfying. I would say it was a middle ranking episode, not up their with the best but far from being a bad episode.

Robert Culp is back for a second appearance, marking the first time in the series that an actor has played two different murderers. Hanlon is most easily distinguished from Brimmer by the very Seventies moustache. He’s as good value as always, treading the line between smooth and shaky; amused and irritated.

Robert Culp always seemed to play his murderers as being angry and irritable, Jack Cassidy's murderers were arrogant and glib and Patrick McGoohan's were generally formal, professional and officious. I always like Mr Culp as the murderer because he was always combative and impatient with Columbo which gave a edge to all their interactions.

His walk down the steps into the pool, accidentally soaking his shoes gave us one of my favourite running gags of any so far, when he started questioning random people about where they got their shoe and how much they cost.

This was great and I love how they drop nice moments of humour into the storyline which makes a nice contrast to the seriousness of a murder investigation. Peter Falk plays comedy so well and I'm sure the writers included humour to take advantage of his comedic skills.

beautiful cinematography at some photogenic locations

This episode, along with Etude In Black has the best cinematography and locations that I can remember in any Columbo episode.

When I spotted that impressive shot of Columbo having some thinking time in the enormous, deserted stadium with its brightly coloured seats. When I saw this I immediately remembered what you’d said about it and knew this had to be it.

I absolutely love that camera shot, probably my favourite in the entire run of Columbo. That image of the row of empty seats, all uniform in colour, size and shape, only broken up by the pensive figure of the lieutenant sat amongst them is so striking and the aesthetic and the artistry of the camera shot really stuck in my mind.

One thing that did really impress me with this episode was Jeremy Kagan's direction.

Totally. I often take the direction of a TV show for granted unless it's particularly good or particularly bad and this one was first class.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Although I've seen this episode a few times I don't remember the details of the gotcha which fits in with you saying it wasn't entirely satisfying.

It all hinged on a phone call Hanlon had made to his victim minutes before killing him. He knew his victim's phone was tapped and so was giving himself an alibi by saying he was at his office, when in reality he was in a payphone round the corner from the victim's home.

In a nutshell, Columbo visited Hanlon at his office and played him the recording of the call, synchronising it with the time the original call was made. At a certain point, the clock in Hanlon's office loudly chimed the half hour - a sound absent on the recording - which proved that the call wasn't made from his office as he claimed.

It is a really clever piece of writing, and I like the way it turned around many scenarios I've seen on TV and film where a sound in the background gives away the guilty person's location. All the same, there's just nothing definitive about it. There are a thousand reasons the clock might not have chimed, and a million places Hanlon could have been, so it's not the coup de grâce the writing and performances suggest.

I would say it was a middle ranking episode, not up their with the best but far from being a bad episode.

Yes. I've still a lot of episodes to watch, but at the moment I'd be inclined to think of it as one of the best of the middle ranking episodes. The cinematography, locations, cast and some fun little character moments means it probably has a good rewatch value. It's just a shame it didn't deliver on perhaps the episode's most important moment: the Gotcha.

Robert Culp always seemed to play his murderers as being angry and irritable, Jack Cassidy's murderers were arrogant and glib and Patrick McGoohan's were generally formal, professional and officious.

I'm looking forward to seeing the return of the former two. And it'll be great to see the Patrick McGoohan ones as well, as I know he directed most of his episodes (and a couple of others) and even co-wrote.

I always like Mr Culp as the murderer because he was always combative and impatient with Columbo which gave a edge to all their interactions.

Yes. Something that came across to me in this episode was that there was a lot of conflict between them very early on. There wasn't so much of the usual cat and mouse slow burn, which made it feel notable. They both had one another's numbers quite quickly. I think this is another reason why the Gotcha needed to have been a solid one, because it also lacked the element of surprise for the killer when Columbo proved himself a shrewd detective.

I love how they drop nice moments of humour into the storyline which makes a nice contrast to the seriousness of a murder investigation. Peter Falk plays comedy so well and I'm sure the writers included humour to take advantage of his comedic skills.

