COLUMBO: LOVELY BUT LETHAL {SEASON THREE PREMIERE} (TV)
Summary
One in this series of police dramas in which Los Angeles homicide detective Lt. Columbo's unassuming manner masks his keen intelligence and sharp investigative abilities. Dr. Murcheson, chemist for the cosmetics company Beauty Mark Inc., laments over a recent failure while testing a product. Meanwhile Viveca Scott, president of Beauty Mark, attends a fashion show, where she meets an old friend turned rival David Lang, president of a competing cosmetics company, along with his secretary Shirley. David knows that Viveca's stocks have been in decline for the past few months and her company could be in serious danger, but she rebuffs his offer to buy her out. Back at her office, Viveca goes over sample advertisements for a new product called "Miracle," a rejuvenating face cream which could save her company. However, an inebriated Murcheson comes into her office to tell her that their last test was merely an aberration, and that Miracle is not actually effective, enraging Viveca. Viveca meets with Shirley, who is secretly conducting corporate espionage against David for her in the hopes of obtaining an executive position at Beauty Mark. She shows Viveca a photocopy of a check that David made out to a mysterious individual who tried to sell him a face cream formula. Shirley demonstrates a sample of the formula, and it appears to be an effective version of the Miracle cream. Viveca discovers that the mysterious individual is Karl Lessing, Murcheson's assistant. She intercepts him at his home and correctly deduces that he falsified the last test to make it appear that the face cream was ineffective in the hopes of secretly selling the formula to David. She tries to call the police until Karl reveals that the formula is in his head, and that he never wrote it down. She makes him several offers for the formula and he refuses all of them, merely toying with her. While his back is turned, Viveca bludgeons Karl about the head with his microscope, killing him instantly. She wipes her fingerprints off of the microscope and leaves with a jar of the face cream. The next morning, the police investigate Karl's death, and Columbo arrives to inspect Karl's house. The police collect a number of objects as evidence, such as the microscope, shards of glass on the carpet from a broken drinking glass, mysterious pay stubs, and a magazine which Viveca wrote on while she was there. In the kitchen Columbo discovers a flour tin with an imprint from the jar containing the face cream; he notes the odd octagonal shape of the imprint. He also notices a photograph of Viveca which Karl had pinned to his dartboard. The police discover that Karl had recently made last-minute travel plans for an expensive European trip, despite the fact that he didn't have enough in his bank account to pay for it. Columbo decides to visit Beauty Mark, where he speaks to Viveca personally. They talk for a bit, and Columbo notes that Karl's personnel file was filed backwards, unlike all the other files, suggesting it had been tampered with recently. He also reveals that he suspects that a woman was the murderer, since the writing on the back of the magazine found at Karl's house was written with a black eyebrow pencil. Columbo then speaks to one of the staff in the Beauty Mark chemistry labs, who is busy disposing of all the equipment as per company policy to prevent rival companies from analyzing experimental substances. The attendant mentions that everyone involved in the latest project got fired. Columbo notices a series of odd jars with octagonal bottoms; the attendant reveals that this is a form of coding for each new product, and Columbo decides to keep one of the jars. Columbo speaks to Viveca again, asking her about Dr. Murcheson and gleaning nothing. He also gets her to reveal that she applies her own beauty mark every day with a black eyebrow pencil. In her office, Viveca hides her jar of the face cream in a wall safe. She makes a number of attempts to contact Shirley, although on the last one she is surprised to hear Columbo on the other end, and she hangs up. Meanwhile, Columbo speaks with Shirley over at David's office, getting an appointment to see David. David claims not to know Karl, although Columbo reveals that the police discovered David's private number written in Karl's wallet. David says he might have met Karl but has forgotten, and refutes any claim of corporate espionage on his part. Viveca and Shirley meet in secret again, and Shirley reports to Viveca about David's meeting with Columbo. Viveca tries