PLOT: Dr. Ray Flemming is a psychiatrist who is dating a patient, Joan Hudson. He is in a loveless marriage to his wife but has stayed with her because she is rich. Ray and his wife celebrate their wedding anniversary and Ray tells her he has planned a holiday to Acapulco. While he and his wife are in the process of packing Dr. Flemming strangles his wife. He then smashes the window to make it look like a burglary and takes his wife's jewellery and puts it into a suitcase. Then Miss. Hudson arrives. She changes into Mrs. Flemming's clothes and puts on a wig, gloves and sunglasses and accompanies Dr. Flemming to the airport pretending to be his wife. They step onto the plane to Acapulco but while the plane is still boarding they stage a row and Hudson storms off. She changes back into her own clothes in the airport toilets. Then Hudson returns to the Flemmings' appartment block and leaves Mrs. Flemming's clothes outside their room for the laundry to clean. However, she forgets to leave the gloves. Flemming has a few days in Acapulco. He dumps his wife's jewellery in the sea. He arrives back at his apartment and unlocks the door. He sees that his wife's body is no longer there but an outline of it is sketched on the floor. Then Lieutenant Columbo appears from the other room. Flemming asks who he is and what has been going on. Columbo explains that there has been a burglary and that his wife was attacked. She is critically ill in hospital. Flemming can't believe that his wife is still alive but manages to hide his surprise from Columbo pretty well. Flemming says he must see her straight away, but before he leaves he receives a phone call. It is Joan Hudson. Flemming is very cool and pretends that she is a patient trying to get hold of him and says 'I'm sorry I won't be available for the next few days' and mentions her next appointment time. Columbo and Flemming go to the hospital and Flemming demands to see her. He and Columbo wait anxiously in the corridor. However, his wife dies while he is waiting in the corridor. The hospital staff said she called out Ray's name. Ray pretends to be upset but is very relieved. A couple of days pass and Columbo turns up at Flemming's office. He says the air hostes has confirmed his story about the row on the plane. Columbo says he searched the apartment and couldn't find the clothes Mrs. Flemming was wearing. Columbo mentions calling by at the apartment sometime and searching for them again. Columbo thought it odd that when Flemming entered the apartment that he didn't shout 'honey I'm home', which he had mentioned to Flemming's friend Dr. Gordon at the hospital but has not mentioned to Flemming himself. Columbo sensed Flemming was relieved when he heard his wife died even though he covered it up well. Columbo had timed his trip to Flemming's office to coincide with the appointment Flemming arranged on the phone at his apartment a couple of days earlier and bumps into Miss. Hudson. He soon begins to suspect something might be going on between her and Flemming. Columbo departs and Hudson enters Flemming's office. She admits that she forgot to put the gloves with the laundry, which annoys Flemming. It is the one glaring mistake in his plan. However, he thinks that he can get away with it by hiding them in his apartment. They are small and are easily overlooked, he reasons. He returns to his apartment later that day to hide the gloves but he hasn't had time to hide them when he hears someone trying to get into the apartment. It is Columbo. Flemming tells him he has found the gloves in one of his wife's bureau drawers and Columbo thinks that's odd, as he had looked in there before. There is still no sign of the dress. Then the bell rings and it is the cleaners with the dress. Columbo knows of Flemming's skills as a psychiatrist and while he is talking to him at his apartment there is a call from the station. A man has confessed to the murder. Columbo interviews the man with Flemming present. Then Columbo asks him what he thought of the man's confession. Flemming says he thinks the man is lying. He says a couple of the details that the man said were incorrect (such as the initials on his case), and points to the fact that the murder had been reported in the papers. Flemming also suggests that Columbo might have staged the whole confession scene with the obvious errors in the man's statement in order to put suspicion on himself. Columbo feigns innocence. Columbo knows Flemming is the guilty party but knows that he is far too clever to slip up. Flemming's asks his friend Dr. Gordon, who works in the district attorney's office, to pull a few strings and get Columbo removed from the case because he's being a pest. Columbo turns up at his office and tells Flemming that his superior has transferred him. However, this is a lie. He hasn't got enough evidence so he goes after Hudson. He interrogates her, saying 'Dr. Flemming made one mistake and you're it. You're the weak link Miss. Hudson'. He ties her up in knots, particularly when she tells him he's got no right to interrogate her as he isn't on the case anymore. Columbo asks her how she knows this and she says Dr. Flemming had mentioned it to her at her last appointment. However, that wasn't for several days so she says 'oh no, he phoned me'. Columbo asks if it is usual for him to phone her at home. He asks her to try on a pair of sunglasses and says that he wonders if the air hostess would recognise her. She begins to waver and Columbo persists, but Hudson doesn't crack. Instead she says 'very well, take me to the air hostess if you want'. Columbo then says that she has won for today, but that there would always be tomorrow and the next day and the next day. Sure enough Columbo persists in hounding her. Then a couple of days later Flemming's secretary gets a call from the police. Flemming goes up to Hudson's house and sees a body being taken out of the pool. Columbo explains to him that Hudson killed herself and admits he may have been partly to blame for hounding her. He then says that Flemming had got away with the murder but points out that it hadn't worked out as he'd planned. He suggests Flemming might as well confess anyway, as with Hudson dead his plan had gone wrong. Then Flemming laughs at Columbo. He suggests in a round about way that he never loved Hudson and was sure that in time she may have met with an untimely end anyway (presumably because she knew too much). Then to his surprise Hudson enters the room. She is not dead after all and has heard everything Flemming has been saying. She realises that Ray had been using her and didn't love her so she confesses all to Columbo.
VERDICT:
This is an excellent introduction to Lieutenant Columbo. It showcases all the aspects of his character, including his ruthless streak, which comes out more than usual during his hounding of Miss. Hudson. However, he has not yet developed the dishevelled appearance that he has in all subsequent episodes and does not wear his trademark raincoat. Flemming is a great murderer and Gene Barry's performance is excellent. Flemming's murder plot is ingenious and he almost got away with it. Columbo is at his best and the cat and mouse that became a trademark of the series is in evidence throughout. This episode was superbly written by Columbo creators Richard Levinson and William Link.
Written by Mark Wilson
(C) Copyright Wilson/Young Enterprises 2006.
CAST:
Dr. Ray Flemming........Gene Barry
Joan Hudson......Katherine Justice
Burt Gordon.........William Windom
Carol Flemming...........Nina Foch
Miss. Petrie........Virginia Gregg
Cynthia Gordon.........Andrea King
Tommy................Anthony James
