This is one of the best. It's one of only two examples where Columbo lets one get away (the other being "It's All in the Game.") The reason is heartbreaking, since the killer is on the verge of death and the murder was entirely pointless.
Janet Leigh plays an obsessive has-been star, Grace Wheeler, with a lot over-the-top gestures in the usual style of show business characters in "Columbo," but the explanation for her behavior has an interesting twist.
What I noticed in my last watching was a brilliant, subtle moment that I had never seen before. Columbo visits Grace at her dance rehearsal, where she is showing signs is diminished capacity. They go into a hallway, where Columbo takes out some photographs to show Grace, and casually mentions her husband's death. The momentary expression of shock and dismay on her face betrays a lack of memory that her husband had even died, much less that she had killed him. Columbo's head was turned, so he didn't see it.
Janet Leigh plays an obsessive has-been star, Grace Wheeler, with a lot over-the-top gestures in the usual style of show business characters in "Columbo," but the explanation for her behavior has an interesting twist.
What I noticed in my last watching was a brilliant, subtle moment that I had never seen before. Columbo visits Grace at her dance rehearsal, where she is showing signs is diminished capacity. They go into a hallway, where Columbo takes out some photographs to show Grace, and casually mentions her husband's death. The momentary expression of shock and dismay on her face betrays a lack of memory that her husband had even died, much less that she had killed him. Columbo's head was turned, so he didn't see it.
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