This episode aired December 16, 1973.
Subliminal advertising was an invention of James Vicary, a market researcher, who claimed to have inserted subliminal frames of Coca-Cola and popcorn during a screening of a movie which resulted in an 18% increase in Coca-Cola sales and a 58% increase in popcorn sales. Under scrutiny however, Vicary admitted he had concocted the entire scenario in a bid to save his floundering marketing business.
This is the only episode of Columbo written by Rockford Files creator and t.v. veteran Stephen J. Cannell. He apparently wrote the role of Dr. Bart Kepple with Robert Culp in mind. It was actually a spec script Cannell wrote during the writers’ strike and later dropped off at producer Dean Hargrove’s office.
According to Cannell: “I was an avid viewer of the series. It was my perception that it worked best in the first year when the premise was that an urbane, sophisticated man or woman, for reasons of complete personal gain or jealousy, would commit a perfect murder – and intelligent murder. He was completely sure of himself and along would come this shambling guy in a raincoat. At first amused by this little guy, the murderer slowly would realize that he had a major intellect on his hands. It became mano a mano. That led to the classic scene where Columbo and the murderer would sit opposite each other the murderer says “You think I committed this murder.” And Columbo says “Aw, gee, if I ever made you feel like that…” Then the guy would say “Cut the shit. You know and I know that I did this, but you’ll never prove it.” So Columbo would force him into a second move – a stupid movie – that would incriminate him. In the second season, I saw more crimes of passion. I thought it should be a cold-blooded, sophisticated, planned murder.”
This was Robert Culp’s third of four villainous appearances on the show.
Chuck McMann, who played a projectionist in this episode, also starred as the projections in the 1970 film The Projectionist.
Star Trek/Twilight Zone/Outer Limits veteran Arlene Martel is credited as Tanya Baker, but never appears in this episode. Apparently, this was originally one of those longer episodes that ended up being trimmed for syndication.
The 50k Vic Norris attempts to blackmail Kepple out of would be about 3.5 million in “today dollars”.
My thoughts on this episode in chronological viewing order…
This feels like one of the most elaborately planned murders to date.
A lot of his plan hinges on some massive assumptions: the caviar making his victim inordinately thirsty, the wife setting out to meet at the appointment time and place, the subliminal messages actually working.
Was no one else in the theater allowed to eat any caviar?
I like the shot of the executives physically bracing themselves in their seats when the bikini model comes onscreen.
It would have been far easier if, instead of hoping all of these pieces fall into place, he had just laced that caviar with some diuretic that would cause his victim to rush to the washroom – where he would be waiting for him. Though, admittedly, a tox screen would give it away.
No one heard the shot?
Why does Dr. Kepple turn on that tape recorder at the scene?
Love Columbo helping himself to all the leftover food at the crime scene.
Columbo is hungry because he was working late on that Hayward case. Is this the first time Columbo has made mention of a previous case?
Columbo spooning the caviar directly into his mouth. How gauche!
“Mr. Kepple?” “Doctor Kepple.” I don’t like him already. It’s like Ben Kingsley insisting he be referred to as Sir Ben.
Roger White offers his iced tea but gives him a stingy pour.
“Sorry to bother you again, Mr. Kepple.”
“Doctor Kepple.”
“DOCTOR Kepple. Why can’t I remember that?”
Columbo already getting under his skin.
“That was my observation. You’re a man of enormous self-control.” Yeah, he already has his #1 suspect.
Still don’t understand why he felt the need to turn on that tape recorder at the crime scene.
“If my mother decided to murder me, she could come up with a better alibi than you got.” Interesting, yet accurate, reasoning.
“Hey, that’s me!”says Columbo upon seeing himself on the monitor, then turns, trips over a cable, and disrupts the feed. Like a writer their first day on set.
Boy, that is some yellow jacket Kepple is wearing. Sorry, Dr. Kepple.
Uh oh. Roger White is about to go the way of every other dimwit to blackmail a murderer on this show.
Pretty easy to break into homes in the old days. All you needed was a credit card!
How did he know the gun would be there? Spoiler: Turns out that in the lengthier uncut version, there is an early scene that takes place at Vic Norris’ home where the big man pulls a gun on Kepple. It does feel strange without it.
Oh, you’ve got to be kidding,”says Roger when Kepple pulls a gun on him. Really, Roger? Have you never watched an episode of Columbo?
