"Just One More Thing..." - The COLUMBO Discussion Thread

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  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited July 2021 Posts: 17,728
    Risico007 wrote: »
    I would love to see Dirk Benedict’s performance from 2010 though based on the photos I fear instead of getting to the route of the character he is doing an impersonation of Falk’s Columbo rather then play Columbo true it’s hard to remove falk from Columbo but it can be done

    And thanks @Dragonpol as soon as I saw it I had to post it much like Barry Nelson’s 007 it’s interesting to see the early takes

    Yes, it's a similar thing to Barry Nelson's TV Bond role in Casino Royale before Sean Connery took the Bond film role in Dr. No. Never thought about it like that before but that's quite true.

    Here's another video I found introducing Enough Rope and discussing the show after its screening:
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,728
    Here's some background reading for the uninitiated on the Chevy Mystery Show's Enough Rope (1960), the first televised appearance of the character Lt Columbo:

    http://www.columbo-site.freeuk.com/enoughrope.htm
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited July 2021 Posts: 17,728
    Risico007 wrote: »


    The original Columbo interesting to see someone beside Falk play the character seems cigar smoking was always apart of the character

    I'm sure that some of our other resident Columbo fans such as @mattjoes, @Torgeirtrap, @Thunderpussy and @Fire_and_Ice_Returns would like to see this too if they haven't already. Would be interested to hear your thoughts when you get a chance to see it. It seems that this has rather went under the radar here and elsewhere online.
  • Posts: 6,682
    Thanks for the heads up @Dragonpol, and thanks to @Risico007 for sharing this in the first place. I forgot to mention it but I actually downloaded the video from YouTube when he first shared it; I didn't want this rarity to slip off my hands. I briefly checked out Bert Freed's performance and it's interesting to see the differences between his take on the role and Peter Falk's. I haven't watched the episode in full but I will in the short term.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,728
    mattjoes wrote: »
    Thanks for the heads up @Dragonpol, and thanks to @Risico007 for sharing this in the first place. I forgot to mention it but I actually downloaded the video from YouTube when he first shared it; I didn't want this rarity to slip off my hands. I briefly checked out Bert Freed's performance and it's interesting to see the differences between his take on the role and Peter Falk's. I haven't watched the episode in full but I will in the short term.

    I'll have to download it myself. Is there a way to do that on YouTube?
  • edited July 2021 Posts: 6,682
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    mattjoes wrote: »
    Thanks for the heads up @Dragonpol, and thanks to @Risico007 for sharing this in the first place. I forgot to mention it but I actually downloaded the video from YouTube when he first shared it; I didn't want this rarity to slip off my hands. I briefly checked out Bert Freed's performance and it's interesting to see the differences between his take on the role and Peter Falk's. I haven't watched the episode in full but I will in the short term.

    I'll have to download it myself. Is there a way to do that on YouTube?
    They don't provide a way of downloading videos on the YouTube website, but you can search on the internet for a third party website that allows you to download them.

    In fact, here's one:
    https://en.savefrom.net/1-youtube-video-downloader-8/

    Just paste the URL of the video on the box, click on the light green download button, and then on the dark green download button. And close the ad!
  • edited July 2021 Posts: 17,241
    Great find @Risico007, and thanks for the reminder @Dragonpol – I definitely have to give "Enough Rope" a watch!
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    It is odd seeing someone else as Columbo. I do remember reading somewhere that
    Mark Ruffalo was suggested as a possible actor to play Columbo in a new version.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,728
    mattjoes wrote: »
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    mattjoes wrote: »
    Thanks for the heads up @Dragonpol, and thanks to @Risico007 for sharing this in the first place. I forgot to mention it but I actually downloaded the video from YouTube when he first shared it; I didn't want this rarity to slip off my hands. I briefly checked out Bert Freed's performance and it's interesting to see the differences between his take on the role and Peter Falk's. I haven't watched the episode in full but I will in the short term.

    I'll have to download it myself. Is there a way to do that on YouTube?
    They don't provide a way of downloading videos on the YouTube website, but you can search on the internet for a third party website that allows you to download them.

    In fact, here's one:
    https://en.savefrom.net/1-youtube-video-downloader-8/

    Just paste the URL of the video on the box, click on the light green download button, and then on the dark green download button. And close the ad!