Definitely. I read somewhere that Peter Falk regularly ad libbed in his scenes - Columbo noticing and admiring an unrelated ornament mid-sentence for example - to keep things fresh, and also to throw off the person with whom he's working. This way their character's confusion or frustration was more real. I'm not sure of the details, but I do find myself guessing which moments were ad libbed as I watch.

This episode, along with Etude In Black has the best cinematography and locations that I can remember in any Columbo episode.

I feel a bit sad that both are behind me now.

I absolutely love that camera shot, probably my favourite in the entire run of Columbo. That image of the row of empty seats, all uniform in colour, size and shape, only broken up by the pensive figure of the lieutenant sat amongst them is so striking and the aesthetic and the artistry of the camera shot really stuck in my mind.

It's amazing. Like the scene at the Hollywood Bowl, it looks very impressive and gives the series such a sense of scope and scale.

I can fully understand why you'd use that moment as a screensaver.

 

[Angela Channing]

It all hinged on a phone call Hanlon had made to his victim minutes before killing him. He knew his victim's phone was tapped and so was giving himself an alibi by saying he was at his office, when in reality he was in a payphone round the corner from the victim's home.

In a nutshell, Columbo visited Hanlon at his office and played him the recording of the call, synchronising it with the time the original call was made. At a certain point, the clock in Hanlon's office loudly chimed the half hour - a sound absent on the recording - which proved that the call wasn't made from his office as he claimed.

It is a really clever piece of writing, and I like the way it turned around many scenarios I've seen on TV and film where a sound in the background gives away the guilty person's location. All the same, there's just nothing definitive about it. There are a thousand reasons the clock might not have chimed, and a million places Hanlon could have been, so it's not the coup de grâce the writing and performances suggest.

Thank you, yes it's coming back now. Like a lot of Columbo's "evidence" it's not conclusive, in fact a district attorney wouldn't even proceed to prosecute the case with such flimsy evidence. It's a clever observation though and that's what makes the viewer just accept it an overlook the glaring weakness of the Columbo's case.

Yes. I've still a lot of episodes to watch, but at the moment I'd be inclined to think of it as one of the best of the middle ranking episodes. The cinematography, locations, cast and some fun little character moments means it probably has a good rewatch value. It's just a shame it didn't deliver on perhaps the episode's most important moment: the Gotcha.

Yes, you still have what I consider to be the best episodes to come. I already mentioned Try and Catch Me, Any Old Port In The Storm and Double Shock but there are others (I won't mention any more because I don't want to influence your opinion of them). There are even a few in the reboot series that I think are first rate. There's also some considerably weaker episodes to come which is why I consider The Most Crucial Game a middle ranking episode but it's still a good one.

Definitely. I read somewhere that Peter Falk regularly ad libbed in his scenes

I didn't know that but I can believe it because he just so natural in the role.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

you still have what I consider to be the best episodes to come.

That's good to know.

There are even a few in the reboot series that I think are first rate.

I'm already wondering what I'll make of the revival this time round. The first of those episodes from 1989 were my proper introduction to the series (the first time I set aside a specific evening to watch them as they aired for the first time), so I feel very affectionately towards them. My main memory of my last rewatch was that the quality dropped considerably with the later episodes, and I seem to recall there were a few stinkers. But it's good to know there are still some great ones in there as well.

I didn't know that but I can believe it because he just so natural in the role.

Yes. It's always fun to watch the reactions of the actors in scenes with him, whether they're responding to his ad libs, his delivery or just his energy. They frequently seem fascinated by him.

 

[Angela Channing]

I'm already wondering what I'll make of the revival this time round. The first of those episodes from 1989 were my proper introduction to the series (the first time I set aside a specific evening to watch them as they aired for the first time), so I feel very affectionately towards them. My main memory of my last rewatch was that the quality dropped considerably with the later episodes, and I seem to recall there were a few stinkers. But it's good to know there are still some great ones in there as well.

There were quite a few of episodes in the reboot series that followed the format of the original were often good but too regularly they played with the format or had too many scenes that were clearly just filling time or were just plain daft e.g. a ghastly scene when Columbo played a tuba and a group of children followed him like he was The Pied Piper. I thought the final episode was good even though it had a more modern feel to it.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

There were quite a few of episodes in the reboot series that followed the format of the original were often good but too regularly they played with the format or had too many scenes that were clearly just filling time or were just plain daft e.g. a ghastly scene when Columbo played a tuba and a group of children followed him like he was The Pied Piper.

