PLOT: Jack Cassidy returns for the third and final time as Columbo villain. This time he is magician The Great Santini, who does a nightly act in a club. He kills club owner Jesse Jerome, who has proof about his past and is going to expose him. Jerome has proof that Santini was a nazi during the war. Santini sets up what he thinks will be a fool proof alibi. He is in a box on stage doing his act when the crime takes place. However, Santini is not really in the box. There is a trapdoor at the bottom of the box leading to the basement. Santini then changes into a waiter's outfit and climbs the stairs into a busy room where waiters are going backwards and forwards. He then climbs another flight of stairs onto the floor where people's rooms are. He picks the lock to Jerome's room (he is an expert lock picker) and Jerome hears the sound. He goes to the door and Santini enters and shoots him. Santini then speaks into a microphone, which is linked to his room in the basement. One of the staff of the club knocks at the door but he knows Santini does not like to be disturbed. Santini's voice sounds as if it is coming from the room but it is an illusion. Then Santini finds the evidence proving he is a nazi and removes a letter from the typewriter to the Department of Naturalisation. Santini then returns to the basement and changes back into his magician's attire. He then returns to the stage where he appears, much to the audience's surprise because he was supposed to be in the box. By the time Santini's act is over the Police have arrived. Columbo, along with new coat, looks at the evidence. He sees the position of the victim and thinks that he must have gone to the door. He suspects the lock may have been picked because of the position of the body and has it checked. Sure enough scratch marks prove the lock was picked. Columbo knows that he is probably looking for someone within the club, someone who is an expert at picking locks. He immediately starts to suspect Santini, who had a rather blatant alibi. He goes to see Santini the following evening and finds out about the box trick. He asks the head waiter about the room where the waiters go back and forth. The man tells him it is possible a man dressed in a waiter's outfit would be inconspicuous. Columbo, ably assisted by his old acquaintance Sergeant John J. Wilson, begins to unravel Santini's plot. In the end his clinching proof comes by chance. Wilson tells him that the type of typewriter the victim used had a golf ball. They examine the ribbon and Jerome's entire letter is printed on it. Columbo knows Santini was a nazi and confronts him with the evidence. Santini says he thought he had committed the perfect murder, but Columbo says a perfect murder doesn't exist, it's just an illusion.
VERDICT:
Jack Cassidy died in a house fire shortly after this episode was made and this is a fitting tribute to him. All three of his performances as Columbo villain were superb and he helped make the series what it is. This episode arguably falls a little short of the excellent 'Publish or perish' but it is still first class. Sergeant Wilson and Columbo get on better than they had on their first meeting in The Greenhouse Jungle, with Wilson more accepting of Columbo's methods, though Wilson is still rather irritating. Columbo has reverted to his trademark raincoat by the end of the episode because he claimed he couldn't think in the new one! This episode also features a notable cameo by Michael Lally as himself. Lally appeared in virtually all the 70s Columbo episodes as bit parts, usually seen for a few seconds and rarely having any lines. Peter Falk was fond of Lally and decided to give him an extended role in this episode.
Written by Mark Wilson
(C) Copyright Wilson/Young Enterprises 2006.
CAST:
The Great Santini.....Jack Cassidy
Sergeant John J Wilson...Bob Dishy
Harry Blandford......Robert Loggia
Jesse Jerome......Nehemiah Persoff
Della Santini........Cynthia Sikes
Michael Lally........Michael Lally
Thackery..........George Sperdakos
Magic shop owner......Thayer David