    Thanks for that information on how to download a video from YouTube, @mattjoes. I'll have to do that soon.
  • Posts: 17,241
    Couldn't resist giving "Enough Rope" a watch right away. It's really just a one-hour, lesser version of "Prescription: Murder", but interesting nonetheless. Bert Freed's Columbo is alright, but you can't compare this Columbo to that of Peter Falk. This one feels very flat. Joan O'Brien's performance as Susan Hudson was quite good though, and maybe a bit more dramatic than the Joan Hudson character from "Prescription: Murder", played by Katherine Justice.

    It was fun to finally be able to watch this one!
  • Posts: 6,682
    I watched it too. A lesser version of Prescription indeed, but enjoyable in its own right. It's shorter so it's got less time to take some interesting detours the later version offers, like the surprise of the wife temporarily surviving the attack, and that wonderful conversation between Columbo and the doctor about morality and murder. I agree that in this version, the Ms. Hudson character is more dramatic; at times she seems to barely hold herself together. I liked Joan O'Brien's performance, as well as Richard Carlson's, who incidentally comes across as less smug than the Gene Barry version (not that that is necessarily better). While I also enjoyed Bert Freed's Columbo, I have certain reservations about the performance. His Columbo comes across as jittery, and even more eccentric than Peter Falk's, with his polite smiles seeming at times to barely hide an underlying anxiety and anger. This is all fine and well, but I felt the performance was a little inconsistent, as if it had failed to entirely live up to the concept that was presumably behind it. Of course, it is not just the actor but the director who can have a degree of responsibility on this.

    I liked watching those vintage commercials, and the little mistakes and imperfections that come with a live performance that presumably had little time to be rehearsed, such as Dr. Roy Fleming's secretary delivering her lines in a rush at the very beginning, or Columbo failing to announce himself as a lieutenant when visiting the doctor, forcing the actress playing the secretary to nonetheless address him as such.

    I haven't seen much television from this era. I'd like to watch Jerry Lewis' version of The Jazz Singer.

    As a side note, for the Latin American Spanish dub of Columbo, the episode Death Lends a Hand was retitled Suficiente soga, or Enough Rope. I don't know why, but it can't be a coincidence.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    Interesting that the last name of Landau s characters is Paris, which is the name of Rollin Hand s replacement in MI, as played by Leonard Nimoy who also guest starred on Columbo. A nod or just coincidence?
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    Interesting point @Thunderfinger I would hope it was a Nod. In that particular
    story the interaction between Columbo and the Housekeeper is Brilliant, I always
    laugh at how annoyed she is with him.
  • Yep, Jeannette Nolan steals the show as Mrs. Peck in that episode!
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    Posts: 23,104
    I will definately give Chevy Mystery Show's Enough Rope (1960) a watch at some point over the weekend.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    I've been having a bit of a Columbo day. Watched all of season three, and have just started season 4.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited August 2021 Posts: 17,728
    Interesting that the last name of Landau s characters is Paris, which is the name of Rollin Hand s replacement in MI, as played by Leonard Nimoy who also guest starred on Columbo. A nod or just coincidence?

    It could well have been a nod to the show he left, yes. I've never seen any of Mission: Impossible but I knew Nimoy was in it. All I can remember is that my friend said Nimoy walked down a corridor with a gun. I don't know if that was in a specific episode or the titles. I'd forgotten that Landau was a part of it too.

    Anyway, it's certainly consistent with some of the nods and references other Columbo guest stars have had to their own TV shows. One example that comes to mind is Patrick McGooghan using his Prisoner "Be seeing you" line in Identity Crisis (1975). There's also a Prisoner reference in the last of the record four Columbo episodes McGooghan guest starred in where the good Lieutenant says "It's your funeral" to him at the end of Ashes to Ashes (1998). That was of course the title of an episode of The Prisoner. There's also a picture of William Shatner as Captain Kirk from Star Trek in Fade in to Murder (1976) where Shatner guests stars as the killer in the first of two Columbo appearances. There may well be other examples of this type of thing in Columbo that I've either missed or forgotten but that should suffice to make the point for now.
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    edited August 2021 Posts: 23,104
    Just put Enough Rope on now, as expected its very staged and stilted, with some of the dialogue I was expecting canned laughter to be fed in. It's certainly a curiosity from the original team.

