The second official episode of the "Columbo" series ("Murder by the Book," filmed later, hit the airwaves first), "Death Lends a Hand" is also among the best. Robert Culp, who would match wits with Peter Falk's detective in several future installments, is terrific as the short-tempered head of a sophisticated private detective agency who murders a client's wife (Patricia Crowley) when she refuses to cave-in to his blackmail schemes.
Ray Milland plays the client. With the addition of a toupee, he'd return the next season as a killer in "Greenhouse Jungle."
Falk and Culp are well-matched in this clever cat-and-mouse exercise. Trivia fans might like to know that the scene featuring a crashing mirror was directed by Steven Spielberg for the "Eyes" segment of the 1969 "Night Gallery" pilot. Universal was so impressed, they added it to their library of stock footage.
Brian W. Fairbanks
Ray Milland plays the client. With the addition of a toupee, he'd return the next season as a killer in "Greenhouse Jungle."
Falk and Culp are well-matched in this clever cat-and-mouse exercise. Trivia fans might like to know that the scene featuring a crashing mirror was directed by Steven Spielberg for the "Eyes" segment of the 1969 "Night Gallery" pilot. Universal was so impressed, they added it to their library of stock footage.
Brian W. Fairbanks