With one subtle change in the script this might have been one of the great "Columbo" episodes. Richard Quine, who also wrote the weak "Dagger of the Mind," does a superior job this time. But he still misses a trick.
Faded movie actress Nora Chandler (Anne Baxter) is being blackmailed by a gossip columnist, Jerry Parks (Mel Ferrer). Parks is also romancing Chandler's secretary (Pippa Scott) who knows all the great star's secrets. Chandler in desperation blows up the columnist's car – but it turns out her secretary was the one driving.
The plot is entertaining and has at least two satisfying surprises. But as in "Dagger," Quine does not know how to treat our favorite detective. This time he commits the tactical blunder of making Columbo a genuine fan of Chandler. When we first see him, he's standing at her door, checking his nails, making a futile effort to unrumple himself. Once he's inside, he gushes over the star and even calls his brother-in-law from her house and asks her to say hello to him. The Columbo we know and love can be gauche, but he's not an idiot. It's painful watching him behave so obtusely with someone he admires and genuinely believes has just suffered a great shock.
And that's the problem. For the first time, his intuition fails him when it comes to spotting the killer. In fact, he seems much more suspicious of the gossip columnist than of her. And when he finally does suspect her, he can hardly allow himself to believe it. This is very un-Columbo-like. Usually when he gushes over someone, it's to get the suspect to lower his (or her) defenses. Think of his crafty obsequiousness to Jack Cassidy in "Murder by the Book." This would have been a far more entertaining episode if Columbo *pretended* to be a big fan.
Still, this is enjoyable enough, especially for movie buffs. Anne Baxter is everyone's favorite manipulative bitch from "All About Eve," and she does a fine job playing a homicidal variation here. There are a lot of old movie stars' photos in the columnist's office (I spotted Jean Harlow, W.C. Fields, Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable, just to name a few). And we even get to see Baxter play a second murderess in a movie-within-a-movie. Then there's a cameo for legendary costume designer Edith Head. Good stuff, but it could have been much better.
Faded movie actress Nora Chandler (Anne Baxter) is being blackmailed by a gossip columnist, Jerry Parks (Mel Ferrer). Parks is also romancing Chandler's secretary (Pippa Scott) who knows all the great star's secrets. Chandler in desperation blows up the columnist's car – but it turns out her secretary was the one driving.
The plot is entertaining and has at least two satisfying surprises. But as in "Dagger," Quine does not know how to treat our favorite detective. This time he commits the tactical blunder of making Columbo a genuine fan of Chandler. When we first see him, he's standing at her door, checking his nails, making a futile effort to unrumple himself. Once he's inside, he gushes over the star and even calls his brother-in-law from her house and asks her to say hello to him. The Columbo we know and love can be gauche, but he's not an idiot. It's painful watching him behave so obtusely with someone he admires and genuinely believes has just suffered a great shock.
And that's the problem. For the first time, his intuition fails him when it comes to spotting the killer. In fact, he seems much more suspicious of the gossip columnist than of her. And when he finally does suspect her, he can hardly allow himself to believe it. This is very un-Columbo-like. Usually when he gushes over someone, it's to get the suspect to lower his (or her) defenses. Think of his crafty obsequiousness to Jack Cassidy in "Murder by the Book." This would have been a far more entertaining episode if Columbo *pretended* to be a big fan.
Still, this is enjoyable enough, especially for movie buffs. Anne Baxter is everyone's favorite manipulative bitch from "All About Eve," and she does a fine job playing a homicidal variation here. There are a lot of old movie stars' photos in the columnist's office (I spotted Jean Harlow, W.C. Fields, Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable, just to name a few). And we even get to see Baxter play a second murderess in a movie-within-a-movie. Then there's a cameo for legendary costume designer Edith Head. Good stuff, but it could have been much better.