    As soon as Columbo appeared I thought I have seen this before.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,728
    I've been having a bit of a Columbo day. Watched all of season three, and have just started season 4.

    You're watching what mean believe to be the peak Columbo years then, @Thunderpussy. Have you bought the cigar boxset by any chance? :)
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    No @Dragonpol I have an earlier version just up to series seven. Before they brought Columbo back. As you've pointed out I regard these earlier stories to be superior to the revised seasons of 8 9,10. They are still good but the earlier episodes were when he was at his peak.
    Sadly back to work today, so I might watch a couple later to relax.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited August 2021 Posts: 17,728
    No @Dragonpol I have an earlier version just up to series seven. Before they brought Columbo back. As you've pointed out I regard these earlier stories to be superior to the revised seasons of 8 9,10. They are still good but the earlier episodes were when he was at his peak.
    Sadly back to work today, so I might watch a couple later to relax.

    Yes, I think I know the one you mean. Did it come on a black cardboard box with Seasons 1-7 inside? I began collecting the individual seasons when as came out starting with Season 1 in September 2005. I then later bought the Columbo cigar boxset of all seasons for £20 one Black Friday. I also have the first two seasons on Blu-ray (all they've released so far). So, yes, I'm a mad Columbo fan and collector! ;)

    I totally agree about the best quality episodes being contained in the first 7 seasons. Of course there are still some good ones in the newer seasons from 1989-2003 but they're fewer and farther between. The quality of the writing, direction, acting and guest stars was at its peak in the 1970s episodes. There's bound to be very few who would argue otherwise.

    Anyway, I'm glad you were able to catch up on some quality Columbo viewing yesterday @Thunderpussy and that, despite work, you'll get those couple of episodes fitted in later too! :)
  • Posts: 17,241
    When did they release the two first seasons in Blu-ray, @Dragonpol?
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited August 2021 Posts: 17,728
    When did they release the two first seasons in Blu-ray, @Dragonpol?

    I think I bought them both from Amazon UK back in 2019, @Torgeirtrap, more or less as soon as I found out that they existed. I believe they are produced in Australia but they're Region 2. Looking at them on Amazon UK just now it says Season 1 was released on 22 October 2018 and Season 2 was released on 10 March 2017. It seems odd that Season 2 would be released before Season 1 like that so perhaps they've simply mixed the dates up? Anyway, here's a YouTube review I found of them, or Season 2 in particular:



    My Season 2 copy is the same as the one shown in that unboxing video but my Season 1 Blu-ray is more in keeping with the Season 2 cover and has the same type of episode details inside so I'm guessing it's a newer release than the one he has.

    I know you can get the whole of Columbo on Blu-ray in Japan but it seems that it's very expensive indeed (currently £336.08 on Amazon UK!) and it's not always clear if they ship it internationally from Japan either. Here's two YouTube videos looking at that Japanese full Columbo Blu-ray set:



  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    Posts: 23,104
    The first few seasons of Columbo have been available in HD digital format to buy on Amazon Prime Video for some time, though I rather have the physical copies in HD.
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    edited August 2021 Posts: 13,384
    I have the black box set as mentioned by @Dragonpol and the first two seasons on Amazon download. Great to be able to watch those early episodes. They were on special offer at only £6 per season.
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    Posts: 23,104
    I have the black box set as mentioned by @Dragonpol and the first two seasons on Amazon download. Great to be able to watch those early episodes. They were on special offer at only £6 per season.

    That's good value £6 each i will have to monitor the price changes. I have the DVD Cigar Boxset the first one that was released years ago (I think it was the first) ...

    s-l1600.jpg
    Later re issues were more stream lined Boxsets, though I like mine it goes well with some other Boxsets I have that are the same configuration.

  • edited August 2021 Posts: 17,241
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    When did they release the two first seasons in Blu-ray, @Dragonpol?

