March 31, 2025: Our Columbo rewatch continues with…Dagger of the Mind!

This episode aired November 26, 1972

“Dagger of the Mind” was one of the few episodes Peter Falk did not like as he felt it was too gimmicky, bumping on the scenes where Columbo is playing tourist (My favorite parts of this episode!) because he felt they detracted from the investigation. “That wasn’t one of my favorites,”he admitted. “The network also wanted very badly for Columbo to shoot an episode in Japan. Why? I don’t know. They thought it was a terrific idea.” I think it was a terrific idea. I would have loved to see Columbo visit Japan.

The atmosphere of the London street scenes was courtesy of fog machines that, at one point, pumped out mist so thick that Falk tripped over a curb and shooting had to be halted.

Richard Basehart’s English accent was so inconsistent that Falk good-naturedly poked fun at it throughout filming.

Actress Honor Blackman was perhaps better known as the nimble, leather-clad Catherine Gale in The Avengers (1961), and Pussy Galore in the James Bond film Goldfinger (1964).

Actor Clive Revill, who played the doomed Sir Roger Haversham, was a last-minute-replacement for another actor who had to drop out.

Wilfrid Hyde-White, who played Tanner, owed thousands of pounds of back taxes to the Inland Revenue in Great Britain and couldn’t return to his homeland. As a tax exile, he called California home – and that was where all of his scenes were shot.

My thoughts on this episode in chronological viewing order…

Opening night of MacBeth! Ominous.

I laughed at Frame’s off-hand “Lily, what a curious position.” at the sight of Lilian sitting in the basket, as if she just decided to take a seat there of her own volition.

“He’s gone out of his mind. He’s come straight out of a Victorian novel.” Okay, at this point I already have the sense this episode will be a parody of sorts and, thus, I shouldn’t be overly critical of its very British tone.

Wait. Who is Lilian married to? What’s her relationship with Haversham?

Killed by a jar of cold cream. Yes, definitely an episode not to be taken too seriously.

Love the PAN OVER to the trunk. Aha!

A great segue to the MacBeth rehearsal, the scene following Banquo’s murder.

Holy smokes, this cockney handyman is like something out of Oliver Twist! Curious what the British audience thought of this episode.

“Tomorrow and tomorrow,”says Frame. “It’ll be tomorrow if you don’t get a move on!”warns Lililan. These two are great fun together.

Frame’s constant quoting of the Bard in the grimmest moments (after setting up Haversham’s corpse), is pretty arch – and downright delightful. Boy, I have a feeling this one is a very divisive episode.

This whole airport intro is terrific – the scattered Columbo misplacing his wife’s flower-pattern suitcase, annoying some poor innocent woman, and almost getting hauled off while the English welcome committee searches fruitlessly for him.

Love Columbo’s enthusiastic handshaking.

Also love the exterior shots of London of a bygone era. Ah, simpler times.

While I understand Falk’s dissatisfaction with these Tourist Columbo sequences, I really feel they marry well with the tone of the episode and they show a fun, goofy side of our lovable detective.

Climbing back into the car after making them stop so he can hop out and take pictures: “Gee, I hope I put the film in right.” How can you not love these moments?

Hey, it’s Doctor Bombay! I mean actor Bernard Fox!

This is probably one of the funniest episode’s in the show’s run. The moment where the maid comes out to serve the guard a beer and then both glance over, mortified, at the detectives is hilarious.

Ah, here goes Columbo, smoking in somebody else’s home – and a cigar no less!

Columbo notes the book’s bent spine with “Of course I never knew that until I did it to my mother-in-law’s cookbook. She almost hit me with a frying pan.”

A wonderful moment where Frame is consoling a distraught Lilian at the open coffin and then the two strike a brief pose for the paparazzi.

Another great little bit where Frame briefly considers consoling the buxom blond actress.

Okay, Columbo’s throwaway line to the grieving Lilian: “Terrible time to ask but how could I get tickets? I’d love to see the show tonight.” almost made me cough up my drink.

“That was a great idea you had checking the glasses.” Columbo making Durk think it was all his idea.

Another line that made me laugh out loud was Lilian’s: “But why don’t you know?! If you’d taken that part in the Agatha Christie play liked I told you to you would know these things!”

Another great Tourist Columbo sequence.

“Why do you think we keep the ladies out, sir?” lol

Love them cackling gleefully as they drive off after planting the seeds about the missing MacBeth. Deliciously arch.

What is that guy wearing on his head? A silver turban?

A great sequence here of Columbo popping in and out with the suspects as they are receiving their accolades. And then a great intercut of the double interrogation concluding with all three of them in the same room. Kudos to the director of this episode, Richard Quine. I’m sure he had a blast.

“You not only agree, you use almost the exact same words to tell about it.” Hoo boy. They’re in trouble.

Joe the cockney handyman holding on to his umbrella at the bar like it’s his wallet.

Not sure if I’m following this whole silly umbrella thing. I can understand them needing to take it away from Joe lest it tie Harversham back to the theatre on the night of the murder, but why not just dump it afterwards instead of going through all the trouble of swapping it out?

“I’ve always wanted to be in a horror movie,”says Lilian. Apparently this was an inside joke as Honor Blackman had appeared in the horror movie Fright just six months earlier.

Why didn’t she switch out the umbrella while she was in the closet?

And why is Columbo fixated on the umbrella? Why is he so interested in the handyman’s stolen umbrella? This really feels like a reach.

Ah, Tanner, you poor doomed schemer. If there’s one thing Columbo has taught me it’s to think twice before blackmailing a murderer.

“Those fish and chips are greasy, but they’re sure good.” So true.

That’s a pretty dark reveal of the hanging Tanner.

They have to be idiots to believe Columbo didn’t plant that pearl given how much use that umbrella has gotten since the murder

Poor Nick loses his mind feels kind of contrived – and another nod to MacBeth in an episode chock full of ’em.

Wow. Certainly mixed feelings about this one. I found the whole umbrella angle confusing and had a hard time buying Nicholas and Lilian falling for the planted pearl – and then giving the game away. The show is, admittedly, tonally different from previous Columbo episodes, pretty overt in its parody of British whodunits – but damnit did I have a great time. I loved the Tourist Columbo sequences and all of the very British characters and trappings, especially the absolutely wonderful devious duo of Nicholas and Lilian. If only the detective work and solution had been stronger.

So, where does this episode fall in my overall ranking? Well, despite my initial misgivings going in, it’s up there… #1 Death Lends a Hand, #2 Suitable for Framing, #3 Prescription: Murder, #4 Murder by the Book/Ransom for a Dead Man (tie), #5 Dagger of the Mind, #6 Etude in Black, #7 Lady in Waiting, #8 The Most Crucial Game, #9 Blueprint for Murder, #10 The Greenhouse Jungle #11 Dead Weight, #12 Short Fuse

Finally, it’s time to weigh the evidence against our murderers and decide whether they’ll be looking at a GUILTY verdict or at an ACQUITTAL. Well, setting aside the fact that Columbo planted the evidence against them, there’s almost an admission of guilt here. Almost. But all Lilian says is “He was mad. Don’t you see?” So given Nicholas’s state of mind (assuming he’s not faking his breakdown), I think he evades the manslaughter charge by reason of insanity while dear Lilian gets off scot-free. What do you think?

The post March 31, 2025: Our Columbo rewatch continues with…Dagger of the Mind! appeared first on Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog.