A 'motivation research specialist' called Dr Kimble (played by Robert Culp) blackmails his clients by fixing them up with a model employed by his company, taking compromising photographs then threatening to hand them over to their wives unless they pay him money. However, his latest top client, Vic Norris (played by Robert Middleton), isn't intimidated and plans to report him to the district attorney. Kimble arranges what he thinks will be the perfect murder. He adds a 'subliminal cut' to a film being screened at his private cinema, which will subconsciously will his victim to leave the auditorium for a drink at the water cooler in the lobby. When he does he shoots him dead and there can be no witnesses. In addition, Kimble attempts to frame Norris's wife (played by Louise Latham). As his alibi, Kimble creates the illusion that he is narrating the film from behind the stage by playing a pre-recorded tape into the microphones. Lt Columbo (played by Peter Falk) is assigned to the case and he immediately suspects him, but finding hard evidence to convict him is going to be incredibly difficult. Meanwhile, Kimble's projectionist, Roger White (played by Chuck McCann), has rumbled his boss and sees the opportunity for blackmail. Kimble wastes no time in killing him too by arranging another seemingly fool proof murder and further implicating Norris's wife...
Enormously enjoyable entry from this long running and popular series, which keeps the viewer hooked from beginning to end. Robert Culp makes a superb villain and the way in which Peter Falk's Columbo attempts to trap him by constantly hanging around, irritating him and pretending to be bumbling is a joy to watch. Like so many murderers, Kimble never banks on the fact that no matter how well he thinks he might have arranged his crimes and covered his tracks that there will always be a flaw somewhere. In addition, he doesn't think for one second that anyone would think to look into his extensive knowledge of film techniques, including the use of 'subliminal cuts' to prove that he was a cold blooded killer. As always with this series, we know who the killer is from the beginning and how he perpetrated his crimes. But, here, the writers have kept one vital clue from us that isn't revealed until the end after we have been invited to work out for ourselves how exactly Kimble did it. That is a plus. The denouement where Columbo finally nails Kimble by exposing him as a man who is too clever by half is amusing and will take the audience by surprise. Fans of the technical side of filmmaking and cinemas will also be delighted with this. For instance, the killer exploits old fashioned film projection techniques to create a false alibi for the projectionist's murder by performing a reel-to-reel changeover on a projector himself to create the illusion that his victim had still been alive while he himself was miles away from the scene. All in all, this is unmissable.
Enormously enjoyable entry from this long running and popular series, which keeps the viewer hooked from beginning to end. Robert Culp makes a superb villain and the way in which Peter Falk's Columbo attempts to trap him by constantly hanging around, irritating him and pretending to be bumbling is a joy to watch. Like so many murderers, Kimble never banks on the fact that no matter how well he thinks he might have arranged his crimes and covered his tracks that there will always be a flaw somewhere. In addition, he doesn't think for one second that anyone would think to look into his extensive knowledge of film techniques, including the use of 'subliminal cuts' to prove that he was a cold blooded killer. As always with this series, we know who the killer is from the beginning and how he perpetrated his crimes. But, here, the writers have kept one vital clue from us that isn't revealed until the end after we have been invited to work out for ourselves how exactly Kimble did it. That is a plus. The denouement where Columbo finally nails Kimble by exposing him as a man who is too clever by half is amusing and will take the audience by surprise. Fans of the technical side of filmmaking and cinemas will also be delighted with this. For instance, the killer exploits old fashioned film projection techniques to create a false alibi for the projectionist's murder by performing a reel-to-reel changeover on a projector himself to create the illusion that his victim had still been alive while he himself was miles away from the scene. All in all, this is unmissable.