    I think I bought them both from Amazon UK back in 2019, @Torgeirtrap, more or less as soon as I found out that they existed. I believe they are produced in Australia but they're Region 2. Looking at them on Amazon UK just now it says Season 1 was released on 22 October 2018 and Season 2 was released on 10 March 2017. It seems odd that Season 2 would be released before Season 1 like that so perhaps they've simply mixed the dates up? Anyway, here's a YouTube review I found of them, or Season 2 in particular:



    My Season 2 copy is the same as the one shown in that unboxing video but my Season 1 Blu-ray is more in keeping with the Season 2 cover and has the same type of episode details inside so I'm guessing it's a newer release than the one he has.

    Releasing season 2 before season 1 seems odd, unless they were able to source the original material from season 2 for restoration first and decided to just release it. Probably unlikely though.

    I hadn't heard about these Australian releases before, and for me they're probably not worth getting unless they decide to release the rest of the series as well – at least the 70's episodes. A complete set like the cigar box DVD set would be fantastic.

    Dragonpol wrote: »
    I know you can get the whole of Columbo on Blu-ray in Japan but it seems that it's very expensive indeed (currently £336.08 on Amazon UK!) and it's not always clear if they ship it internationally from Japan either. Here's two YouTube videos looking at that Japanese full Columbo Blu-ray set:




    Unlike the Australian release, I am familiar with the Japanese cigar box set, but as you point out, it's very, very expensive – and shipping might prove difficult. I find it very strange that there's been no American or European Blu-ray releases yet. That must surely happen at some point?

    The first few seasons of Columbo have been available in HD digital format to buy on Amazon Prime Video for some time, though I rather have the physical copies in HD.

    Physical copies or downloads are equally interesting to me, really. And for not so important releases, digital downloads are preferable just because you save the shelf space. I rather have a physical HD release of Columbo though, and HD downloads from Amazon are still not possible to buy here in Norway…
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    Posts: 23,104
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    When did they release the two first seasons in Blu-ray, @Dragonpol?

    I think I bought them both from Amazon UK back in 2019, @Torgeirtrap, more or less as soon as I found out that they existed. I believe they are produced in Australia but they're Region 2. Looking at them on Amazon UK just now it says Season 1 was released on 22 October 2018 and Season 2 was released on 10 March 2017. It seems odd that Season 2 would be released before Season 1 like that so perhaps they've simply mixed the dates up? Anyway, here's a YouTube review I found of them, or Season 2 in particular:



    My Season 2 copy is the same as the one shown in that unboxing video but my Season 1 Blu-ray is more in keeping with the Season 2 cover and has the same type of episode details inside so I'm guessing it's a newer release than the one he has.

    Releasing season 2 before season 1 seems odd, unless they were able to source the original material from season 2 for restoration first and decided to just release it. Probably unlikely though.

    I hadn't heard about these Australian releases before, and for me they're probably not worth getting unless they decide to release the rest of the series as well – at least the 70's episodes. A complete set like the cigar box DVD set would be fantastic.

    Dragonpol wrote: »
    I know you can get the whole of Columbo on Blu-ray in Japan but it seems that it's very expensive indeed (currently £336.08 on Amazon UK!) and it's not always clear if they ship it internationally from Japan either. Here's two YouTube videos looking at that Japanese full Columbo Blu-ray set:




    Unlike the Australian release, I am familiar with the Japanese cigar box set, but as you point out, it's very, very expensive – and shipping might prove difficult. I find it very strange that there's been no American or European Blu-ray releases yet. That must surely happen at some point?

    The first few seasons of Columbo have been available in HD digital format to buy on Amazon Prime Video for some time, though I rather have the physical copies in HD.

    Physical copies or downloads are equally interesting to me, really. And for not so important releases, digital downloads are preferable just because you save the shelf space. I rather have a physical HD release of Columbo though, and HD downloads from Amazon are still not possible to buy here in Norway…

    Digital media has made me lazy, the amount of films I have bought either in HD or 4K Digital Download that already own on Bluray or 4K disk is getting ridiculous. some films I have four copies of, I think I have 6 versions of Superman The Movie :))
  • ThunderpussyThunderpussy My Secret Lair
    Posts: 13,384
    I have to say the quality of the dvd played through my blu-ray player is great. Far superior to when shown on television. As I know the player slightly upscales the image
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