It's a shame to hear there's that kind of filler when I think about the episodes I've been watching where every scene is meaningful. I read that a couple of the later episodes weren't even written for Columbo but for other series before they ended up filming it as Columbo.

I thought the final episode was good even though it had a more modern feel to it.

It's good that it goes out on kind of a high at least.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

Dagger Of The Mind / Requiem For A Falling Star

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A thespian-themed double-bill featuring larcenous luvvies of stage and screen across two continents.

The opening shots of Dagger Of The Mind featured London landmarks and streets. My first thought was that they’d be second unit, with the Universal Backlot, carefully located L.A. locations and various indoor sets standing in for London itself. It was a nice surprise on Columbo’s arrival to be treated to scenes of Peter Falk in London itself. So much fun to see him weaving in and out of a crowd of what I assume are genuine tourists with his little camera. I wonder if the series was a hit in the UK by this time?

There’s some terrific early Seventies Britain in display, with chrome galore on all the old Triumph Toledos, Vauxhall Vivas and various other old runarounds that haven’t been seen on our roads in many a year. And most of the Brits here aren’t as stereotypical as usually depicted on American TV. There’s a little diversity in accent, and also many genuinely British actors.

Still, up to a point we’re seeing a Hollywood version of Great Britain, in which characters live in charming old country piles and take tea every afternoon. But then the affluent characters into whose word Columbo stumbles in every other episode hardly represent average Americans, so why not.

There’s a notably different tone between the scenes shot in grey old London and those shot in the warmth of the California sun. It’s easy to see that almost all of the scenes with Honor Blackman/Richard Baseheart/Arthur Malet/Wilfred Hyde-White were filmed in LA (most of them, ironically, being British actors). The grand old English manor in which Sir Roger and his faithful butler live is very obviously somewhere within driving distance of Universal.

While some actors appear in scenes shot in both countries, there was one definite recast for the different locations. The Detective Chief Superintendent’s Jaguar XJ6 was “played" by a different car depending where it was filmed. Apart from the obvious differences in their surroundings, they could most easily be differentiated by their different wheel trim and different tyres (the UK car has a much broader white tyre stripe). Also, the LA car has badges on the grille and a prominent aerial on the boot. I think the Morgan might have undergone a similar “recast”. All the same, they were close enough, and the continuity of taking something from one world and placing it in another is appreciated. It all helps with the illusion.

In addition to the London and LA locations, there were also some interiors. It was these that gave the only moment in the whole show that felt amusingly like “Americans attempt traditional British accent” (Richard Basehart’s mid-Atlantic accent notwithstanding). After the performance of Macbeth, a few different people came up to congratulate the couple on their performances or invite them to join a party or whatever. They were played by walk-on actresses who it was presumably felt could do a passable enough British accent to get away with one line. And I suppose they did. Just.

Naturally, this gruff American officer coming to study British police techniques at New Scotland Yard created an enjoyable culture clash in addition to the usual “mistaken identity” thing where he is mistaken for anything other than a police officer. There’s his introduction at the airport with the business of him losing his luggage and getting into trouble by attempting to pick up cases that look like the one his wife has loaned him, resulting in random ladies’ clothes ending up all over the floor. It’s also worked into the usual increasing irritation of the killers. By episode’s end, Columbo’s “sorry to bother you” patter has expanded to an apology for angering them, with him adding “maybe it’s my accent”.

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[Mel O'Drama]

Dagger Of The Mind / Requiem For A Falling Star



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Americanisms from British characters were mostly avoided - though not entirely. The most jarring for me came from Sir Roger Haversham who - just before being killed - threatened “I’m going out front and tell them”, which sounded very off (the actor is British, but I imagine he was saying it exactly as it was written). There was one tiny moment where Honor Blackman’s character said “I guess”. This has been increasingly used in the UK over the last few decades as our language becomes ever more mid-Atlantic, but five decades ago it would have sounded very American. And there’s also the two killers repeatedly discussing an “autopsy”. This last example was was especially sloppy since it started after a nice moment where a British officer mentioned a post mortem and Columbo had to ask what that was, establishing the different terminology used on either side of the Atlantic.

