Prescription: Murder was shown in 1968, the Columbo mystery movies for television followed later in 1971.
There is an economy in the storytelling here. Within the first opening minute we gather Dr Ray Flemming (Gene Barry) is an extremely clever man. He is celebrating his wedding anniversary and he is a talented psychiatrist. Over the next few minutes we see Dr Flemming leave his wife to have a dalliance with another woman and we can guess the murder victim is going to be his wife as she makes her displeasure known to him when he returns home.
Levinson and Link have adapted their own stage play for this film. Peter Falk is a younger and more neater in appearance. He is still an irritant and maybe a little darker here but still cunning.
Dr Flemming may have thought he has planned a perfect murder with the help of his mistress who is also a part time actress. However Columbo turns the table on him with a clever use of bait and switch.
The stage play origins are visible in a few scenes where it comes across as a bit too wordy. The formula was very much there for the rest of the Columbo films.
There is an economy in the storytelling here. Within the first opening minute we gather Dr Ray Flemming (Gene Barry) is an extremely clever man. He is celebrating his wedding anniversary and he is a talented psychiatrist. Over the next few minutes we see Dr Flemming leave his wife to have a dalliance with another woman and we can guess the murder victim is going to be his wife as she makes her displeasure known to him when he returns home.
Levinson and Link have adapted their own stage play for this film. Peter Falk is a younger and more neater in appearance. He is still an irritant and maybe a little darker here but still cunning.
Dr Flemming may have thought he has planned a perfect murder with the help of his mistress who is also a part time actress. However Columbo turns the table on him with a clever use of bait and switch.
The stage play origins are visible in a few scenes where it comes across as a bit too wordy. The formula was very much there for the rest of the Columbo films.