10 Best Columbo Episodes

The episode immediately that aired immediately prior to Any Old Port in a Storm, 1973's Lovely but Lethal is another highlight of the show.

Vera Miles is a highly underrated actress who is perhaps still best known for portraying Janet Leigh's determined sister, Lila Crane in Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film, Psycho. Here, she appears as cosmetics industry mogul, Viveca Scott whose company, Beauty Mark is desperate for a big success. Imagine her relief when one of her chief chemists develops a cream named Miracle that can literally smooth away wrinkles, and imagine her anger when that formula is stolen by her one-time lover, Karl Lessing (played by Martin Sheen). Killing Lessing in a fit of rage and stealing the formula back, Viveca is in a race against time to save her company and outwit Columbo...if she can.

One of the highlights of this episode is the brief but memorable presence of horror icon, Vincent Price as David Lang, Viveca's hated rival. Miles and Price spit venom at each other, and Price also shares an amusing scene with Peter Falk before vanishing completely from the proceedings. It is a fascinating little insight into Price's acting abilities and it is indeed a shame that he did not return to portray a murderer in the series himself.

The episode is also notable for having been directed by Jeannot Szwarc, who went on to helm the highly anticipated 1978 film, Jaws 2. Szwarc makes good use of a distracting plot device here in which Columbo believes that he has come into contact with poison ivy, whereas Viveca fears that the itches that both she and Columbo are suffering may actually be induced by the same beauty cream that she needs to save her company.

With the police closing in on her, Viveca is forced to hurl the last container of Miracle out of a window and into the sea - therefore losing the formula, perhaps forever - in a vain effort to try and preserve her freedom. With this comes the realisation that all of her efforts, including two murders, have been for nothing.