This was a marvelous episode. I'm surprised Donald Pleasence wasn't nominated for an Emmy for his performance as the chief suspect. He made the motivations of his unlikable character understandable and even sympathetic. What's more, that character was physically very restrained, for the most part, so Pleasence had to make him known through minuscule changes in facial expression, small movements, nearly imperceptible hesitations. The moment when Columbo becomes suspicious of him is due to to the tiniest inconsistency in behavior, and the close-up of Columbo's face, the combination of light and shrewdness in his eyes, is a joy to behold. The story itself is intriguingly different, too: a murder motivated not by the usual jealousy, greed, or lover's quarrel, but by a very different type of passion.
Really a delight all the way through to watch these masters of the craft at work in a very well-told tale, and with the masters, a mistress of the acting craft, Julie Harris, in a smaller role, equally impeccably played. I rank the episode at the top of my list now, together with one featuring Leonard Nimoy as an ego maniacal surgeon.
Really a delight all the way through to watch these masters of the craft at work in a very well-told tale, and with the masters, a mistress of the acting craft, Julie Harris, in a smaller role, equally impeccably played. I rank the episode at the top of my list now, together with one featuring Leonard Nimoy as an ego maniacal surgeon.