PLOT: Dr. Bart Kepple makes motivational films and is an expert on subliminal cuts at the Institute he runs. These are very short splices in the film, which you don't consciously see, but the subconscious mind reacts to them. Kepple has decided to murder Vic Norris, who is a business associate who he is having problems with. Kepple makes sure he partakes of heavily salted caviar before he enters the screening of a film. While he is watching the film Norris becomes very thirsty (Kepple has placed subliminal cuts of a cool drink in the film). Kepple is behind a screen on the stage of the arena narrating the film, but he has recorded a large segment of the narration on audio tape, and at the right moment he stops talking and the tape takes over. He then goes to the lobby and murders Norris, who is there having a drink. He returns and no one is any the wiser. When they leave the arena there is a commotion as the body of Norris is found. Kepple puts his tape recorder down on the table and presses the record button, thus erasing the evidence. When Columbo arrives on the scene he finds several things very puzzling. How did the killer know that Norris would leave the arena? Why did Kepple press record on the tape recorder after he had heard the commotion? He begins to suspect Kepple, though proving his guilt is not an easy undertaking. He checks out his gun but finds the bullet wasn't fired from it. He has a room full of witnesses saying he was at the back of the stage when the murder took place. However, Kepple has made a mistake. Roger White, who works in the film room that shows the films, had spotted Kepple fiddling around with the security camera for the lobby. He also noticed the subliminal cuts in the film. He says he won't go to the Police if Kepple pays him some money to keep quiet. Kepple agrees. That evening he goes to the cinema where White works part time and murders him. He then changes the reel to make it look like the murder was committed later than it was. Soon after he returns to the Institute Columbo arrives, unwittingly providing him with the perfect alibi for White's death. Then Columbo gets a call saying about the murder of White. He and Kepple drive to the cinema. Columbo deliberately doesn't tell Kepple where the murder took place to see if he will drive there automatically, but Kepple is wise to this and at the gate of the Institute he asks Columbo which way to turn. On arrival at the cinema Columbo sees that there is no nickel on the floor (White used a nickel, which dropped from the reel to alert him to change it.) Columbo turns up at the golf course the next day where Kepple is playing golf. Columbo distracts him while he is playing his shot, causing him to flunk it. He does this again and again. This scene is similar to The Most Crucial Game and just as funny. In the end Columbo resorts to trickery to catch Kepple. He inserts subliminal cuts of Kepple's office into the film. Kepple leaves the screening and looks around his office for the calibration converter in the gun that he used to murder Norris. He takes it out at which point Columbo enters the room. Kepple realises that Columbo inserted subliminal cuts into the film but it's too late. Columbo has his man.
VERDICT:
Robert Culp is in top form as Kepple. The rapport between him and Columbo is excellent. However, the plot has holes in it. The major fault in the episode is the ending. The idea that Columbo knows something is hidden in Kepple's office and the way Kepple leaves the screening and looks for the converter just isn't plausible. Also the way Kepple banked on Norris leaving the screening room stretches plausibility as well. OK, so Norris was hot, that doesn't neccesarily mean he would leave the screening half way through (he may have done but Kepple had to be pretty sure if he planned to murder him). Presumably Norris was keen to see the film. It was why he was there in the first place after all. Columbo had a lot of little things but no concrete evidence until finding the converter. There is also a good deal of humour in this episode with the cat and mouse between Columbo and villain at its best.
Written by Mark Wilson
(C) Copyright Wilson/Young Enterprises 2006.
CAST:
Dr Bart Kepple.........Robert Culp
Roger White...........Chuck McCann
Mrs. Norris..........Louise Latham
Vic Norris........Robert Middleton
Patterson.........Francis De Sales
Mrs Halstead..........Ann Driscoll
Press photographer...Danny Goldman
Arlene Martel does not appear as Tanya Baker in this episode, despite being credited.