Hey, SG-1 “Prometheus”‘s Al Martell is the film editor.
Boy, the eyelines in this elevator scene are way off. Columbo must be the size of a hobbit in relation to Kepple. Sorry. DOCTOR Kepple.
“Okay, shoot.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Okay, I’m waiting.”
lol
Columbo admits he stole something that belonged to him…the caviar! We have already established the fact that Columbo is a kleptomaniac.
Columbo found the caviar too salty? Hunh. Must’ve been the cheap stuff.
Aha! The autopsy reveals the victim ate a lot of caviar.
Aha! Columbo forces Dr. Kepple to lay out the whole subliminal messaging scenario.
Aha! No splices in the film!
“Which is line 2?”asks Columbo. “The second one,”says the secretary.
The verbal sparring at the golf course is absolutely brilliant and one of my very favorite scenes in this series to date.
Kepple admits he was having an affair with Tanya Baker and Columbo reassures him he doesn’t work for the vice squad. Was adultery a chargeable offense in the 70’s?
Again with that damn tape recorder. What was the point of that?
Aha! There was no nickel on the floor! Leading me to assume that projection booth is usually littered with nickels.
“For a while there I thought I was going to spoil your game.”
“Not a chance, lieutenant.”
Brilliant.
“I’m not searching, I’m looking.” Great line.
A calibration convertor hidden in the lamp! Uh, why did he not get rid of it anytime after the murder?
Columbo used his own subliminal cuts against him! And the good (bad) doctor respects him for it.
The whole subliminal messaging angle is a HUGE BUY and if you can’t get on board with it, you’ll probably consider this a heavily flawed episode. BUT if you can get onboard, then it turns out to be one of Columbo’s best outings. In the end, I came on board and really, REALLY loved it. This is my favorite Robert Culp performance as well. He and Falk were brilliant together. That scene on the golf course was perfection. Just one thing..why the hell DID Kepple bring out his tape recorder and press play when they discovered the body? Also, why didn’t Kepple ditch the evidence at any point after the murder? Anyone?
My revised episode rankings: 1. Any Old Port in a Storm, 2. Double Exposure, 3. Double Shock, 4. A Stitch in Crime, 5. Death Lends a Hand, 6. Suitable for Framing, 7. Dagger of the Mind, 8 Requiem for a Falling Star, 9. Prescription: Murder, 10. Murder by the Book/Ransom for a Dead Man (tie), 11. Lady in Waiting, 12. Etude in Black, 13. The Most Crucial Game, 14. Blueprint for Murder, 15. Lovely But Lethal, 16. The Most Dangerous Match, 17. The Greenhouse Jungle 18. Dead Weight, 19. Short Fuse, 20. Candidate for Crime.
Finally, time to consider whether Columbo’s evidence is enough to convict our murderer. Is Dr. Kepple looking at a GUILTY verdict or will he be looking at an ACQUITTAL? Well, in this case, that calibration converter is pretty damning. The good (bad) doctor is going down.
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I liked the episode and Subliminal advertising is intriguing. They used subliminal programming in the movie “Serenity”.
You had great points! I agree with you on most of them. The caviar bit was odd. I’ve noticed when you provide free food, people will eat almost anything. (at least non foodies) There are places that I could put canned cat food on a plate with crackers and it would get eaten. So, I’m quite sure that other people would have tried the caviar. Especially, when you had free booze, too.
Things I noticed:
Did you see the cigarette aisle in the store? They had a huge stack of different brands of ciggies just sitting out. It was a different world back then!
That rock on Mrs. Norris’s hand was humongous.
This was a very good cast! A lot of familiar faces.
I’d vote guilty. The physical evidence, along with the circumstantial was convincing.
How’s it going at your mom’s house?
“There are places that I could put canned cat food on a plate with crackers and it would get eaten.”
I was once served a house special maki roll at a sushi restaurant in North Vancouver that I was convinced was cat food.
Mom is okay. Slowly making progress. Thanks for asking.
This was a great episode but haven’t we put Robert Culp in jail enough?
