I think I remember reading in The Columbo Phile that the split-screen effect was used because the episode was running too long. They were having trouble paring it down to fit in the allotted time, so they ran the action simultaneously.

I agree it's a cool effect. And I love the tragic character of Eddy Kane, VERY well played by John Chandler. One of my favorite eps.

the whole split screen thingy was so 70's!! i loved it!!
and steve, i agree..i loved eddie kane..he was so cool and optimistic about his upcoming book on bombs! there was so much about his character that i enjoyed. he was confident in one moment and a bit shy and overcome in the next, as when jack cassidy brings the champagne over to his 'home' and eddie is all happy and appreciative. and there are so many other 'eddie kane' moments in that episode that i enjoyed....
eddie kane is the epitome of what ALL the true columbo characters were all about. you got to know them all..no matter how small their role was....you were exposed to their full personality........i mean just think about it....think of all the very minor roles that people have played on columbo and think of how much of their character was revealed............the woman who made the choir robes in swan song, the magic shop owner in now you see him..the locksmith, mr. black, in publish or perish, william the stage producer in etude, and also the projetor guy in make me a perfect murder..joyce van patten as the nun in negative reaction and Mr. Vito Scotti in any role....but even the guy in the photo shop in negative reaction or the screaming little girl wanting ice cream in the most crucial game?..and there are so many more.....weren't they all great characters?..and i for one would have loved to know more about them all......

You're so right Cass, I just love that scene in Negative Reaction with Joyce Van Patten; Columbo beaming at her because she means well; a more fragile male ego would have been insulted and become defensive.

And Eddy Kane is actually a very likeable character, you could see he had the potential to be a fine human being but his experiences in Nam obviously warped his character beyond repair.

I should add that the character of Eddy Kane was a very pertinent social commentary at the time it originally aired.

The use of split-screen in this episode is very impressive, and I would actually rate it as the best use of split screen I've ever seen.

It really advances the story-line quickly and excitingly where a conventional approach would have been slower and more cumbersome.

Usually split screen is gimmicky and aside from that 70s Michael Crichton film about a deadly germ outbreak, can't remember what its called, I can't think of any film which comes close.

I could be totally wrong about this because I'm going completely by memory, but didn't they use split screen sequences in "Short Fuse"?

i'm not sure about that c.g. but they did flip back and forth between showing roger with betty bishop at that disco place and then showing david buckner in the limo.

I agree, I don't think it was split-screen, more like scene-flipping, but sort of the same concept.