A new "Columbo" is always one set I make a point of blitzing through in as little as two days. And thank goodness the DVD-18s are gone meaning I don't have to worry about possible freeze-ups any more!

Even though I've had an uncut VHS of "Forgotten Lady" for some time, the transfer on this was the best I'd ever seen. Superior audio too, where I could hear the dialogue on the Carson TV show in the background more clearly than ever.

Great seeing "A Case Of Immunity" and "Identity Crisis" uncut for the first times. The VHS copy I had of the latter was missing the scene where Brenner hears the radio story of the Chinese pulling out of the Olympics, which the first time I saw it was a detail that just came out of left field.

Watching "Identity Crisis", I'm reminded of how people are so often confused by the plot, but I think it basically comes down to a statement Brenner makes when he has Columbo over to his house and Columbo is marveling over the luxurious trappings and all the things Brenner has done in his life. Brenner then says dismissively, "I find it dull." That is in a nutshell why Brenner has hatched this elaborate puzzle game that has resulted in murder. He's not a double agent in the traditional sense of stealing secrets (the microfilm that "Steinmetz" has) that might go to an enemy country, he's just in effect screwing his own boss (the US government) not because he needs the money but because he likes the challenge of it all. In a sense, Brenner is a lot like the main character in the movie "The Thomas Crown Affair", a rich guy who has it all who hatches an elaborate robbery just to show he can beat the system and just for the fun of it all because his life that most people envy is so dull to him and he likes the thrill of the challenge.

Ooooooh. Nice analysis!

Silly me, that's Season 5! I got so wrapped up in that other thread about the Season 6 coupon I forgot which year I was in.

wow! that sounds great about forgotten lady...it is one of my very favourites...i can't wait to see it on dvd.

and boy! the bit about identity crisis...that really put some things in perspective for me. i am one of those who has always found it a bit confusing...but i still love it.

All the talk about whether "Charade" would be replaced in "Now You See It" had me wondering for some time if there would have been clearance problems in "Forgotten Lady" with the use of the song "Speak Low" from "One Touch Of Venus" that comes up in the story, as well as the use of the Tonight Show material. Fortunately no problems there!

great to hear about 'speak low' in forgotten lady still being there...
as i said, this is one of my favourite episodes...and that scene always brings me to tears....and then later to joy when columbo dances lightly up the staircase...

I've gone through the first 3 episodes from the 'Season 5' DVD set - the first two didn't contain much extra footage of importance or enjoyment but in 'Identity Crisis', there's a great intro to when Columbo's interview with Del Fonte - the guy that Brenner wrote the speech for.

On the DVD set, the extra footage shows the two men speaking back and forth in Italian - which, to my recollection, was the only other time besides "Murder Under Glass" when Columbo had a conversation in Italian. Even "Any Old Port In a Storm" didn't have any Italian conversations.

Since Vito Rossi, who plays Del Fonte, is also a funny actor, to hear he and Falk go back and forth in Italian was really rich. Halfway through their conversation, they switch to English - which is where most of the TV-edited versions pick the scene up from. Columbo ends up leaving the scene with a handful of grapes.

Vito Scotti!

No one has mentioned this yet, but don't forget how badly "Last Salute to the Commodore" sucks. I tried to muddle through it, and I had to stop watching it. What a terrible episode!

Yea, it's bad. It's unnecessarily complicated, and the dialogue seems unatural, annoying and forced. Maybe it was bad directing, I don't know.

i agree. i don't think i've ever watched that one all the way through. i still don't really know what the plot is.

The plot is kind of diluted, but the funny thing about the bad directing, with which I agree, is that it was directed by Patrick McGoohan.