Dagger of the Mind (26 Nov. 1972)

Lilian Stanhope and Nicholas Frame are two actors in London. They have to act in Macbeth and the producer is Sir Roger Haversham who is Lilian's lover. Sir Roger finds out he has been ... See full summary »

Director:

Richard Quine

Writers:

Jackson Gillis (teleplay), Richard Levinson (story),

Stars:

Peter Falk, Richard Basehart, Wilfrid Hyde-White

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Peter Falk	...	Columbo
Richard Basehart	...	Nicholas Frame
Wilfrid Hyde-White	...	Tanner
Bernard Fox	...	Det. Chief Supt. William Durk
John Williams	...	Sir Roger Haversham
Honor Blackman	...	Lillian Stanhope
John Fraser	...	Det. Sgt. O'Keefe
Richard Pearson	...	Diver
Arthur Malet	...	Fenwick
Harvey Jason	...	The Director
Ronald Long	...	Mr. Jones
Hedley Mattingly	...	Customs Man (as Hedley Mattingley)
John Orchard	...	Country Constable
Peter Church	...	Constable
Walker Edmiston	...	Gardener

Storyline

Lilian Stanhope and Nicholas Frame are two actors in London. They have to act in Macbeth and the producer is Sir Roger Haversham who is Lilian's lover. Sir Roger finds out he has been deceived by the couple and he threatens to interrupt the performance. Lilian kills him accidentally during a fight and afterwards the two actors take the corpse to his mansion, staging an accident. But Lt. Columbo is in London to learn about the new methods to investigate used by Scotland Yard. And Columbo smells something fishy in the accident.

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Plot Keywords:

scotland yard | actor | investigation | fight | murderer | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 November 1972 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Royal College of Music, Prince Consort Road, South Kensington, London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

98 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

The title comes from the famous soliloquy in William Shakespeare's "Macbeth" (Act II, Scene I, lines 33-39): "Is this a dagger which I see before me, / The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee: / I have thee not, and yet I see thee still! / Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible / To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but / A dagger of the mind, a false creation, / Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?"

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Goofs

The pearl dropped in the museum lands on carpet, but sounds as if it was bouncing on a hard floor.

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Quotes

Nicholas Frame: Most people, Columbo, have frightful taste, yourself included.

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Crazy Credits

John Fraser, who is Scottish, and Richard Pearson, who is Welsh, are credited as "From London - Special Guest Stars".

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Soundtracks

"Pass Me By"
by Carolyn Leigh and Cy Coleman

User Reviews

Awful!

I'm a HUGE fan of Columbo, but this is weak; actually the only bad episode. Please (Rosabel from Mass) don't blame us Brits for being pompous, quaint, obsessed with ritual and stuck-in-the-past. We're not! But this is how you Americans love to think of us, and this movie after all is an American production. I've noticed time and time and time again that whenever a US tv show does an episode in England it's always set in London, with a cast full of butlers and lords and sirs and of course the essential shots of Buckingham Palace, cavalry and bands, not to mention the deferential working class tugging their forelocks and mumbling "cor blimey guv". If I may quote Hannibal Lecter: "Tedious. Very tedious." Peter Falk simply wasn't on screen for long enough and that was an additional flaw. As for his Scotland Yard counterpart, Detective Chief Superintendents DO NOT scurry around chasing villains. The rank is equal to Lt Col. They're senior managers. "Dagger Of The Mind" actually annoyed me from start to finish which is a shame as most other Columbo movies are SO good. The only thing I did enjoy was seeing the wonderful Wilfred Hyde White, even though he played a butler (yawn).