"By Dawn's Early Light" is one of the very best, and oddly most atypical, of all "Columbo" episodes. It is not set in recognizable Los Angeles (in fact, it was shot at the Citadel in South Carolina), it presents a slightly tougher, less quirky Lt. Columbo, and there are no really strong supporting characters. It is primarily a two-man show between Columbo and his prey, a wrote-the-book military academy commander named Col. Rumford (Patrick McGoohan). But its story is sound, its pacing superb (which couldn't always be said for the show) and McGoohan is superlative. McGoohan's casting is actually quite offbeat; one might imagine more of a Charlton Heston type actor in the role. But McGoohan is perfect, showing just enough humanity beneath the ramrod tartar exterior to gain empathy, if not exactly sympathy. In fact, McGoohan's character is unique among Columbo murderers in that he does not make a slip-up in carrying out the actual murder. Instead while he is setting the murder trap he sees evidence of a rule being broken--a cadet has hung a jug of home-fermented cider outside his room window--and he later pursues the perpetrator with zeal bordering on obsession. It is this obsessive quest to find the bootlegger among the cadets that offers Columbo the clues he needs to break down the colonel's alibi for the unrelated murder. Had it been in Rumford's character to simply look the other way regarding the cider, he would have gone a free man at the end of the show, as Columbo had no other proof for his suspicions. All in all, a fascinating episode, with two excellent lead performances.
Review of By Dawn's Early Light
