The Greenhouse Jungle

Considering the star power this episode had, including Ray Milland, Bradford Dillman, Arlene Martel, and the great William Smith, I feel it failed to deliver, mainly because the guilty parties act too guilty. As another reviewer mentioned years before, Milland seems to go way beyond what a guilty person would act like, and shows no remorse at all, which is unrealistic to me. Even though the story is very entertaining, including a hilarious fall down a wooded trail by Columbo, mostly everyone is unlikable, especially Cathy Goodland, played by an unimpressive Sandra Smith; her career lasted only a few years later, and that doesn't totally surprise me. The motive and crime seemed lazily put together, and the only redeeming aspect to me was the subdued performance by Smith, who usually plays a hood. As critical as I've been so far, let me add that this is still a fairly entertaining episode, minus any realism, but there are at least some laughs along the way.

In the course of the Columbo series there are some perpetrators you feel sorry for and some you truly hate. Ray Milland in this episode falls into the latter category. He's a cynical and manipulative sort who really does think he's smarter than everyone else. He even tries to play off Bob Dishy making the first of two appearances as an earnest young police sergeant against Peter Falk at one point as Falk zeroes in on him.

The orchid growing Milland has a rather worthless nephew in Bradford Dillman and he administers with the bank a rather stringent trust with a strict allowance for him. He wants his hands on the money and there is an emergency clause to get some more out. They fake a kidnapping with a ransom demand of $300,000.00 and then Milland kills Dillman.

The beauty for Milland is that Dillman had a cheating wife in Sandra Smith who is prime for something like this. She also has a boyfriend in William Smith who casts well as a villain in any number items he's been part of the cast. But of course it doesn't fool Peter Falk who Milland thinks is dumb. The fate of all villains in this show.

I wish Bob Dishy had been cast in more than two of the Columbos. I like him here almost as much as a good defense lawyer in Law And Order. He and Falk work well together.

This most manipulative of villains gets his just desserts, but you have to watch to see how.

I like some episodes better than this one, but I'm a huge fan of the series.

In "Greenhouse Jungle," the villain here is nasty Ray Milland as Jarvis, who arranges with his nephew Tony (Brad Dillman) to break Tony's trust by pretending that Tony was kidnapped. We can infer that the plan was that Jarvis would get some of the money. Tony wants it because he believes if he has it, he can keep his straying wife (Sandra Smith) at home. She's currently involved with a ne'er do well (William Smith).

Jarvis, of course, has no intention of giving his nephew anything and kills him.

One question I had about this episode was why Columbo was put on the case, since he works in homicide, and there wasn't one until later.

It's an enjoyable episode, with light-hearted performance by Dillman and Bob Dishy as an ambitious new police detective who uses state of the art equipment. I found Milland's performance without nuance and terribly abrasive.

Peter Falk, as usual, was great.

Enjoyable episode, if not the best.

This isn't Columbo's best, but it is still a well-plotted episode. I do agree it does focus too much on the secondary characters and I think Peter Falk and Ray Milland were more deserving of more scenes together. Still the plot is intriguing, the pacing is more playful than usual, the script is intelligent, the locations and photography are once again striking and the direction is good too. The acting is pretty much top notch, Peter Falk of course is exceptional, while Ray Milland gives one of my favourite guest performances on the show's run as he is suitably bolshy and calculating here. Overall, it is an enjoyable episode, even with its flaws. 8/10 Bethany Cox

When Mrs Goodland gets a call late at night that implies he has been kidnapped, she immediately rings round his usual haunts but, failing to locate him, she turns to the police and Columbo gets involved. Unbeknown to him though, is the fact that Tony has not been kidnapped but has staged the whole thing with his Uncle Jarvis as a way of making money. Things go smoothly at first but then Jarvis betrays Tony, killing him and keeping the money for himself. With so many clues Sergeant Wilson thinks it will be very simple but Columbo smells a rat.

As with many TV film series (such as Perry Mason), if you like one or two of them then you'll pretty much like them all. This entry in the Columbo series pretty much follows the usual formula – we know the killer and the "perfect" plan but then watch Columbo follow his hunch and gradually starts to pick holes in the story he is told before eventually finding enough to prove his suspicions. Saying this is not a spoiler – it is simply what happens in all the films. With this strict adherence to formula it is usually down to several factors whether or not the Columbo film stands out or if it is just average. Here we don't have a murder until have way through and, when we do it appears all clean cut until Columbo starts picking away at it. It is all pretty much to formula, although the additional twist of the faked kidnapping does make it feel different and quite fresh. The investigation is good, although it is not as enjoyable as usual because Columbo does feel a bit internalised by the way the script lets him give Wilson the reigns; the ending didn't impress me that much as it seemed to come out of nowhere despite being quite clever.

The addition of Wilson to the mix allows Falk to play his underdog role in a different way but he is as enjoyable as usual. Although Wilson does take away from the amount of time the film has for cat'n'mouse stuff, Dishy is still enjoyable because, like the killers, he too underestimates Columbo and he carries this character off well – taking him from awe, to near distain and arrogance at some points. Milland is enjoyably bolshy and, as such, I would have liked him to have had more time with Falk to bounce off one another. He didn't but he was still good value. Support from Dillman, Smith and Martel is all good and Sagal draws good performances from all involved.

Overall, a slight change to the formula that reduces the cat and mouse stuff a bit but still turns in an enjoyable entry in the series that is up to the standard we expect. The performances are good and the changes from formula (the kidnapping aspect and Wilson) tend to add more than they detract.