It’s funny how I’ve become so used to him being called “Loo-tenant” that it sounded almost strange to my ears to hear the British pronunciation of his title. While it was used frequently, I’m a little surprised that more wasn’t made of it, but perhaps that would have been too obvious. As it was, there was a nice subtle touch where he seemed to fail to recognise he was being addressed until he was called a second time.

The plot itself has some enjoyable turns. Reminiscent of Death Lends A Hand, the death is accidental. In true luvvie fashion it occurs when Blackman’s character Lilian Stanhope flings her jar of cold cream at two men fighting in her dressing room, landing a killing blow. This time there are two people involved to conspire to cover it up.

It’s possible this is the first episode to feature two different killings by two different killers. That’s assuming it was Basehart’s character Nicholas Frame who killed butler-turned-blackmailer Wilfred Hyde-White whose name for me, despite his long and distinguished acting career, will always conjure up the infamous daffodil up the bum moment from Carry On Nurse.

The Gotcha moment - in the appropriately dramatic surrounds of the “London Wax Museum” - was enjoyable. I particularly liked that an earlier lead-in to a Gotcha was foiled by the two who realised there had been a mix-up with the umbrellas and broke into the museum to switch them.

Yes, Columbo once again planted a piece of “evidence” to elicit a confession, but it felt truthful and satisfying within the reality of this series. The confession worked as well, driven as it was by the guilt that had slowly broken them down - paired, in Frame’s case, with insanity. The fact that the husband and wife actors had lead roles in Macbeth for the duration of this film added a nice symmetry as well.

Giving both these episodes a sense of cohesion, Jackson Gillis wrote the teleplays for both. Dagger Of The Mind, however, has the added benefit of a story by Levinson and Link. And it’s the second of this season’s feature-length episodes, which gives lots of scope for small moments of Columboisms.

Columbo’s squeamishness in certain situations is always a joy to behold. In this case it came from photos of the post mortem that the coroner joyfully shows to the colleagues over tea at a gentlemen’s club. Columbo, seated next to the coroner, passes the pictures along while averting his eyes, but is still put off his food by the coroner’s happy burbling with details of what they’re looking at and what was found inside the body.

When the food was initially presented, Columbo approvingly noted how substantial it was, having feared it was going to be “tiny sandwiches”. Which prompted the steward to quip:

Why do you think we keep the ladies out, sir?

Columbo as a tourist brought a host of brilliant moments. There was his comment that Big Ben was only a minute slow, prompting Detective Chief Superintendent Durk to quip:

Really? We must put another penny on the governor.

A nice non-verbal moment between these two came when they were on a boat cruise of the Thames. Columbo is madly snapping everything with his camera. He turns to Durk and points his camera at the side of his face, and as Durk's scowling face breaks into a smile the lines seem to blur and I wonder if actor Bernard Fox was as charmed by this endearing moment as Durk briefly seemed to be.

There's also a moment with Columbo seated on a park bench next to an equally shabby looking man. Nothing was said, and no words were needed.

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[Mel O'Drama]

Dagger Of The Mind / Requiem For A Falling Star



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Back in LA, things get a little meta when Columbo visits Universal Studios where he spends time nattering with a film star in her bungalow between scenes. There are also a couple of moments - including the very first scene - in which we’re fooled into thinking we’re watching something “real”, only for it to turn out to be a scene the actress is filming.

Anne Baxter is great as Nora Chandler. She radiates Old Hollywood energy, and the energy between she and Peter Falk is great fun. It made me realise that the one thing I missed a little in Daggers Off The Mind is the intense one-to-one battle of wits. With the previous episodes having two killers that energy can’t help getting somewhat diluted.

Requiem For A Falling Star has some terrific twists. There’s Nora getting the wrong target when blowing up a car, only for Columbo (and us) to eventually discover the dead person was her intended target. And if I’m following, this is also the first (and, who knows, possibly the only) episode in which Columbo uncovers an old murder along the way, deducing that Nora’s P.A. died because she knew that Nora had murdered her husband many years earlier and buried him in the outdoor area of the bungalow.

