How to Dial a Murder

Psychiatrist Dr. Eric Mason (Nicol Williamson) is a successful guru in "Life Control". He trained his two Dobermanns to attack upon hearing the command Rosebud. He tricks Dr. Charlie Hunter to utter the word which triggers his dogs to kill the doctor. His houseguest Joanne Nicholls (Kim Cattrall) discovers the body. Columbo (Peter Falk) controls the docile dogs which just earlier killed a man.

This is a young newcomer Kim Cattrall. There is no way he wouldn't sleep with a young hottie like Kim Cattrall. Second, I have a much better final Columbo trick. He could get two lookalike dogs which don't respond to the command word. In addition, there is a missed opportunity to raise the tension. Columbo could fight off attempts to kill the two dogs, both for the investigation but more importantly, he's a dog lover. Ed Begley Jr. Could be the evil dog-catcher and a fanatic dog-killer. That could be a fun side story.

My only complaints of this otherwise brilliant episode are the ending, which felt rather rushed for my liking though I loved the twist involving the dogs, and while she plays her part very well Kim Catrall's character does drag the episode down a tad.

However, How to Dial a Murder is evident proof of why I love Columbo so much. It has an ingenious premise that is done justice by a story that is clever and compelling. It has strong writing, with great interaction between Columbo and Mason and I cannot think of rosebud the same way now now that I have seen this episode. It is well shot, with striking locations and lovely photography. It also has one of the most haunting and most effective music scores I have heard in a Columbo episode.

The acting is great, and the direction is solid. Kim Catrall is good, but it is Columbo and Mason that make the episode work along with the premise. Peter Falk is exceptional once again, while Nicol Williamson does a wonderful job playing one of the most ruthless and most strongly written murderers in the Columbo line.

All in all, if you love Columbo, you'll love this. 9/10 Bethany Cox

I must say I really liked the director approach of the movie from James Frawley. It's the second Columbo movie I've seen so far which got directed by him and it was the second one from him that I loved. He directed a total of 6 Columbo movies throughout his career, of which this one was his third. The directing is done with lots of style, which makes the movie great to watch and provides it with some good pace as well.

The movie actually knows to create a good general thriller atmosphere and style, also not in the least thanks to the musical score from Patrick Williams, who did the score for all of James Frawley's Columbo movies. It's a style which I really loved about this movie and makes it more special to watch than just the average Columbo movie entry.

It has actually a quite far fetched main plot but nevertheless you'll buy it, thanks to the skillful directing and storytelling of it all.

The movie features a 'great' killer, portrayed by Nicol Williamson. He gives away one fine performance and is a worthy opponent for the good old Lieutenant. The movie also features a still very young Kim Cattrall. Funny thing is that she also made her debut in a movie called "Rosebud", the word that plays a key element in this movie, which of course refers to the 1941 Orson Welles classic "Citizen Kane".

The movie has all of the typical great Columbo movie elements in it, including some great relieving humor at points.

Another real fine Columbo movie from James Frawley!

8/10

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Nicol Williamson stars as a behavioral psychologist named Eric Mason whose wife recently died in a car crash, and whom he believes was having an affair with his best friend Dr. Charles Hunter, so Mason decides to murder him by cruelly using his specially trained Dobermans to attack him when the phone rings and a certain control word is spoken aloud. The crime is discovered by his young live-in girlfriend(played by Kim Cattrall) whose call for help brings in Lt. Columbo(Peter Falk) who admirers Eric's taste in Cinema, but is appalled by his murder method, so making this arrest will be especially satisfying... Unusually violent episode with Williamson a particularly odious villain who gets his much deserved comeuppance.

Dr. Eric Mason (Nicol Williamson) is a guy who is not about to receive an award from the American Humane Association, that's for sure! As part of his VERY elaborate scheme at revenge, he's trained his Dobermans, Laurel & Hardy, to go mad and kill when they hear a trigger word! Well, his scheme DOES work....but what the psychologist didn't know is that Columbo was on the case AND Columbo never seems to lose a case!

This is a very good episode. While farfetched and too complicated, the murder was pretty cool and the plot very good. My only reservation is the character played by Kim Cattrall. Her acting was fine...that wasn't the problem. But her character seemed underwritten--like some editing occurred and much of her role was reduced. This made her being there in the first place confusing.