I like almost all the Columbo episodes and this is a good one, with perhaps his sexiest adversary. However there is, for me, one glaring inconsistency - which no other reviewers have pointed out, so I hope I'm not missing something.
Early in the episode Leslie telephones a friend, asking her to ring her at 1215 the following day and simply say the word "tennis" then immediately hang up, her alleged reason for this being that she has been forgetful lately and needs to be reminded of the planned game. When the friend does so, Leslie pretends, to the witnesses she has made sure are there, that the call is the first communication from the kidnapper.
Leaving aside the unlikelihood of the resourceful Leslie relying on such an uncertain device - I wonder how she could be confident that the friend would remember or would not be late or that nothing would occur to prevent her from making the call - I find it a rather stupid thing to do anyway. The call could have been investigated. Indeed in 'telephone call' situations in other episodes, Columbo can be relied upon to check on all relevant calls to see who made them and to whom. Had he done so here, he would quickly have found the originating number and a quick visit to the friend would have exposed Leslie as a liar.
Yet neither he nor the FBI performed this obvious routine task. The only possible reason has to be that, had they done so, the episode would have lasted about twenty minutes but that is hardly a good reason within the plot. It's wrong and for me it impaired the rest of the otherwise well-constructed film.
I was sad to see that Patricia Mattick, who played the spoilt step-daughter Margaret, died aged only 52 in 2003. I think her acting here was, if anything, too good as the character was, as others have mentioned, so obnoxious that I found myself siding with the vicious, selfish and cold-hearted murderess. Surely not the intention!
Early in the episode Leslie telephones a friend, asking her to ring her at 1215 the following day and simply say the word "tennis" then immediately hang up, her alleged reason for this being that she has been forgetful lately and needs to be reminded of the planned game. When the friend does so, Leslie pretends, to the witnesses she has made sure are there, that the call is the first communication from the kidnapper.
Leaving aside the unlikelihood of the resourceful Leslie relying on such an uncertain device - I wonder how she could be confident that the friend would remember or would not be late or that nothing would occur to prevent her from making the call - I find it a rather stupid thing to do anyway. The call could have been investigated. Indeed in 'telephone call' situations in other episodes, Columbo can be relied upon to check on all relevant calls to see who made them and to whom. Had he done so here, he would quickly have found the originating number and a quick visit to the friend would have exposed Leslie as a liar.
Yet neither he nor the FBI performed this obvious routine task. The only possible reason has to be that, had they done so, the episode would have lasted about twenty minutes but that is hardly a good reason within the plot. It's wrong and for me it impaired the rest of the otherwise well-constructed film.
I was sad to see that Patricia Mattick, who played the spoilt step-daughter Margaret, died aged only 52 in 2003. I think her acting here was, if anything, too good as the character was, as others have mentioned, so obnoxious that I found myself siding with the vicious, selfish and cold-hearted murderess. Surely not the intention!