I share Columbo’s sense of awe at the bungalow Nora had on the lot. If this comes along with stardom, I can understand why many would find it an attractive prospect. I could certainly happily live in that residence if only it didn’t come with the fame and fandom (and murder).

Columbo phones his wife from Nora’s bungalow. She’s out on both occasions, but Nora speaks to his brother-in-law (or is it his cousin) George. There’s some really funny business where he asks Nora to enquire how tall George is then, as soon as the question is asked, Columbo takes the receiver and listens while placing his hand over his mouth to stop from laughing Then he just hangs up. I take it to mean that George is rather short. I wonder if he will become a recurring unseen character? Incidentally, Anne Baxter also seems to be trying to keep a straight face through this scene. I wonder how much of this she was expecting?

In other recurring Columboisms, when Nora asks him if he’d thought about getting another car he responds that he has got another car for his wife, but it’s “nothing special. It’s just for transportation”. It’s a nice, funny line, previously spoken to the Mancunian garage owner in Étude In Black. Incidentally, the sight of Columbo’s old banger screeching to a halt with glamorously regal Nora in the passenger seat is hilarious.

In more meta stuff, costume designer Edith Head plays herself, her Oscars proudly on display as she discusses wardrobe with Nora (even more mind-blowingly, among hordes of famous actresses Edith had previously dressed Anne Baxter in The Ten Commandments). On Nora’s orders, Edith presents Columbo with a wide and garish orange tie which he quickly loses. I can’t blame him. It’s hideous.

This episode’s Gotcha is notable to me for its intimacy. Throughout the episode a real respect develops between Columbo and Nora. As frustrating as she finds his presence, one senses that she grows to like him. And he is in awe of her, telling her on their first meeting that he’s been in love with her since he was a little boy. Nora’s quiet confession - her “star” façade slipping into something far more human - and the way she gathers her things to leave the bungalow with Columbo has a quiet dignity that I found touching.

 

[Angela Channing]

I consider Dagger of The Mind to be the second worst episode in the original run of Columbo episodes mainly because of the hammy performances of Honor Blackman and Richard Basehart. They are so over the top they almost give a pantomime performance. I just couldn't take the episode seriously because they were so awful. What I did like though was seeing what London looked like in the 1970s and my favourite part of the show and trying to work out what were the real use of buildings repurposed for the show (e.g. the House of Wax at the end was really a college of the University of London).

The storyline of Dagger of The Mind is actually not that bad and in the hands of 2 more lead actors that played the parts more seriously it could have been a reasonably good episode. It's a shame really because they went to the trouble to shift production to London only to produce a really weak episode. The ending when Richard Basehart rambles lines from a play like he's having some kind of mental breakdown was badly written and even worse acted and just when I thought this episode couldn't get any worse that moment proved me wrong.

I can only recall 2 episodes of Columbo that weren't set in the USA this one and Troubled Waters which was set on a cruise ship and the actor who played the English detective in this episode also played a key member of the ship's crew in Troubled Waters.

Requiem For a Falling Star is in a different league altogether. The 2 main actors other than Peter Falk (Anne Baxter and Mel Ferrer) were both really good and I loved the Lieutenant's bashful star-stuck approach when interacting with Nora.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

I consider Dagger of The Mind to be the second worst episode in the original run of Columbo episodes

Oh wow. In that case I feel quite lucky to have enjoyed it.

mainly because of the hammy performances of Honor Blackman and Richard Basehart. They are so over the top they almost give a pantomime performance. I just couldn't take the episode seriously because they were so awful.

It's a shame really because they went to the trouble to shift production to London only to produce a really weak episode.

Yes, they are a bit hammy now you mention it and I can understand how it could be distracting. The performances didn't bother me too much as I just viewed it as a slightly more offbeat and eccentric episode to fit the location. Honor won me over with her raucous laugh when I watched her episode of Whodunnit? a couple of years ago and I've had a soft spot for her since then.

What I did like though was seeing what London looked like in the 1970s and my favourite part of the show and trying to work out what were the real use of buildings repurposed for the show (e.g. the House of Wax at the end was really a college of the University of London).

