The 4th episode of Season 1, Suitable for Framing, premiered on November 17th, 1971 and has a couple of notable features - the fastest on-camera murder, and one of the best gotchas of the entire Columbo series. It really is one of my favorite episodes of the series.
📺You can watch it for free, here: https://www.imdb.com/tv/watch/tt0066934 (May not be available in all regions)
What to watch for...
A few things I found interesting about this episode.
Dale wastes no time
The murder in this episode happens 55 seconds in, making it the fastest on-camera Columbo murder of the series. I'm not counting Janice Caldwell in "A Friend in Deed" because she's already dead when the episode starts.
The killing is even faster than Paul Williams' murder in Ransom for a Dead Man which happens just over 2 minutes into the episode.
There are no lines of dialog spoken before the fateful shot; in fact the first words aren't heard at all until after Tracy arrives to help set up the alibi, five minutes and thirty-five seconds into the episode. Ironically the first words are "You're late."
The killing is even faster than Paul Williams' murder in Ransom for a Dead Man which happens just over 2 minutes into the episode.
There are no lines of dialog spoken before the fateful shot; in fact the first words aren't heard at all until after Tracy arrives to help set up the alibi, five minutes and thirty-five seconds into the episode. Ironically the first words are "You're late."
Tracy has connections
Dale's girlfriend/accomplice, Tracy O'Connor, is played by Rosanna Huffman. Ms. Huffman has quite a few acting credits to her name, and she's fine in this one, but one can't help but wonder if her other name played a part in her getting the Columbo gig: Mrs. Richard Levinson. She's the wife of the Columbo co-creator.
 |
| Photo credit: Vagebond's Columbo Screenshots |
She appears again, nineteen years later, in Season 9's "Rest in Peace: Mrs. Columbo" by the way.
Tracy seems curiously confident, by the way, for an amateur. Note how she bravely pauses, even with the security man rushing to the door, timing her escape just perfectly so that he doesn't even glimpse her.
Strangely familar...
The decor in Uncle Rudy's house is very similiar to the decor in the Williams house in Ransom for a Dead Man and Aunt Dorie's house in Short Fuse, but it's missing the expansive opening to the foyer. So either it's not the same house or they've built a false wall across where that opening should be.
And speaking of familiar...
The painting Dale is charming the art fans with as Tracy makes good her escape at the house should look familiar. It's also hanging at the top of the stairs in Uncle Rudy's house.
This isn't the only instance of the prop department saving some money, of course...
The painting of white houses with red roofs hanging in Rudy's collection appeared previously hanging on the wall of Dr. Fleming's office in Prescription Murder.
"Mel, Kiss my grits!"
Actor Vic Tayback plays Sam Franklin, the surly artist featured at the gallery where Kingston is establishing his alibi. Tayback is best known for playing "Mel Sharples" the cook in Alice's Restaurant for nearly a decade in the 70s/80s.
Fun fact: Like me, Vic Tayback attended Burbank High School, though he was there many years earlier.
Maybe we'll meet again
Well-traveled actor Ray Kellogg plays the security guard who is on patrol when Tracy's shot alerts him to the murder. I *think* he also has an uncredited role as a cab driver in Season 2's The Most Dangerous Match.
What was your name again?
And speaking of uncredited roles...Sally, the policewoman Columbo gets to run down the steps in heels, is one of a handful of uncredited actors in this episode.
Hildy, the pretty makeup lady with the "high-speed turpentine" is another.
The murder victim, Uncle Rudy, is uncredited (it was actor Robert Shayne) but he had no lines and really only appears on screen for less than a minute.
I think it's unusual for actors with scripted speaking lines to not get named in the closing credits these days, but I'll admit I don't know exactly what the rules on that are, or what they might have been in the early 1970s when these Columbo episodes were being made.
Even "Parking boy Joe" (actor Dennis Rucker) gets a credit.
A mystery no more
One of the bigger mysteries of the Columbo universe was the identity of the lovely nude model, "Kris".
For years people puzzled over who that might be, even going so far as to do extensive photo comparisons to other actresses. At long lost the actress has been identified as Katherine Darc!
The columbophile has a nice article on the mystery and its resolution: Suitable for Framing’s nude model identified at last!
Though I'm not complaining, Mr. Franklin's painting of the lovely Kris bears no real resemblance to the model, or her pose...which makes her presence sort of pleasantly irrelevant. It does offer a few opportunities for Falk to be charmingly bashful while averting his eyes.
Don Ameche
The lawyer, Frank Simpson, is played by veteran actor Don Ameche. Modern filmgoers know him best from Trading Places with Eddie Murphy or Cocoon with Wilford Brimley.
(Ameche is on the left)
Appropriately enough...Ameche briefly attended college with the goal of becoming a lawyer, but thankfully gave that up to become an actor.
Just a few more things...
- Academy Award winner Kim Hunter plays Aunt Edna. In 1999 she plays Richard Kiley's mom in the TV Movie Blue Moon, even though Kiley was actually 8 months older than she is, in real life. Richard Kiley, of course, is best known to Columbo fans as murderous Police Commissioner Mark Halperin in A Friend in Deed.
- This is another episode where they don't actually SAY "LAPD" or "Los Angeles Police Department". Captain Wyler introduces himself as just being from the "police department".
- While we're mentioning Captain Wyler, this is one of the rare episodes where we see, and hear, Columbo's boss on screen in multiple scenes.
- Edna, like many Columbo characters, has a magic ice bucket. When she, Rudy, and lawyer Frank, return to her house just before the police search, Dale is making them drinks at the bar and her ice bucket is full of fresh ice...even though she's been out shopping for at least a couple of hours. Ice buckets in Columbo are always full.
- One of the police cars in the driveway at Edna's in the gotcha scene says "Highway Patrol" on it. It's not clear why the Highway Patrol would be there to execute a residential search in a case they would have only tenuous connections to. My guess is that the transportation department just brought over a couple of police cars for the scene without much concern for which agency they were painted for.
The Great Gotcha (Spoiler alert!)
Suitable for Framing has one of the best gotchas in the entire run of the series, though like a few episodes Columbo takes a big chance.
The gotcha hinges on this moment, earlier in the episode:
Columbo touches, sight-unseen, a couple of paintings that Kingston claims are watercolors. Of course, he can't know when he sets up the gotcha for Kingston that the paintings they'll find planted in Mrs. Matthews' house will be the same ones.
Fortunately...it works out. Columbo's fingerprints turn up on the art Kingston planted, and we learn why Columbo has awkwardly had his hands stuffed in his coat pockets from the moment he arrives - even walking from his car up to Edna's house.
You might notice that Captain Wyler has a slight knowing smile on his face when he tells Officer Ferguson to let Columbo in. Naturally the Captain was in on the plan.
Learn more
- Episode review: Columbo Suitable for Framing at the columbophile
- Suitable for Framing at the Columbo Fandom wiki
What did you think of Suitable for Framing? Let us know in the comments below!
Comments
Post a Comment