“The game has been engaged, and Mason will not shake Columbo until there is a victor. While a viewer can complain that this is not realistic (it isn’t), it supports the larger aesthetic of the episode: to employ an expression from a later time and culture, the episode’s Columbo-perpetrator encounters are a great example of game recognizing game.” (apologies - I messed up the quote function)
I watched How to Dial a Murder on the weekend for the first time, in a long time. On many rewatches, I forget how Columbo catches this murderer, but I never forgot this one. It is obviously influenced by Citizen Kane and for that reason, it’s hard to forget the “Gotcha” in this episode.
The episode/movie was far better than I remember. It looks like this was a 90 minute episode back in the 1970s and those episodes tend to be better. Many of 2 hour episodes had filler scenes that were not really needed. In watching this episode, there was no scene that I thought should obviously be cut. Some nice references to Citizen Kane are woven in (and announced to the viewer in the episode).
I think the “Gotcha” is reasonably good but far from the best. My biggest attraction to Columbo are the “Gotcha” moments (my favourite episode and “Gotchas” are A Friend In Deed and the Greenhouse Jungle).
The one small problem I have with the episode is why Columbo suspects Dr. Mason. While the dogs being playful following their attack is a tip off that something might be awry, I did not find that as compelling as some other episodes. That said, it’s far from the worse. One of my favourite tipoff moments is in Mind Over Mayem. It’s an episode I do not really like due to what I would describe as a 70s style elements in the episode - but the tipoff is great. Columbo finds a match that was obviously used by a cigar smoker. As he notes at the end of the episode: “I was looking for a cigar smoker and there you were.”
Thanks for bringing up How to Dial a Murder. I did not have any plans to re-watch it and I am glad I did.
Two other quick points:
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The Columbo Phile book provides some nice material on the episodes in the series (though it’s a little pricey for a used copy). There is blog of the same name(though it has not been updated much anymore). It can be found here if anyone is interested: https://columbophile.com/
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The blog and book note some interesting facts about Nicol Williamson who played Dr. Mason:
“I find it interesting to note that when Williamson was interviewed about his Columbo experiences by Mark Dawidziak for The Columbo Phile book in the 1980s that he could barely remember his appearance here. He had undergone a divorce in 1977 and claimed he had taken the role because he ‘had to have the money’.”