Same here. I only have a passing acquaintance with London from various visits over the years, but it's still exciting to see some of the spots I've been to as they looked before I was born. I had wondered about the London Wax Museum myself and took a peek on Google Maps. Luckily it was quite easy to find as it was clearly shown to be opposite the Royal Albert Hall at the end.

Requiem For a Falling Star is in a different league altogether. The 2 main actors other than Peter Falk (Anne Baxter and Mel Ferrer) were both really good and I loved the Lieutenant's bashful star-stuck approach when interacting with Nora.

Absolutely.

 

[Angela Channing]

Oh wow. In that case I feel quite lucky to have enjoyed it.

Well there's no accounting for personal tastes and I'm sure, like you, most viewers would be able to look past it's shortcomings and still enjoy the episode. I just feel the standard of most of the early episodes is so high that when this one come along and it isn't as good I struggle to warm to it.

I normally like Honor Blackman but I felt she and Richard Basehart got the whole tone of their performances wrong and played it far too light. I like when there are elements of comedy in Columbo but here I felt a more serious tone would have made their characters more believable which would have given the episode more credibility. That said, it isn't the worse episode of the original series and it's better than some of the duds in the revival series.

 

[Mel O'Drama]

A Stitch In Crime / The Most Dangerous Match

​

For the first time during this rewatch, I’ve had a Columbo matinee. The weather not being as good as forecast, I thought I’d pop an episode in the player yesterday afternoon. I didn’t think of it until the episode was underway but this was most nostalgic since I fondly remember Sunday afternoon repeats of Columbo which I would occasionally catch in the late Eighties. Perhaps as late as the early Nineties.

Whether or not this influenced the way I viewed the episode is difficult to say but, whatever the case, A Stitch In Crime proved to be one of the most enjoyable for me so far. If I were ranking the episodes as I watched, I feel this one would be somewhere at the very top.

This is all the more impressive since this is perhaps one of the least scenic episodes. The hospital setting means there are an awful lot of austere interiors. On that level it feels a little like watching a more typical set-based series of the era.

There are a few nice exteriors to balance it out, such as the pier location, the pony ride place (is this where Suzanne Pleshette’s character worked in Dead Weight, I wonder? It looks very similar). Most notably, there’s Dr Mayfield’s home, which IMDb tells me is a resplendent and expansive home on Airole Way, Bel-Air.

Visually, there’s also a most striking sequence where Dusty Farlow is drugged and it looks as though a lava lamp had been placed on the lens.

Mostly, though, the story is the star with this one. As well as the enjoyably fraught back and forth between Columbo and Dr Mayfield. The ghost of Mr Spock can’t have been an easy one to shake for poor Leonard Nimoy, but this episode shows how it’s done. He’s positively sinister at times. Mayfield also seems to really get under Columbo’s skin. There’s a scene that feels almost out of character where Columbo seems to lose his temper and smash a jug down on Mayfield’s table while raising his voice.

Two other things make this episode a bit different from the norm. Firstly and most importantly [spoiler alert] the killer’s intended victim doesn’t die. Secondly, if Dr Hiedemann had died, Mayfield would have become the series’ first killer to notch up three victims. Would this mean Columbo had bagged a serial killer?

This episode's Gotcha was satisfying, particularly due to the fake out where it seemed Mayfield would unthinkably get away with his crime. I’d initially thought the lack of suture was evidence in itself since it showed it had dissolved. But it turned out to be even more concrete than this. And it felt like a hard earned win for Columbo.

continued...​

 

[Mel O'Drama]

A Stitch In Crime / The Most Dangerous Match



continued



​

A Stitch In Time features some classic Columbo queasiness when he visits a surgeon to discuss suture and ends up being subjected to watching surgery on a patient's stomach through one of those curious elevated operating theatre viewing rooms that crop up on American TV from time to time. I've assumed they're to allow medical students to watch and take notes, but whenever they're on TV people seem to wander in willy nilly for a little peek, which is rather creepy. I wonder if these are still a thing. Anyway, Columbo makes it through without fainting (barely) and without looking (mostly). The necessary exposition in this scene could easily have been dry and dull. Instead it's brilliantly combined with great humour and a wonderful character moment for the lead character.