to get Shirley to believe that David murdered Karl, but Shirley doesn't believe her since he seemed genuinely surprised when he heard about Karl's death. She also tells Viveca that David returned to the bank to deposit the check he was to give to Karl. Shirley implies that she knows that Viveca is responsible for Karl's death and tries to blackmail her for silence; Viveca invites her out to her complex that afternoon to talk things over. At her complex, which serves as a spa and home to a weight loss program, Viveca poisons a number of cigarettes. She is surprised when Columbo arrives minutes before she is to meet with Shirley. He follows her around as he tells her that he talked to David, and offers some of his findings about the project Murcheson and Karl were involved in. Viveca manages to misdirect Columbo and get him to stop following her long enough for her to meet with Shirley. When Viveca and Shirley meet, Viveca slips the poisoned cigarettes into Shirley's bag without her noticing. Meanwhile, Columbo speaks with Murcheson, who is in Viveca's spa. Murcheson implies that he and Viveca may have had some sort of romantic relationship in the past. Viveca gets Shirley to smoke one of the poisoned cigarettes and promises her a position in her company, then allowing her to drive off. Columbo confronts Viveca again and asks her about the jar he got from the lab at Beauty Mark, and about the relationship between her and Karl. Meanwhile, Shirley becomes disoriented at the wheel from the poisoned cigarette and crashes her car, killing her instantly. Viveca rebuffs all of Columbo's questions, but starts listening when he mentions that he has itching on his hand caused by poison ivy, despite the fact that there is no poison ivy in southern California. He does not mention that he has noticed Viveca periodically scratching her own hand in a similar manner. The next day, Columbo meets Viveca in her office to apologize for his intrusion the previous day. He shows her a news article about Shirley's death, and she claims she me her only once. The doctors examining Shirley's body suspect she may have been drugged at the time of her death. He also reveals that one of the photos the police took at Karl's home was of his chalkboard, which had the formula for poison ivy extract written on it, suggesting that it is the origin of both Columbo and Viveca's itchiness. Columbo leaves and Viveca starts to panic, retrieving her jar of the face cream from her wall safe. She returns to her complex, only to find the police have arrived and are heading up to her room. Before they arrive she tosses the jar out onto the ocean, dashing it on the rocky shore. The police enter and search her room, followed closely by Columbo. He lets on that he has noticed Viveca itching her hand for the past few days and puts her under arrest for murder. He reveals to her how he determined she was the murderer: he produces the microscope used to bludgeon Karl, and explains how an unrelated incident made him realize that the poison ivy extract was on a slide being examined in the microscope; Viveca got it on her hand when she picked up the microscope to murder Karl, and Columbo got it the next day when he accidentally cut his finger on shards of glass on the floor, which he deduces were from the slide and not from the broken drinking glass. Faced with this evidence, Viveca concedes and is arrested. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: September 23, 1973 8:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:13:46
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:74421
- GENRE: Drama, police/private detective
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama, police/private detective
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1968-1978; ABC - 1989-2003
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Douglas Benton … Producer
- Robert F. O'Neill … Associate Producer
- Jeannot Szwarc … Director
- Richard Levinson … Created by
- William Link … Created by
- Jackson Gillis … Writer
- Myrna Bercovici … Writer
- Dick de Benedictis … Music by
- Henry Mancini … Theme Music by
- Peter Falk … Cast, Columbo
- Vera Miles … Cast, Viveca Scott
- Martin Sheen … Cast, Karl Lesser
- Sian Barbara Allen … Cast, Shirley Blaine
- Vincent Price … Cast, David Lang
- Gino Conforti … Cast, Ferdy
- Colby Chester … Cast, Jerry
- Fred Draper … Cast, Murcheson
- Bruce Kirby … Cast, Lab Attendant
- John Finnegan … Cast, Sergeant
- Dick Stahl … Cast, Burton
- Marc Hannibal … Cast, Fingerprint Man
- David Toma … Cast, Policeman
- Layne Matthess … Cast, Fashion Moderator