Day 224: Columbo, Swan Song

Show: Columbo

Episode Particulars: S3EP7, “Swan Song”, original airdate March 3^rd, 1974.

 Summary: Tommy Brown (Johnny Cash) is a successful singer who, despite his fame, has very little money to his name. His wife Edna (Ida Lupino) has been blackmailing him with something from his past, and is using all his profits to build a grand church. Chafing under the bit, Brown drugs her coffee, flies to the location of his next concert in bad weather (he’s a licensed pilot), then bails out of the plane, trying to pass it off as an accident. Since he broke his leg when he hit the ground, this looks less suspicious than it could be, though that doesn’t stop his brother-in–law (William McKinney) and later Columbo from being suspicious. Eventually, he’s going to have to face the music.

Standalone Thoughts: I like this episode a fair bit, although I think it’s less to do with the case and more to do with the chemistry between Columbo and Brown. I don’t know if it was the writing or Cash’s acting, but Brown is a very charming man and has a lot of warmth to him, which makes his interactions with Columbo very pleasant to watch. It also helps that he genuinely seems to like Columbo, which is a refreshing change. I do think Columbo’s assessment of Brown at the end of the episode doesn’t quite jibe with what we saw throughout the episode, but it’s close enough that I’m not going to raise a fuss about it.

I’m also not going to raise a fuss about the sudden “twist” in the last act of the episode, even though it can be seen as padding and manufactured tension. This is because for once, the tension is not on the murderer’s end, but on Columbo’s. Brown planning to go on tour throws a wrench into Columbo’s plans, and seeing him rattled is an unexpected but interesting development. It shows that Columbo can be fallible, and while that wasn’t a priority with TV writers at the time, it allows for richer characterization, and I will always get behind that.

Other than those two things, there’s not much more to say about the episode. Brown’s motive is understandable, but doesn’t necessarily paint him in a good light (thought this is saved by the writing/acting, as I mentioned). There’s also some material that relies on coincidence, but at least it feels plausible instead of coming out of nowhere. Overall, this episode is pretty good on all fronts. And if nothing else, you can just sit back and enjoy Johnny Cash’s singing.

Number of “Columbo-isms”: 4/6, all fairly straightforward uses of the car, Mrs. Columbo, fumbling around in his coat, and “Just one more thing”. I’ve got no commentary to add today, so let’s just move on.

Other: *There are some weird shots in this episode, and not of the arty variety. It feels like some of the early scenes, like Brown’s concert or shots of the plane, were shot with a different film stock or had a filter stuck on it. There are even times when the shots look like they were comprised of models or stock footage. Then there’s a scene where a character unlocks and opens a cabinet, and not only does it have a different look, but it feels like it was sped-up, silent movie style. I’m not sure what was going on there, but it’s definitely distracting.

*Columbo tells a funeral director that it’s his wife who does the shopping in the family, which goes against what we heard in “Double Exposure”. However, I’m not necessarily going to call that bad continuity, partly because Columbo will say what he thinks will get him the best results, and partly because in this case, he was trying to get the director off his back. That’s one advantage of Columbo’s character; there’s a justification for his contradictions.

*We do get the return of Columbo’s tape recorder from the previous episode, albeit not in a note-taking capacity. Whether or not it returns again remains to be seen.

Would This Hold Up in Court?: Yes, because Brown was caught red-handed. That being said, Columbo did kind of set him up, which the courts might frown on. But since I’ve established that I’m no expert on law, I could be wrong about that.