The tape recorder thing bothered me too, but I have a theory: Kepple needed to erase the pre-recorded voiceover so he rewound the tape and hit record like he would normally do after a screening. If he was smart he would have simply hit record after he had finished his voiceover and brought the recorder with him. Then the tape would have included the missing conversation that raised Columbo’s suspicions. When questioned about why there was a recording of the voiceover Kepple could have simply said that he wanted a recording his temporary voiceover as reference for when the real voiceover was to be recorded. Instead, by trying to erase the recording he made it complicated for himself.
I’ve spent a bit of time in projection booths and I’ve never heard of the nickel trick.
Poor Roger White. I liked him! Columbo Rule #5 still stands: Never blackmail the murderer!
This was a tight episode. I would expect nothing less from Stephen J. Cannell. I wonder if he met Robert Culp on this episode which resulted in him being cast in Cannell’s The Greatest American Hero?
My biggest gripe was the seemingly weak motive that Kepple had for killing Vic Norris. It sounds like the motive would have been clearer in the longer version but in the version I watched there was just an indication that Kepple was blackmailing Norris who was refusing to pay and there was a passing discussion between Columbo and Kepple about a note in Norris’s diary about terminating the contract with Kepple. I assume the longer version had more details about the blackmail. (Not that I’m complaining about a shorter episode! This episode was mostly devoid of filler.)
I’m sceptical that subliminal images actually work. But I could suspend my disbelief enough to enjoy the story. But a lot of things needed to go right for Kepple’s plan to work.
Not only was Kepple tardy in removing the calibre conversion device from his office, but what happened to the spent shell? I don’t know much about guns, perhaps the shell is loaded into the converter for a single shot and the shell isn’t ejected from the gun like you would expect for a semi-automatic pistol. This episode is specifically mentioned in the Wikipedia article for Calibre conversion device: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caliber_conversion_device#In_media
All in all, a pretty good episode with not many nits to pick. I also enjoyed the multiple call outs to police procedure and rule of law. Perhaps the producers had been receiving letters from fans complaining about the slipshod police work and circumstantial evidence that previous episodes relied on. Or perhaps Cannell just knew his shit.
Keppel is totally going down for this one. He might have got away with it he wasn’t so confident of his abilities and planned a simpler murder. GUILTY!
You’re absolutely right about the tape recorder. He SHOULD have started it back in the auditorium.
Yes, I was going to mention the Greatest American Hero connection. Obviously Cannell was a big fan.
And finally, great question about the spent shell. Wonder if this has been discussed on any Columbo forums.
Was the gun a revolver? https://thegunzone.com/what-type-of-firearm-does-not-expel-cartridge-casings/
I wanna cry. The past few days have been crazy hectic, I’m falling asleep as soon as my arse hits a chair, and this is one of my favorite episodes! I WILL get to my review, but let’s just say in my rankings thus far, this is #1 at the moment.
Also, I will add that the tape recorder thing has always bothered me, and I LOVE Columbo gobbling up the caviar!
But right now, I am brain dead. I will try to get to this one, and the next, before Saturday.
das
Rest up and catch up when you finally have the time, Das!
I have time now! My sister (a.k.a.. Bullwhip Ellie) is on her way back to Florida, so I can now goof off a bit. You see, my sister goes to bed by 9 or 10 pm, wakes up at 5 or 6 am, goes for walks, has breakfast, works like a demon for 4 or 5 hours, eats dinner at 1 pm, takes a nap, watches tv, has a snack, and is in bed by 9 or 10. Me?? Total opposite. I go to bed sometime between 1-3 am (sometimes 4), wake up between 8-9 am, do chores (including getting mom up, dressed, and fed), eat breakfast between 11 am and 1 pm, do more tasks (household, office, doctors, shopping, etc.), take a nap, make/eat dinner somewhere between 7-10 pm, do more chores, and then chill until I’m tired, sometime after midnight.
When my sister is here our schedules just don’t match up, and I have to be on her schedule (because she’s here to help me) so I miss my naps, I’m tired, my eating schedule gets thrown off, and my routine just falls apart, leaving me confused and looking around like John Travolta in that Pulp Fiction meme.
