Playback
- Episode aired Mar 2, 1975
- TV-PG
- 1h 13m
IMDb RATING
7.6/10
2.5K
YOUR RATING
A gadget-happy inventor murders his mother-in-law; Lt. Columbo is on the case.A gadget-happy inventor murders his mother-in-law; Lt. Columbo is on the case.A gadget-happy inventor murders his mother-in-law; Lt. Columbo is on the case.
Photos
Herbert Jefferson Jr.
- S. Baxter
- (as Herb Jefferson Jr.)
Frank Baxter
- Officer Bronson
- (uncredited)
Henry
- Columbo's Dog
- (uncredited)
Mike Lally
- Man in Snack Bar
- (uncredited)
Arthur Tovey
- Man in Art Gallery
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaPeter Falk traveled all the way to Switzerland to persuade Oskar Werner in person to take part in this segment.
- GoofsColumbo has the security video (a wide shot of the room) enhanced and is able to read the wording on a card on the mantelpiece, thereby nullifying the suspect's alibi. This would have been impossible. It is stretching technology and image-enhancement way too far to be able to extract a clear image of the card from something that occupies only a few lines of the video image and to manufacture information that was simply not there in the original image.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Remington Steele: Stronger Than Steele (1985)
Featured review
No winners
My favorite Columbo for so many reasons. Oscar Werner is one of his best adversaries - note the wonderful way he refuses to accept he has been caught and that his fool-proof plan was thwarted by a simple human frailty - carelessness. Gena Rowlands, though restricted by her wheelchair bound role, nevertheless acts as a streak of goodness running against the machinations of her husband. Look at the way she is displayed in flowing robes and long blonde hair, almost angelic.
The real strength of this episode lies in the denouement. 99% of the time we root for Columbo to outwit the murderer but here there is no winner. Gena Rowlands has neither a mother nor a husband at the end, as Werner led is away for incarceration, but there is no victory in Columbo's face, only a deep empathetic resignation and an underlining of what is the true cost when people commit the most heinous of crimes.
The real strength of this episode lies in the denouement. 99% of the time we root for Columbo to outwit the murderer but here there is no winner. Gena Rowlands has neither a mother nor a husband at the end, as Werner led is away for incarceration, but there is no victory in Columbo's face, only a deep empathetic resignation and an underlining of what is the true cost when people commit the most heinous of crimes.
helpful•280
- john_maudlin
- Nov 26, 2016
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