Columbo: Any Old Port in a Storm (1973) (TV)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Leo Penn

Writers:

Larry Cohen (story)
Richard Levinson (creator)
(more)

Release Date:

17 October 1973 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

Plot:

A connoisseur running a California winery murders his younger half-brother to prevent him from selling the family business. Lt. Columbo is on the case.

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Police | Wine Cellar | Wine Collecting | Wine Merchants

Awards:

Won 2 Primetime Emmys.

Cast

Peter Falk	...	Lt. Columbo
Donald Pleasence	...	Adrian Carsini
Joyce Jillson	...	Joan Stacey
Gary Conway	...	Enrico Carsini
Dana Elcar	...	Falcon
Julie Harris	...	Karen Fielding
Vito Scotti	...	Maitre d'
Robert Donner	...	The Drunk
Robert Ellenstein	...	Stein
Robert Walden	...	Billy Fine
Regis Cordic	...	Lewis (as Regis J. Cordic)
Reid Smith	...	Andy Stevens
John McCann	...	Officer
George Gaynes	...	Frenchman
Monte Landis	...	Steward (as Monty Landis)
Walker Edmiston	...	Auctioneer
Pamela Campbell	...	Cassie Marlowe
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Charlie Jones	...	Newscaster (uncredited)
Mike Lally	...	Bartender (uncredited)

Directed by
Leo Penn

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Larry Cohen		story
Richard Levinson		creator
William Link		creator
Stanley Ralph Ross		teleplay

Produced by
Robert F. O'Neill	....	producer

Original Music by
Dick DeBenedictis		(as Dick De Benedictis)

Cinematography by
Harry L. Wolf		(director of photography) (as Harry Wolf)

Film Editing by
Larry Lester
Buddy Small		(as Budd Small)

Art Direction by
Archie J. Bacon		(as Arch Bacon)

Set Decoration by
John M. Dwyer

Production Management
Wilbur Mosier	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Joe Boston	....	assistant director

Sound Department
David H. Moriarty	....	sound

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Grady Hunt	....	costumes

Editorial Department
Richard Belding	....	editorial supervisor

Music Department
Henry Mancini	....	composer: theme "Sunday Mystery Movie theme"
Hal Mooney	....	music supervisor

Other crew
Wayne Fitzgerald	....	title designer: main titles
Jackson Gillis	....	executive story consultant

Production Companies

• Universal TV (as Universal Studios)

Distributors

• MCA (1973) (worldwide) (TV)
• Universal Pictures Finland Oy (2006) (Finland) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Universal Title  titles & optical effects

Runtime:

USA:96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-18 (2005) (DVD) (self applied)

Company:

Universal TV

Goofs:

Continuity: When Adrian Carsini emerges from the wine cellar after moving the body, he is bare-handed. But seconds later, as he runs across to his brother's car, he is wearing snuggly fitted leather driving gloves.

Quotes:

Columbo: My handwriting is so bad sometimes I think I should've been a doctor.

Movie Connections:

Followed by Columbo: Old Fashioned Murder (1976) (TV)

A vintage old port...

An accomplished Columbo adventure with a well-written script that shrewdly fine-tunes the basic, well-established Columbo formula.

Donald Pleasence is magnificent as a wine fanatic who is horrified to learn that his impetuous and irresponsible brother (Gary Conway) is planning to sell off the family-owned vineyard. The sequence of increasingly antagonistic banter between the brothers, prior to the murder set-up, is powerful and ingenious. Pleasence renders Conway unconscious in a fit of rage in his office - does he immediately think of making it into a murder or does it become a gradual thought? In any case, the "eventual" murder is resourcefully constructed to be made to look like an accident; better than any other "made to look like an accident" scenario in the series.

Whilst there is not the typical plethora of circumstantial clues, the ones that are included are nicely inserted to achieve a decent impact.

The script-writer intriguingly develops the relationship between detective and murderer, as a mutual respect becomes apparent, especially as Columbo starts demonstrating his new-found knowledge on the subject of wine. Without contradicting myself, this is a remarkably positive element to the whole proceedings, given that my usual personal preference is for the Columbo-villain relationship to be more fractious.

Several later scenes uphold the high standard of the episode, primarily, when the murderer's grip over his secretary is "turned on it's head"; in the restaurant, when the murderer ironically complains about the over-heated wine; at the beach cliff-top, when the murderer is forced to throw away all of his wine from the cellar etc.

There is hardly a dull moment in this Columbo adventure; the pacing of the story is not frenetic, rather it is all executed in a calm, controlled manner which is symbolic of its subtleties.

It is one of Peter Falk's favourite episodes and one of mine - highly recommended viewing and an episode that would be great for newcomers to the series (if there are any) to watch, in order to endear themselves to the Columbo character.