Now You See Him... story
The Great Santini is a magician extraordinaire at a cabaret. He is also being blackmailed by his insatiably greedy employer, impresario Jesse Jerome, over the fact that he is actually Sergeant Stefan Mueller, a former Nazi SS prison guard. Mueller tires of the arrangement and Jerome's demand for more money, and kills his blackmailer in the middle of his famed water tank escape act, giving himself what he believes to be an airtight alibi. He sneaks out of a room where he hides during the act, makes his way dressed as a waiter through the cabaret's kitchen and up to Jerome's office, shoots him, then returns to his act with nobody noticing. Final clue/twist: Santini is undone by the used carbon ribbon on Jerome's IBM Selectric typewriter. The carbon ribbon has a clear imprint of everything written with it, so it is in effect a copy of the letter Jerome was typing to send to federal authorities, which revealed the motive for the murder. At his arrest Santini remarks that he thought he had created the perfect murder; Columbo remarks that a "perfect murder" is only an illusion. Directed by: Harvey Hart. Story by: Michael Sloan.
14 total · 3 choice · 4 major · 6 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| blackmail | choice | Impresario Jesse Jerome was blackmailing magician the Great Santini for increasing sums of money until the latter finally had enough and shot Jesse dead. Jesse had threatened to out Santini as a former Nazi. |
| having a skeleton in the closet | choice | The villain of the story Santini was concealing that he was a former Nazi SS prison guard. |
| how to murder someone and get away with it | choice | The Great Santini hatched the following elaborate trick to dispose of his employer Jesse who threatened to out him as a former Nazi: During a magic act when Santini was seemingly locked in a box he actually dressed up as a waiter and went upstairs to shoot Jesse dead in his office. |
| being on the run from the law | major | The Great Santini, who was was a former Nazi by the name of Stefan Mueller, was on the run from the Israeli authorities. |
| law enforcement | major | The bumbling but sharp-witted homicide detective Lt. Columbo was tasked with the unprecedented conundrum of trying to pin a murder on a professional magician and illusionist whom he personally knew to be the culprit. |
| mentor and protégé | major | Columbo took the enthusiastic but naive Sgt. Wilson under his wing through the course of the murder investigation. In the end, Wilson cracked the case in spite of himself. |
| stage magic | major | The Great Santini's trick of being locked in a box and submerged in water for 12 minutes was at the center of the murder mystery that Lt. Columbo had to unravel. |
| boyfriend and girlfriend | minor | Santini did not approve of his daughter being romantically involved with the nightclub singer. |
| coping with ill-fitting clothes | minor | Columbo was like a fish out of water in the tight fitting trench coat gifted to him by his wife. |
| disapproving parent | minor | Santini did not approve of his daughter being romantically involved with the nightclub singer. |