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Dr. Marshall Cahill (José Ferrer) is the director of a government institute that employs various scientific geniuses, including the elderly Dr. Nicholson (Lew Ayres) who knows that Cahill's son Neil (Robert Walker, Jr.) has plagiarized a dead man's theory of molecular structure. When Nicholson threatens exposure, Dr. Cahill murders him and cleverly makes the killing look like the job of a heroin junkie who needed his fix. But clever or not, another kind of genius is on the case: our rumpled Lt. Columbo (Peter Falk).Alf Kjellin directs a script by Steven Bochco and Dean Hargrove and delivers a fine "Columbo" episode. Ferrer is a fascinating actor, who achieves a great deal with minimal affectation: his performance is a treat. Robert Walker, Jr., the son of the "Strangers on a Train" star, proves to be interesting: his face make him look like a combination of his father and Boris Karloff. Jessica Walter, the psychopathic one-night stand in "Play Misty for Me," has a more sympathetic role here: as Nicholson's young wife and Neil's psychiatrist. A boy genius played by Lee Montgomery is named Steve Spelberg: add an "i" and you have the director of "Columbo: Murder by the Book." (But he hadn't yet made "Jaws.") Columbo's basset hound, Dog, makes one of his infrequent appearances. But the best supporting performance comes from Robby the Robot of "Forbidden Planet" and the TV series "Lost in Space." Here he's an accomplice to murder!Best line: Cahill pompously telling Columbo, "You know, you have a very transparent mind, which in no way implies clear thinking." Don't be too sure, doc.
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