My two problems with this episode are first, the art gallery sequence, which reeks of filler material big time, and having Columbo mistake an air vent for a painting is part of taking Columbo's quirks way too far IMO.

My second problem is that my experience with enlarging the image from a video tape is that you will *not* bring out more detail by zooming in on something, so realistically zooming in on that part of the table would not have allowed us to see Harold's invitation with such startling clarity. If anything, we would have seen a more indistinguisable blob, and perhaps evidence that something was there in one case that wasn't there later on, but hardly the crystal clear clarity of the invitation.

In order for this episode to work, we have to believe that Harold was able to rig the video recorders to do the following:

1. The kitchen timer turns on the playback tape of Margaret's murder.

2. The second recorder comes on at the same time and records the playback.

3. The playback machine runs out of tape, and turns itself off. The machine with the day's events on it, as well as the copy of Margaret's death is now back to normal. Baxter's monitor is now seeing what the camera in the study is really broadcasting.

Otherwise, Baxter's monitor is seeing so much static when the blank part of the tape follows the recording of the crime. And Harold can not give the police the tape with the day's events from the study, the murder is only on his tape.

The second something is found wrong with the playback, suspicion has to focus on Harold. After all, who else in the house even knew how to work his gadgets? Also, Harold is not on tape answering the study phone. Columbo never asks why.

Regardless of my own nitpicking, I still rate this episode very highly. Harold looks at dog as if searching for his mute button, but dog knows where he is needed and runs to comfort Elizabeth. Easily dog's best appearance ever.

Eric, you are so right!

this technique is used in tv and films all the time and it drives me crazy!!! What they are actually showing is the original cameraman zooming in- not a true video zoom/enlargement.

Watch BLOW-UP to see how depictions of photo/film enlargements should be done!

Still a good ep.
brm

Very good points about implausibilities in the technology as well as repeated clues/scenarios from other episodes.

I think Playback is enjoyable, and I enjoy the final scene, but I don't consider it to be among my personal favorites.

i wondered how oscar werner took the chance and left all the equipment unattended where it could obviously be seen that it was tinkered with...i mean the police wouldve figured out something right away but he took the chance and went to the art gallery and relied on fate...too many holes in this one but it was enjoyable either way...thats the fun part of colombo...you cant take it too seriously...just enjoy playing the game with falk!!!

One could almost argue that this could be a 2 hour episode. Where is the scene where Baxter has to awaken Elizabeth to see that she is all right? And how does he handle it when she wants to know what is happening? And is her mother okay? Also, Harold is unlikely to leave the private detective Margaret hired alone for long. Columbo, looking through Margaret's checkbook decides to trace a Mr. J. D. Stemple to whom Margaret wrote a check for five thousand dollars two days earlier. He finds out there is, or was, a private detective by that name. The sort of guy who photographed philandering spouses. He died just a day ago. Came home at night. A water pipe in his kitchen had burst. When he touched the light switch.....

Heckuva coincidene, huh?

Joe

Maybe the motive was similar to that in "Short Fuse" but to me that isn't really important. It's only the motive.
Who says the doors down stairs didn't open when Columbo did the gun experiment? Maybe it did.

And if you aren't willing to at least try to believe the fact that an invitation could be zoomed in on and read, then you may as well not watch any mystery shows, they all have their inconsistencies.
I like this bit of incriminating evidence because it is really ****ing. Not some cop out, where Columbo tricks the murderer into a lame confession or some kind of evidence is introduced that could be easliy written off (the clock sound in "The Most Crucial Game", for instance).

Granted the scene at the art gallery was a waste of time but nearly all eps have that. And Werner's treatment of his wife could have been more fully explored I suppose if they had stretched it into a 2 hr ep. Thankfully they didn't.

No, a definite classic for me and, by the way, one of Falk's favourites.

You got to admit though, that if we didn't love watching Columbo episodes over and over again, we wouldn't be able to spot the inconsistencies.

Truthfully, the clock chime clue in "Most Crucial Game" for me worked better in terms of dramatic impact in the story than the invitation clue did here. Robert Culp's reaction, the music etc. and the knowing silence that fills the air afterwards IMO compensates more for whether it's truly effective or not in terms of proving he's the killer.

The fact that the majority of suspicion must fall on Oskar Werner's character because only somebody with a thorough and detailed knowledge of the layout of the house could have committed the murder, makes this episode even more enjoyable.

The episode uses a pleasing chunk of ironical effectiveness to allow Columbo to use technical gadgetry to get his proof, in the same vein that Oskar Werner constructs and executes the murder of his mother-in-law.

The checking of the time and reference to the time by the murderer to/infront of people is a bit lame here (it was used in previous episodes like "Suitable For Framing" and it is as overused as the car that adds some mileage on its clock so that the murderer can get to and from the scene of the crime - seen in "Etude in Black", "Candidate for crime" etc.).

I liked the sombre conclusion as Columbo pensively switches off the monitor that shows the incriminating invitation on the desk as the murderer's wife looks on in total disbelief....great stuff!

yeah i was looking at the end and gina rowland is looking at colombo and the look on his face is of one of feeling really bad because now shell be really alone and that she is better off

Regarding inconsistencies in this and other episodes, I'll try to paraphrase something Harold Van Wyck said:

"The more elaborate a murder plot is, the more prone it is to plot holes. We have to accept these little problems from time to time."

The more I watch this episode, the more I like it. The beauty of this episode is that it feels real. You think that maybe Harold does have SOME feelings for Elizabeth and that his lavish spending on gadgets is, in his mind, necessary. His brother in law defends the company's performance by agreeing that its mainly due the recession, so you think maybe be is an egomaniac running the company into the ground, but he isn't totally incompetent. So like all family problems, it's not a black and white situation. Fe house and the actors are all beautiful, making it fun to watch. (Gena Rowland's looks like a movie star!)

A few things...

1) The cameras were motion/light/heat activated only. They did not record all day and would therefore stop recording after the murderer left the room.
2) Harold's explanation that the cameras were installed in the house to prevent a robbery of the safe, and not a murder, is ingenious and makes the whole plot plausible.
3) Martha Scott's threat to put her silly son in charge of the company shows that she was also fallible, and gives us reason to be more understanding of Harold's motives (although we certainly can't condone the murder).
4) the most interesting part of movie not explored was Elizabeth saying that she should become temporary chairwoman. Obviously, she knew there were troubles but why would she step over her brother when her brother was already a company executive?
5) worst part of movie is columbo's statement that his wife does "painting by the numbers". This is cringe-worthy and does not fit into the character of the clever Mrs. Columbo that's been hinted at previously.

why would she step over her brother when her brother was already a company executive?

I think her Mother had already clued her in that she wasn't happy with how Harold was running the company.