A Stitch in Crime

I liked this episode,Nimoy is excellent and believable as a non-alien, Columbo getting the raving hump when Dr Mayfield laughed right in his face was classic,but the only thing I thought was off was Will Geer's portrayal as Dr Heidemann. He wasn't really the right choice for a doctor,he looks too much like a country bumpkin,not a professional person at all. The weirdest part was right after getting the news about Nurse Sharon Martin, he displays a little shock at first, then in the next sentence he's chuckling away asking Mayfield when he thinks there'll be an improvement in his own heart condition! That didn't ring true to me at all,but a very good entry in the Columbo Canon nonetheless.

Aneta Corsaut portrayed Andy Taylor's girlfriend/wife in the top-rated (Number 1!!) TV show, "Andy Griffith." Yet, three years later, she goes by barely noticed in a series of guest supporting TV appearances, as with her Nurse Morgan walk-on here. Interesting.

Overall, a great "Columbo" episode, minus the overacting of the previous two installments.

Perhaps the script goes a bit overboard in portraying Columbo's slovenly appearance and behavior, and I certainly do not want to watch him eat another meal, ever again.

Jared Martin is excellent in his brief appearance, and Geer plays the type of character he specialized in bringing to life. Nimoy is indeed a bit "wooden" at times, but I assume that's why he was cast in the role. Anne Francis's second "Columbo" outing is fine.

Director Averback specialized in TV movies, pilots and series episodes, so the production is professional, is not somewhat pedestrian.

Does anybody know what building is used for exteriors of the hospital?

What a great "Columbo" episode. For fans, this has everything. A brilliant adversary. A tricky plot. Deftly chosen jokes. And a twist ending that comes like a thunderclap.

Dr. Mayfield (Leonard Nimoy) is a surgeon with an ingenious scheme for murdering the kindly Dr. Hidemann, his infuriatingly cautious partner in a research project. But Hidemann's devoted nurse (Anne Francis) catches on to the scheme, and Mayfield murders her to prevent discovery. It's up to our Lt. Columbo (Peter Falk) not only to find out who killed the nurse but prevent another murder from taking place.

Two things often trip up even the best writers of this series. One is the ending. Too often an episode ends with Columbo revealing a damning piece of evidence that doesn't seem all that damning. Or he tricks the killer into giving himself away, which never quite feels satisfactory. I won't give away this ending, of course. Let's just say it'll please the most demanding fan.

The other thing is the comedy scenes. Columbo affects dimwittedness and bad manners to trick his quarry into underestimating him. But too often the writers seem to think that he is genuinely a buffoon. For instance, there's a terrible scene in "Dagger of the Mind" where he inadvertently creates havoc at an airport. It's not funny, and it's not our Columbo. "A Stitch in Crime," by contrast, has some splendidly comic moments where he is not a clown, just a bit inattentive to manners. What he does with a hardboiled egg is priceless.

He also has the standard scene where something makes him queasy. In "Ransom for a Dead Man" it's the airplane ride. In "Dead Weight" it's the boat ride. Here it's hospitals, especially the operating room. But I like how he's able to steel himself when it really counts. I also love a novel moment. We actually see our faux-obsequious detective drop the pretense and lose his temper. I don't think he's done that since "Prescription: Murder."

Leonard Nimoy is essentially Mr. Spock in a white coat. His Dr. Mayfield is better able to keep his emotions at bay than just about any other murderer in the series. He makes brilliant move after brilliant move, but Columbo checks him every time. And then in the very last frame: checkmate.

A STITCH IN CRIME is one of the finest of the early Columbo episodes. In fact, my only complaint with it is that it's too short, and I would have liked an extra twenty minutes of watching Columbo harassing Leonard Nimoy's villain before the final denouement.

The hospital setting of this story makes for a fun change of pace and there's a notable increase in character comedy from Peter Falk, whether it's cigar stuff, the boiled egg scene, or filling up his plate at a buffet. Nimoy makes for an excellent guest villain and his many scenes with Falk are very well acted and very good fun.

The crucial murder scene is far more complex than normal and involves multiple victims. Nimoy is a proactive villain who goes out of his way to cover up his crimes, so the thing becomes something of a cat and mouse game between detective and killer. The script and production values are exemplary and I can think of nothing to dislike about this one - except I wanted more of it!

Of course every Columbo movie is a cat and mouse play between the Lieutenant and the killer but in this movie this is perhaps more the case than in any other Columbo movie. This is mostly due to Leonard Nimoy and Lt. Columbo gets on his back pretty early on during their first meeting already. There is some great interaction between those two. It's great also to see Columbo get angry for once.

Leonard Nimoy is actually one scary looking dude and he has a great villainous look over him. Too bad he never really made a career as playing villains, I'm sure he would had been just perfect for it. He shows some great acting skills in this movie. Also Peter Falk is great once more as the scruffy Lieutenant, that also suffers from insomnia and is ill (again) this time. There is always something unusual going on with him.

The movie features all of the usual Columbo ingredients and it handles them well, so therefor this movie can be regarded as a simply good and also definitely above average Columbo entry. Also the amount of relieving comedy is just enough to also regard this movie as an entertaining one, without loosing any of its credibility as a murder-mystery.

The movie its story is using a fine setting of an hospital, that seems to really suit murder mysteries. It's like the story is really much special but its strong enough to keep you interested throughout. The killer himself is also definitely clever enough to provide the movie with some good clever moments. It's also all being told in a good quick pace, which makes the movie perfectly good to watch. It's one fine put together movie. It's definitely a step up from Hy Averback's previously directed Columbo movie "Columbo: Suitable for Framing". Also makes it sort of too bad that Shirl Hendryx never delivered any more Columbo screenplays. As a matter of fact he hardly wrote anything again after this and it seems to me that it was more of a writer who wrote stage-plays instead.

A great Columbo entry that follows the usual formula and does very little wrong doing so.

8/10

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