Likewise, Columbo visiting the scene of the crime is never dull. After Nurse Martin's murder he appears at the crime scene with a hard boiled egg and is chastised for dropping bits of shell into an area they're trying to keep untainted. At the end of the scene he is shown the murder weapon - a tyre iron - which he's told is free of prints. As it's about to be taken away, he asks the officer to hold it up in front of him. It appears Columbo is about to inspect it, but instead he produces his egg and taps it on this crucial piece of evidence to break the shell. It's a laugh out loud moment.

The entire crime scene is full of moments like this. We learn Mrs Columbo isn't well, and Columbo hasn't slept or eaten properly. He spends this scene - and indeed, the first third of the picture - trying unsuccessfully to obtain a cup of coffee in order to wake up. One of these requests - asking Leonard Nimoy if there's a coffee machine on that floor - feels like an ad lib, and is met with a very quick, very gruff, very definitive "No".

I found it interesting that Mayfield’s motive and M.O. changed with each victim. The plan to kill Hiedemann with dissolving sutures after a heart valve operation to allow him to go ahead with publishing their research without further tests and with full credit was particularly cold and cunning. The two actual victims were because one knew too much and the other was an obvious frame to take the blame.

Mayfield’s two victims were familiar faces to me. Suspicious Nurse Sharon Martin was the gorgeous Anne Francis, last seen making goo goo eyes at Roddy McDowall in Season One’s Short Fuse. Jared Martin is, of course, best known to me for Dallas. Another familiar soap face appeared in the following episode with the ubiquitous Lloyd Bochner - the future Cecil Colby - playing the victim’s coach.

During the opening scenes of The Most Dangerous Match, I’d thought that Laurence Harvey was going to be no match at all for Columbo, and I enjoy that I underestimated him somewhat. He had an enjoyable quiet intensity.

He proved very wily indeed. The plan to get his victim to write a note before killing him was a nice touch. There was also his reaction to being taken back to the diner by Columbo, where he was quite open about knowing he was there to be identified.

I was convinced Clayton’s hearing aid was going to be some kind of radio device allowing him to cheat at chess. It did figure into the denouement, of course, but turned out to be far simpler than I’d thought.

Watchable as I found it in the moment, I find that the latter episode is already fading into dimness in my memory, suggesting it’s not the most impactive or memorable of episodes. All the same, it works perfectly well. I suppose they don’t all have to be knockouts. But it's certainly an episode that's worth watching. The memorable opening nightmare sequence alone makes it worth the entry fee.

 

[Angela Channing]

Whether or not this influenced the way I viewed the episode is difficult to say but, whatever the case, A Stitch In Crime proved to be one of the most enjoyable for me so far. If I were ranking the episodes as I watched, I feel this one would be somewhere at the very top.

I completely agree. A Stitch In Crime is one of my favourite episodes, definitely in my top 10 best episodes, possibly in my top 5. So many elements come together to make it one of the greats: a strong plot, clever murder, great performance from the murderer, fascinating interactions between Columbo and the murderer and a really good gotcha.

There’s a scene that feels almost out of character where Columbo seems to lose his temper and smash a jug down on Mayfield’s table while raising his voice.

One of the great Columbo scenes because he is usually so cool and laid back so when he losing his temper you can't help but to take note that it's something significant. The Leonard Nimoy character is a nasty piece of work and Columbo knows it but his usual understated interrogation of his main suspect doesn't seem to be working and this gets to him. I remember vividly the look of surprise on the face of Leonard Nimoy's character, it's almost fear, when Columbo bangs the water jug on the table.

During the opening scenes of The Most Dangerous Match, I’d thought that Laurence Harvey was going to be no match at all for Columbo, and I enjoy that I underestimated him somewhat. He had an enjoyable quiet intensity.

Great description of the man and why I thought he was an interesting murderer. Sadly, he was played in a way that didn't give him a particularly strong screen presence and that weakened the impact of the episode.

Watchable as I found it in the moment, I find that the latter episode is already fading into dimness in my memory, suggesting it’s not the most impactive or memorable of episodes.

I seem to like this episode more than most people. It's not one of the best but it's still a good middle-ranking episode. I thought the premise of the murder was an intriguing one and I really liked the gotcha.