I appreciate the help, I really do, but I wish they could accept that my circadian rhythm is not ‘wrong’, just different. I have always been a night owl, though I also love early morning. I wish I could sleep between 10 am and 6 pm, and be awake the rest of the time. When I was a little girl I would sneak downstairs, sit on the steps, and watch the Tonight Show, my parents oblivious to my presence. When I got older and could make my own choices, I would stay out late listening to music and hang out with the bands until the sun came up. Later, my husband and I helped out a friend who had a cleaning business, and we cleaned movie theaters and offices late at night. I LOVED it! I loved the empty streets. I loved going into the 24-hour mart for coffee at 2 am. I loved everything about it. Aaaaand my husband HATED it. lol
Now, on to my favorite Columbo episode thus far. I love to watch this one, and I love to nap to it, too. 😀 So much already mentioned or touched on, so I will only focus on a couple/three things.
Firstly, was anyone else annoyed by Culp’s Tanya’s boyfriend voice? He sounded like some muscle guy from a 1940s, a la Moose Malloy from Murder, My Sweet. WHY Mrs. Norris would ever agree to meet with such a man in some secluded place is beyond me. It is my one nitpick in this episode – everything else I can accept.
Including the subliminal suggestion stuff. We had those books in our school library, and I found them interesting. Do I thing they work? I question their effectiveness in a film situation, but the concept certainly does work in still photo advertising in general. Altering pictures (or products) to make them more appealing to the consumer, or more attention-getting. Some things aren’t subliminal at all, such as the use of attractive models to sell products, but some things, like the appearance of ice cubes in a beverage, are sometimes altered to make the drink appear more thirst-quenching. (I also think that subliminal suggestion, real or not, would be more effective on people who are visual thinkers or those who have strong pattern awareness. For instance, people who are good at memory (or flash card) matching games may be more prone to subliminal advertising tricks.
And yes, I did catch the Hayward mention in this one. I’m trying to recall if reference is made to any other cases in other episodes, but I can’t remember.
The tape recorder. Line Noise already said it – he rewound the pre-recording and taped over it. He was supposed to be on stage, speaking live. To discover he had the voiceover already recorded would have ruined his alibi, so he had to record over it.
Oh, the Doctor/Mr. Keppel thing – that was so naughty of Columbo! First mistake, that could have been an accident. But the next time? THAT was an ‘on purpose’. Based on Cannell’s comments about bringing down the high and mighty, I think this was Cannell’s way of bringing that back into the stories, and it certainly helped establish that Columbo isn’t impressed by fancy titles and fame.
I used to feel bad about White’s murder because I liked his character, but after watching this episode many times I didn’t see him as a complete innocent. Blackmail is blackmail, and it got Norris killed, so why not White, too? Norris was threatening to go to the DA, White could go to the cops. Yeah, foolish move, Roger, very foolish move.
BTW, my husband is a locksmith, and on occasion uses a credit card (or similar object) to open doors. It’s not uncommon, and can be quicker than picking a lock. It can’t be done on a deadbolt, only on a door latch.
Oh, he’s guilty – caught with the smoking caliber converter!
My Rankings:
#1 Double Exposure
#2 Double Shock
#3 Requiem for a Falling Star
#4 The Most Crucial Game
#5 Suitable for Framing
#6 Prescription: Murder
#7 Lady in Waiting
#8 Any Old Port in a Storm
#9 Blueprint for Murder
#10 Murder by the Book
#11 Lovely but Lethal
#12 Candidate For Crime
#13 Etude in Black
#14 The Most Dangerous Match
#15 Dagger of the Mind
#16 Death Lends a Hand
#17 Ransom for a Dead Man
#18 Short Fuse
#19 A Stitch in Crime
#20 Greenhouse Jungle
#21 Dead Weight
das
I split the difference between you and your sister, going to bed at around 9-10 pm and waking up at about 8 am. That said, while I never loved the early wake-ups when I was in production and had to be on set, I really did enjoy driving through the empty streets while it was still dark and then grabbing breakfast at the food truck as the sun was rising.
It’s an episode you both love AND nap too? Here’s a rarity!
Thanks for the breaking and entering tip!
If a doorknob is installed correctly, a credit card should not work. However, since homeowners, general contractors, and handymen often install door hardware themselves, they often are unaware of the safety feature that helps to prevent a door from being carded open. Of course, most burglars either go through an open and/or unlocked window or door, or they just kick a door in, so the credit card trick is a waste of time for them. It’s the person who forgot their house key that’s more likely to try to open it with a card.
I think that’s why a lot of people are switching to keypad entry locks…but then you have to remember the code, and to replace the batteries before they go dead.
das