During season 6 Lansbury wanted time to off from the weekly TV schedule. Therefore there were many episodes were she would introduce a mystery starring another detective. The first episode chosen was this episode It is a well known fact that this episode was originally a script for the Jim Hutton and David Wayne Ellery Queen series. A series produced by the creators of this one. This is a fact that makes reviewing the episode in a unbiased manner very hard for me. As a admirer of the short lived TV series I can't help but compare the characters and actors to those of the original show. There are similarities but there are also major differences.
The detective, Christie, is not exactly Ellery. Ellery is a well respected mystery writer while the Christie makes crosswords for the Newspaper and wants to be a reporter. Christie's relationship with his father is also very different from that of Ellery and Inspector Queen. While inspector Queen usually solicits help from Ellery, The Inspector here is unsupportive. He comes off as man who resents his son solving cases,worrying it that makes him look bad. Also interestingly Ellery was absent minded while Christie is not. He never loses focus or misplaces anything the way Ellery did. Perhaps the producers thought that with that between being unable to become a writer plus the problems with his father, Christie was already enough of a underdog and didn't need another Achilles heel.
The radio host is patterned after the Simon Bremmer character played in the original series by John Hillerman. Here Robert Vaughan plays the rival sleuth. While I can't fault Robert Vaughan's acting he does not convey arrogance as well as John Hillerman does. The rivalry between him and Christie is also different .Ellery and Simon always stayed on friendly terms despite competing to solve the case. The relationship here is more antagonistic. Finally he comes up with a solution that is way off base. Simon would not get the right answer but he usually was able to get at least part of the answer.
Perhaps the weakest part is the father/son relationship mentioned above. David Wayne and Jim Hutton played off of each other so well one could really believe they were father and son. Perhaps it is the way the characters are written or maybe the actors themselves. It is hard to say but it does not work nearly as well.
And like the series this takes place in 1947. The shadow of the second world war is a theme through out the story.
What about the story itself? It is actually two mysteries. One is the murder and the other involves missing counterfeit plates. However this is somewhat of a weakness. It is seems the mystery of the plates was more developed by the writer than it the actual mystery of the murder.The episode also includes another character who is a female British writer. She seems to be loosely based on upon Agatha Christie. Without giving any spoilers away,the whole angle about "her solution" to the mystery and not telling her what the real solution was just is not believable. Why couldn't he simply point her in the direction to the right solution? If the case is not classified won't she find out? The dying message clues however is good. It is not too far fetched and ingenious enough to have more than one interpretation.
In the final analysis that despite the flaws it was a good episode. And maybe with a few changes in casting they could have created a spin off series from this episode.
The detective, Christie, is not exactly Ellery. Ellery is a well respected mystery writer while the Christie makes crosswords for the Newspaper and wants to be a reporter. Christie's relationship with his father is also very different from that of Ellery and Inspector Queen. While inspector Queen usually solicits help from Ellery, The Inspector here is unsupportive. He comes off as man who resents his son solving cases,worrying it that makes him look bad. Also interestingly Ellery was absent minded while Christie is not. He never loses focus or misplaces anything the way Ellery did. Perhaps the producers thought that with that between being unable to become a writer plus the problems with his father, Christie was already enough of a underdog and didn't need another Achilles heel.
The radio host is patterned after the Simon Bremmer character played in the original series by John Hillerman. Here Robert Vaughan plays the rival sleuth. While I can't fault Robert Vaughan's acting he does not convey arrogance as well as John Hillerman does. The rivalry between him and Christie is also different .Ellery and Simon always stayed on friendly terms despite competing to solve the case. The relationship here is more antagonistic. Finally he comes up with a solution that is way off base. Simon would not get the right answer but he usually was able to get at least part of the answer.
Perhaps the weakest part is the father/son relationship mentioned above. David Wayne and Jim Hutton played off of each other so well one could really believe they were father and son. Perhaps it is the way the characters are written or maybe the actors themselves. It is hard to say but it does not work nearly as well.
And like the series this takes place in 1947. The shadow of the second world war is a theme through out the story.
What about the story itself? It is actually two mysteries. One is the murder and the other involves missing counterfeit plates. However this is somewhat of a weakness. It is seems the mystery of the plates was more developed by the writer than it the actual mystery of the murder.The episode also includes another character who is a female British writer. She seems to be loosely based on upon Agatha Christie. Without giving any spoilers away,the whole angle about "her solution" to the mystery and not telling her what the real solution was just is not believable. Why couldn't he simply point her in the direction to the right solution? If the case is not classified won't she find out? The dying message clues however is good. It is not too far fetched and ingenious enough to have more than one interpretation.
In the final analysis that despite the flaws it was a good episode. And maybe with a few changes in casting they could have created a spin off series from this episode.
