Columbo - The Complete First Season DVD
Columbo DVDs
Buy Columbo - The Complete First Season
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Universal
EAN: 9781417014323
Format: Box set, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled,
NTSC
ISBN: 1417014326
Item Dimensions: 90
Label: National Broadcasting Company (NBC)
Languages: EnglishOriginal LanguageDolby Digital 2.0
MonoEnglishSubtitledSpanishSubtitledFrenchSubtitled
Manufacturer: National Broadcasting Company (NBC)
MPN: D25583D
Number Of Discs: 5
Number Of Items: 5
Publisher: National Broadcasting Company (NBC)
Region Code: 1
Release Date: September 07, 2004
Running Time: 725 minutes
Studio: National Broadcasting Company (NBC)
Theatrical Release Date: February 09, 1972
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Lt. Columbo a disheveled cigar chomping sleuth appears to be an
incompetent bumbler. But that facade is designed to lull his murder
suspects into a false sense of security. Columbo is the shrewdest
most resourceful detective in the lapd. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca)
Release Date: 03/08/2005 Starring: Peter Falk Run time: 725 minutes
Rating: Nr
Amazon.com:
TV detective fans rejoice: Peter Falk's rumpled and infallible Lt.
Columbo joins the DVD precinct with a five-disc set that features
the detective's first nine appearances for NBC. Though Falk as
Columbo (no first name) made his TV debut in 1967, the detective had
actually first appeared on an episode of the 1960-61 Chevy Mystery
Show (Bert Freed played the role) written by veteran TV scribes
Richard Levinson and William Link (The Fugitive, Alfred Hitchcock
Presents). The pair turned the episode into a stage play titled
Prescription: Murder, which was adapted into a TV movie in 1967 with
Falk in the lead. NBC greenlit a two-hour Columbo pilot (Ransom for
a Dead Man) in 1971, and the series was launched that fall as part
of the NBC Sunday Mystery Movie, a rotating 90-minute program that
alternated Columbo with episodes of MacMillan and Wife and McCloud
(another Levinson/Link creation). Viewers were quickly won over by
Falk's shrewd performance as he matched wits with a host of
exceptional guest stars (including Gene Barry, Patrick McGoohan, and
others), all of whom assumed that the disheveled detective would
never figure out their "perfect crimes"; the popularity and quality
of the original series allows Falk to continue to don the trenchcoat
some 30 years later for occasional Columbo TV movies.
All seven 90-minute episodes of the 1971-72 debut season are
included here, along with Prescription: Murder and Ransom for a Dead
Man; unfortunately, as the lieutenant himself would say, "Oh, just
one more thing"--no extras are included in the set, but having these
fine TV mysteries in one set should be reward enough for armchair
sleuths. --Paul Gaita
Season One Episode Guide
Pilots (1968–1971, 2 episodes)
"Prescription: Murder" (2/20/68)
Gene Barry is Dr. Ray Flemming, a psychiatrist who murders his wife
and uses an actress/patient/lover to impersonate her to create an
alibi.
"Ransom for a Dead Man" (3/1/71)
Lee Grant is Leslie Williams, a powerful egotistical lawyer and
aviatrix, who murders her husband to get his money by making it look
as if he had been kidnapped and killed by kidnappers. Columbo and
the step-daughter who hates her, successfully work together to get
Williams to implicate herself by revealing where the money is.
First season (1971–1972, 7 episodes)
"Murder by the Book" (9/15/71)
Jack Cassidy is Ken Franklin, one-half of the "Mrs. Melville"
mystery writing team, who kills his partner, Jim Ferris (Martin
Milner). Ferris wants to break up the team and write solo, but this
would expose Franklin as the non-writing half of the "team". When a
witness (Barbara Colby) tries to blackmail Franklin into a
relationship, he finds he must kill her too. Columbo begins to
pester him with questions about the murder. Franklin soon realises
though, that no murder is perfect, and that one of his books may
return to haunt him. Steven Spielberg directed and Steven Bochco
wrote this episode, which was voted by TV Guide as one of the top
ten television episodes of all time.
"Death Lends a Hand" (10/6/71)
Robert Culp is Brimmer, the head of a private detective agency. His
agency is hired by Arthur Kennicut (Ray Milland), a powerful
publishing magnate (modeled after William Randolph Hearst). Kennicut
suspects his trophy wife (Pat Crowley)'s extracurricular activities
are less than honorable. Brimmer reports to his client that the wife
has a "clean bill of health", and then attempts to blackmail the
wife into revealing secrets about her husband. She refuses his offer
and threatens to expose his plot to her husband, at which point
Brimmer accidentally kills her in a fit of fury. Series creators
Richard Levinson and William Link won an Emmy for writing this
episode.
"Dead Weight" (10/27/71)
Eddie Albert is Major General Martin Hollister, a "Patton"-esque
retired Marine Corps General who kills his partner in a defense
embezzlement scheme. Suzanne Pleshette is Helen Stewart, the witness
who first reports the crime and is then wooed by the General into
doubting her own story. Columbo investigates, searches his house,
and is very doubtful about Helen's statement.
"Suitable for Framing" (11/17/71)
Ross Martin is Dale Kingston, an art critic who murders his uncle
and frames his aunt, all to obtain what is considered to be one of
the most valuable art collections in the world. Kingston believes in
his carefully wrought plan to frame her, and refuses to believe that
Columbo can be taken seriously. Kim Hunter guests as Edna Matthews,
the aunt briefly under suspicion. Don Ameche portrays the family
lawyer Frank Simpson.
"Lady in Waiting" (12/15/71)
Susan Clark is Beth Chadwick, the milquetoast younger sister of a
domineering brother played by Richard Anderson. Her determination
for freedom leads her to murder him and assume control of both her
own life and the family business. She arranges for it to look like
an accident but is tripped up by her own fiancée. Her mother is
played by veteran actress Jessie Royce Landis, in her last
performance before her untimely death from cancer. Leslie Nielsen
portrays Peter Hamilton, the suitor with the perfect memory. Steven
Bochco chalks up another writer's credit.
"Short Fuse" (1/19/72)
Roddy McDowall is Roger Stanford, a chemist whose uncle (James
Gregory) has taken over the business his parents built and his aunt
(Ida Lupino) controls. When Uncle David proposes selling the
business to a conglomerate in return for a seat on the board of
directors, Roger decides to remove his uncle from office with a box
of exploding cigars. William Windom guests as the next-in-line VP
who must be removed by suspicion before Roger can move into the
corner office.
"Blueprint for Murder" (2/9/72)
Patrick O'Neal is Elliot Markam, an architect with a vision for a
city of the future and a penchant for classical music. Forrest
Tucker is Bo Williamson, a super-rich country cowboy with a ton of
money, a beautiful trophy wife, and a still close relationship with
his first wife Goldie. Markam needs Bo dead in order to gain access
to his money through the younger Mrs. Williamson, yet he also needs
Bo alive to prevent Bo's money from going into a trust. Therefore
Markam must come up with a clever way to dispose of the body and
make it look as if Bo is simply on extended overseas business trip.
Peter Falk made his directorial debut with this episode.
