I think Forgotten Lady is a very unusual Columbo in many ways. In a sense i believe it to be incredibly well acted, by all involved, and especially Janet Leigh. The fact that her character, Grace, has a brain illness resulting in her having perhaps only two months to live (at the outside), leads to a very surprising climax to the show with Columbo, not actually arresting his chief suspect. I think the thought that she may not even remember killing her husband, leads to a very engrossing story for the viewer to really get involved in. However, Forgotten Lady appears to have an enormous plot hole when it comes to Columbo's evidence. To base her guilt on the fact that when the film had broken, she had taken a lengthy period of time (15 odd minutes as the film had run over) to edit it seems strange. Just as she had ventured to kill her husband, she could just as easily fallen asleep in front of the screen, and not been aware of the broken reel. This may also seem quite convincing, especially as she had been suffering from an aneurism of the brain.

Forgotten Lady, i believe, has some truly brilliant characterisation, but is let down by a plot, which seems somehow lacking in logic, and especially within the evidence of the murder. It is unusual for a Columbo film to seem so brilliantly memorable from one perspective, yet completely lacking in logic, when it comes to its most crucial scene of evidence. It's both an example of the show at its most effective, and also its most lacking, as well.

I regard 'Forgotten Lady' as second-rate compared to other episodes - which means it's still good, but not one of the very best. I do like the way subtle hints are included at various points that Grace is suffering from memory loss, some of which I at least didn't spot until the second or even third viewing.

The ending I agree is a bit unsatisfactory. I suppose there's no suggestion in the final scene that this evidence will convict Grace, but it's enough for Diamond to be convinced, which is what matters the way the ending is presented. Having said that, I am a little uncomfortable with the way that Columbo accepts this.

Forgotten Lady was IMO the best episode of the whole series and a true classic. A few points...

1) Janet Leigh's character is sympathetic because she is mentally ill. Not only does she have a terminal brain illness, but John Payne admits she "snapped" years earlier.

2) the plot holes actually make the ending work!! They allow John Payne to confess to the crime because Columbo doesn't have a strong enough case against Janet Leigh.

3) The backstory, the real film clips, the great acting, and the original emotional ending make this the best episode and one of Falk's favorites.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts about this classic episode.

My problem with it has always been my gut reaction that Grace does not deserve the degree of sympathy that Columbo extends to her, because (as I saw it) she killed her husband for what seemed the most shallow and trivial of reasons -- her wish to return to fame in a vanity production, in the twilight of her career -- possibly the weakest motive (even in context of her brain disease) in any "Columbo" episode. Moreover, it seemed to me, the victim had done nothing wrong whatsoever, as he only wanted to love Grace and protect her.

Over the years on this Forum, I have engaged in a bit of friendly debate about this with various fans who see it differently, the most knowledgeable and thoughtful of them being Eric Paddon, who has displayed the depth of his Columbo wisdom and creativity in writing some truly excellent fan fiction pieces for Martin Ross' outstanding site "Just One More Paragraph," http://www.planetpreset.com/colfanfic.html .

I would encourage everyone to explore the many original Columbo stories on that site, including Eric's definitive statement about the moral complexities of "Forgotten Lady" in his story "Forgotten Lady Remembered" -- creatively presented as a "Columbo"/"Quantum Leap" crossover. For any fan of this episode it is a "must read," and I cannot recommend Martin's site, or Eric's writing, highly enough.

Thank you very much for your kind plug and comments, Ted! We all owe a debt to Martin for making the site possible and for letting other fine writers contribute their stories (in addition to sharing some of his own)

Yes, this has been my favorite non-Season 1 episode overall (and also a favorite of our dear Cass) because I have never seen a Columbo episode with a richer subtext of backstory in the characters as this one which makes its unconventional ending so poignant. John Payne (in his last role) really communicates a sense of total heartbreak when he has to realize that the woman he loved but never took the step for way back when has killed, so now he is willing to in effect make up for that by not letting Grace suffer in jail in her final months. And Janet Leigh, in addition to being so radiantly beautiful (Cass and I both couldn't say enough about that gown she wears at the beginning!) also is the only Columbo killer whose reaction to the detective's interrogation is different from all other killers. The first time we watch, we think she's covering up and leading him astray. The second time we watch, we realize this is a confused and frightened woman who is genuinely baffled by Columbo's whole questioning (and it is a beautiful directorial touch that we can literally spot the moment when the whole memory of killing Henry disappears from her completely).

And on the lighter side of things to appreciate, this episode is also a delight for fans of "Batman". Maurice Evans and Linda Gaye Scott, as the married butler and maid mark the only case where a former Batman villain (the Puzzler) ever appeared in another program married to a former Batman henchmoll! (Scott was the Riddler's henchmoll "Moth" in a Season 1 episode; ordinarily a very stunning woman she had to 'frump' herself up for this part). Another former Batman henchmoll, Francine York also appears in the episode too.

That said, I'll acknowledge there are some problems with the episode in regards to the clue. Grace could easily have explained the time factor by falling asleep when the film broke (it certainly would have been enough for "reasonable doubt"), but for me the bigger problem has to do with the fact that Raymond returns to change the next reel on schedule on time. Shouldn't he have arrived sooner because of the delay caused by the film breaking? This plot hole could have been fixed if the reel that broke had been the *last* one, because then it would have explained Raymond arriving early to see the final few minutes. As it is, it makes no sense for Raymond to be on-time with a reel change after Grace has committed the murder and fixed the film.

Even so, it's one Columbo I can never tire of watching, and thanks to Cass, I felt the inspiration to do that little fanfic piece that presents things "set right" for all parties concerned in another realm.

I haven't seen it in a long while, but speaking of "the lighter side," one visual moment that stays with me is the actor Ross Elliott giving that impatient look at Columbo's questions. (Any fan of the cult film Kelly's Heroes knows him from those weary looks he gave to Carroll O'Connor's character, so seeing him deal with Columbo is almost like an inside joke.)

The finest episode of them all in so many ways.

I think Columbo has a decent circumstantial case against Grace, but I agree there is possible room for reasonable doubt.

I don't remember Raymond making any reel changes. I remember him occasionally stopping in to see if Grace needed anything, but I thought the idea was that the whole movie was on that one reel. I don't know if that is true to real life, or should I say "reel" life. Maybe prints of movies available for home viewing were done more cheaply and everything fit on one reel?

He makes a reel change after Grace commits the murder. Movies back then always consisted of multiple reels and you couldn't have it all on one reel unless you had a giant sized projector.

Even apart from the reel changes, broken film etc, I've never understood how watching the movie on her own would have given Grace an alibi anyway.

She technically didn't think she'd need an alibi since the idea was to make it look like a suicide based on the fact that the door was locked from the inside.

I just watched this episode again last night (it has suddenly appeared on Netflix, along with all the other random episodes that they were holding back on). This plot hole occurred to me, too, and I was specifically watching for it. Immediately after Grace splices the broken film, Raymond does appear, presumably to change the reel. But we don't actually see him change the reel. He pops into the projection booth and then reemerges. In fact, he couldn't have--the reel would not have been at the end, because of the lost 15 minutes. So he must have noticed that there was a lot of film left on that reel still, and left and came back again a little later to change it. From that point forward, the reel changes would come at regular intervals again.

Why would he not think anything odd? Perhaps it was not unusual for Grace to stop the projector herself for a lengthy bathroom break every now and then.

Yeah, it's an entertaining episode, and plot hole-forgiveness not withstanding, the stretch for me was in for as many times as he ran the film for Grace, that Raymond didn't notice that "Walking My Baby" was still running when Johnny Carson had already ended.