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.