Schleichendes Gift

One of the better of the later Columbo movies has James Read as a most prominent dentist with a gambling problem being cheated on by wife Jo Anderson with movie star Marshall Teague and also being kicked out of the practice by father-in-law Paul Burke.

Using the knowledge of his profession Read concocts a scheme to kill the lover and frame the wife for the crime. Read is one cocky and arrogant suspect as he plays the role of the wronged husband standing by his wife.

To show how prominent Read is with the prominent people there's a nice scene here with a poker party with several of his patients playing themselves. They include Dick Sargent, Nancy Walker, and Dodger great 3rd baseman Ron Cey. Read is losing there and he likes to bet frequently on slow horses.

In fact it's at the track where Peter Falk confronts him even still not quite having put it together.

Read's one of Columbo's best villains, the ones you really love seeing tripped up.

As incredible and implausible as it is I still like this one because it kept me entertained. John Reed makes a great villain.

It is not unusual that fate plays a big role in making Columbo's job easier. As an example, who would normally leave the parking stub on the windshield? Besides, wouldn't it be turned in at the garage gate? Of course, this is Hollywood where many unusual things happen everyday. So, never mind that "little detail." I certainly enjoyed this episode and I'm ready to watch it again.

Uneasy Lies the Crown is certainly not a bad episode, in fact I thought it was quite good, just not great like a lot of Columbo episodes. It is a little far-fetched and implausible in the plot at first, luckily the clues are deft and the tone of the episode becomes grittier and diverting by the final act. James Read certainly looks the part, tall, handsome and sophisticated, and he works very well with Falk in their sparring, however there were other times in this episode especially at the start where his performance felt underplayed and bland. There are some bright spots in the supporting cast, but the general standard was inconsistent ranging from inconsistent to bland and annoying. Uneasy Lies the Crown is still a well made episode with a strong score, often clever writing like in the cat-and-mouse scenes between Falk and Read and Peter Falk is just wonderful as always as Columbo, though I do think he has given better performances in the series. Overall, decent if lacking the extra something that the best episodes of the series had. 7/10 Bethany Cox

PLOT: A charismatic dentist with a gambling problem (James Read) concocts a clever way to murder his wife's movie star lover and frame her (Jo Anderson), but Columbo finds flaws in the elaborate scheme. Paul Burke plays the senior partner father-in-law in his final role.

COMMENTARY: The script was originally written in 1973 by Steven Bochco for the third season of Columbo, but Falk felt the villain was weak. So the teleplay was later used for the penultimate episode of McMillan & Wife, "Affair of the Heart" (1977). Obviously Falk changed his mind by the time this episode was shot, but he was unaware that it was used for McMillan a dozen years earlier.

While the murder scheme is a little too creative (i.e. farfetched), this installment is as good as any typical segment of the 70's show and plot-wise is reminiscent of "A Stitch in Crime" (1973), which may be an additional reason why Falk rejected it at the time. It's not great like "Stitch" because it's 24 minutes longer and contains some padding, but it's still a very good episode. Redhead Anderson is strikingly lovely.

GRADE: B+

This was the recycling of an old Macmillan episode that starred Stefanie Powers - notice I said Macmillan and not Macmillan and Wife. It was after Susan St. James left.

That's the only reason I was disappointed in this episode - I'd seen it! It was "Affair of the Heart" on Macmillan. Strangely, Peter Falk himself did not realize that this episode had been previously done until I told him during an interview and sent him the Macmillan tape. Apparently, it was written by Steven Bochco, who also wrote for Columbo, and it was used again.

I enjoyed the Columbo episode more. The package was somewhat classier, including James Read, Paul Burke, and Jo Anderson. It also included a fun poker game that included Nancy Walker and Dick Sargent.