Lady in Waiting

Before Susan Clark became famous for the sit-com "Webster," she was a highly-touted TV movie of the week star and had a film career as well. In this Columbo, she is a mousy, albeit wealthy young woman who has lived her life under the thumb of her father, and after he dies, her brother (Richard Anderson). She hatches a plot to kill her brother, who is interfering with her plans to marry an employee (Leslie Nielsen) of the family company but if anything could go wrong on the evening of the murder, it does.

Columbo is brought in, and he immediately finds some questionable items, and things become clear as, over time, the lady completely reinvents herself, taking over the company, getting a new hair color and hairdo, a fashion makeover, and a rather unattractive, aggressive change in attitude.

There is a great performance by Jesse Royce Landis as the mother (who greets her daughter by slapping her in the face, and makes Columbo pay her exorbitant cab fare).

It's a shame that Clark does nothing today, but I suppose, sadly, her age is a factor. She seems to have found great happiness in her long marriage to Alex Karras, but her fans miss her. If you're not familiar with her work, catch her in this Columbo episode.

Susan Clark gives a fine performance as a male-dominated female who "bumps-off" her brother to protect her relationship with her boyfriend (Leslie Nielsen) and give her back her independence.

This story gathers intensity as the murderess (the first female killer in the actual TV series) is dismissive of any intrusion by others into her family business and she becomes more manipulative and insensitive as Columbo gets closer to the truth - an effective piece of scripting and a hallmark of the series in that Columbo invariably annoyed his chief suspect almost to the point of a nervous breakdown!

The ending is also significant since Columbo's life is clearly on the line. However, the effectiveness of the irony that the killer's boyfriend unwittingly gives Columbo the vital piece of incriminating information, is undone by the fact that the clue could easily have been pinpointed earlier.

This clearly gives the impression that the script-writer had some difficulty in providing a satisfactory conclusion to an originally well-thought-out concept.

LADY IN WAITING is a solid early episode of the COLUMBO TV show, but not one of my favourites and the reason for that lies in the character of the murderess, as played by Susan Clark. Clark starts out as a mildly sympathetic character at the beginning but undergoes a transformation into one of the most repulsive and annoying characters in the whole COLUMBO canon. I ended up gritting my teeth every time she came on screen - which is a lot - which takes away from the enjoyment a bit.

Otherwise, the mystery is a simple one for Columbo to solve. Clark murders her controlling brother and pretends that she mistook him for a burglar, but her deed doesn't go exactly to plan and Columbo soon smells a rat. Peter Falk is on excellent form here and the scenes in which Clark belittles him are particularly fine. The direction has dated a little, with some cheesy dream effects and overuse of the zoom lens, but the production benefits as a whole from featuring a typically Leslie Nielsen in support back when he was playing it straight.

A few things are notable about this episode from the first season of the show. It was one of several Columbos written by that great TV writer, Stephen Bochco, and directed by that acting/producing legend, Norman Lloyd. Among many other career accomplishments, Lloyd had worked closely with (and presumably learned a few things about directing from) master director Alfred Hitchcock, as had the supporting actress who plays the mom of Sharon Clark's character here (and of her brother, the victim, Richard Anderson), Jessie Royce Landis (who played Grace Kelly's mom in "To Catch a Thief" and also Cary Grant's in "North by Northwest"). And an early, totally serious role is played by Leslie Nielsen. And the plot is a little different from the typical Columbo setup, in that not only do we the audience know "who dunnit," but all of these the other characters do, too, as Clark admits to it all right off the bat, claiming it was an (unfortunate and understandable) accident. But her excuse doesn't survive our beloved Lieutenant's intense scrutiny. I give this one an extra star for the never less than convincing Ms. Landis, who died just a few months after appearing in this episode.

As people know, I love Columbo and consider it one of the best detective shows ever even with one or two lacking episodes later on. Lady in Waiting is a very interesting episode in many respects. And it isn't just because it features the first female killer.

The episode is a little slow occasionally, and I felt the final solution could have been expanded a little more so that the evidence had more time to unfold.

That said, like all the Columbo episodes I was impressed with how it looked. The episode with its clever use of photography and striking locations and costumes does look great, while the music is quite effective and doesn't intrude with the tone of each scene. The writing is good and the story is clever and makes the most of a great idea.

The acting is fine. Peter Falk while more subdued(more to do with how Columbo is written than Falk himself) is still brilliant in the title role, staying true in character and delighting us once more with that quintessential catchphrase. Susan Clark is excellent as well, and I was further impressed with how she was developed in Lady in Waiting, she starts off as someone you sympathise with and are touched by and then quite suddenly she is like a different person, more ambitious and ruthless. Leslie Nielson is good in a different role to what I am used to seeing him in, but supporting wise Jessie Royce-Landis was the standout being wonderful as the domineering mother.

In conclusion, an interesting episode mainly in the show's first female killer and how she is written. 8/10 Bethany Cox