Better than average. This episode is from the second season and Columbo was hitting its stride.
The cast is excellent. Will Geer, in particular, is always outstanding. Anne Francis is beautiful and one wonders if she and Peter Falk reminisced about the old days in Ossining, New York, where both of them grew up. I especially liked Nita Talbot as Marcia. She's given the most amusing lines and the most romantically desperate of characters. Explaining to a sleep-deprived unshaven Columbo why she feels guilty: "I chose to work for a plastic surgeon in Beverley Hills, but I don't meet any single men until they're ready for face lifts." The motivation may be a little weak. One scientist invents a new surgical technique and tries to kill another because he wants all the credit. Well, maybe the motive isn't so weak at that. I spent 30 years in research settings and am filled with resentment at the credit I should have gotten for my work, credit which was taken by rivals out to make me look small and insignificant. May their souls rot in -- well. I believe in karma and they'll get theirs alright.
The plot is great though. Columbo gets to display his aversion to hospital sights, sounds, and odors, which is perfectly understandable. And we learn just enough about surgical procedures to follow the machinations of the heavy, Leonard Nimoy.
This is the one in which Columbo loses his temper and slams a water pitcher down on Nimoy's desk.
Excellent distraction.
The cast is excellent. Will Geer, in particular, is always outstanding. Anne Francis is beautiful and one wonders if she and Peter Falk reminisced about the old days in Ossining, New York, where both of them grew up. I especially liked Nita Talbot as Marcia. She's given the most amusing lines and the most romantically desperate of characters. Explaining to a sleep-deprived unshaven Columbo why she feels guilty: "I chose to work for a plastic surgeon in Beverley Hills, but I don't meet any single men until they're ready for face lifts." The motivation may be a little weak. One scientist invents a new surgical technique and tries to kill another because he wants all the credit. Well, maybe the motive isn't so weak at that. I spent 30 years in research settings and am filled with resentment at the credit I should have gotten for my work, credit which was taken by rivals out to make me look small and insignificant. May their souls rot in -- well. I believe in karma and they'll get theirs alright.
The plot is great though. Columbo gets to display his aversion to hospital sights, sounds, and odors, which is perfectly understandable. And we learn just enough about surgical procedures to follow the machinations of the heavy, Leonard Nimoy.
This is the one in which Columbo loses his temper and slams a water pitcher down on Nimoy's desk.
Excellent distraction.