I noticed a previous post on the subject mentioned above, and coincidentally, the last two Columbo's I've watched have been these two. It gave me the ideal opportunity to compare them...

To me "By Dawn's Early Light" contains a superior Patrick McGoohan performance - unflappable in the extreme; emotionless; full of pride; inflexible in administering discipline etc. Columbo is almost in awe of him and the scenes between them uphold the taut atmosphere and tightness of the episode as a whole.

The scenes are logically developed and the finale is extremely clever and unpredicatble.

I found "Identity Crisis" less flowing; the complexities of the plot, the spy theme, the awkward script (which has difficulty in embracing the Columbo formula) - it tries to be a bit different at the expense of some enjoyment.

Although McGoohan is on familiar ground in this episode (with his experiences in the Prisoner Tv series) his performance seems off. It might be that he was trying to balance his performance both infront of and behind the camera!

Undeniably, the scene at Brenner's house is fascinating and compelling. Columbo and him play a "cat and mouse" game against the backdrop of Madame Butterfly - the rest of it holds together less well for me. Plot-wise and Columbo-wise, it's not as satisying as "By Dawn's Early Light."

Being so plot oriented, I have always preferred the latter over the former. Why bother to show the cider bottle if it won't be used later on? On the other hand, the alibi breaker in Identity Crisis is one of the most subtle ever.

Joe

I have to agree. I enjoy McGoohan's performance in "Dawn" more than "Identity" - it's a little more restrained, but there's a tremendous amount of characterization in it.

I never really liked the episodes in which Columbo would try someone else's profession and turn out to be an instant expert - psychology in "Murder, A Self-Portrait" and the spy business in "Identity" stand out. Plus the ending clue in "Identity" doesn't really confirm that Brenner was the killer, it only breaks his alibi.

Having Leslie Nielson in the episode is another little drawback. At the time he was still seen as a dramatic actor, but now he's been doing zany comedy for so long that anything he says is hilarious. "What's that over there?" "That's the wet bar, sir." I couldn't stop laughing.

I don't think the mystery aspect of either episode is fantastic, but the solution of "Dawn" adds an almost tragic dimension to things. Rumford could have avoided capture if he had chosen to ignore the cider - but his devotion to the rules prevents him from doing that.