Murder, Smoke and Shadows story
Boy genius Hollywood director Alex Brady, prior to becoming a success, made a 16mm movie in which a young woman, Jenny Fisher, was killed in a motorcycle accident. Brady and his cameraman conspired to pretend that the woman never made it to the filming, leading the official investigation to conclude that it was an accidental death. Jenny's brother Leonard Fisher shows up in Brady's office with a copy of a film that was left to him by Brady's recently deceased cameraman. Leonard vows to use the film to destroy Brady, who kills him, using one of his studio movie sets. Final clue/twist: When he realizes that Columbo is coming closer and closer to solving the murder, Brady hires two actresses to enact a scripted conversation in the studio commissary for Columbo to overhear, hoping it would misdirect him. Columbo is not fooled, noticing that one of the actresses was dressed as a nurse when there were no scenes filmed during the studio that day that required one. Columbo then beats Brady at his own game, using undercover cops to "play the part" of the commissary staff so they can overhear Brady trying to bribe his secretary to keep quiet. Molly Hagan co-stars as Alex Brady's girlfriend, Ruth Jernigan. Directed by: James Frawley. Story by: Richard Alan Simmons.
17 total · 2 choice · 6 major · 9 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| breaking the law to cover up another crime | choice | Leonard Fischer threatened to out his childhood friend, Alex Brady, for having abandoned Leonard's sister to die after she had a motorcycle accident. Alex killed Leonard to prevent this from happening. |
| how to murder someone and get away with it | choice | Leonard Fischer threatened to out his childhood friend Alex Brady for having abandoned Leonard's sister to die after she had a motorcycle accident. Alex hatched the following plot to eliminate Leonard Fischer: Late at night, Alex spooked Leonard into jumping on a metal gate that Alex had surreptitiously electrified, killing Leonard instantly. Alex then removed any identifying materials from Leonard's person and dumped the body on a beach, thinking the police would conclude he was struck dead by lightning and leave it at that. One gathers that he would have gotten away with his crime had it not been for the meddlesome Lt. Columbo. |
| falling out of friendship | major | Leonard flew all the was to Los Angeles to confront his childhood friend, Alex, over Alex being complicit in the death of Leonard's sister in a motorcycle crash some years prior. Alex murdered Leonard to keep Leonard from ruining his reputation in the film industry. |
| filmmaking | major | The villain of the story Alex Brady was a prodigy film director. He was shown directing on Hollywood sets, and conversed about his craft at length with Lt. Columbo. |
| having a skeleton in the closet | major | The big-time film director Alex Brady was hiding that he'd left a childhood friend to die after motorcycle accident some years prior. |
| law enforcement | major | The bumbling but sharp-witted homicide detective Lt. Columbo was tasked with solving the following murder mystery: Was a man walking on the beach at night struck dead by lightning, or was foul play afoot? |
| romantic love | major | Alex was romantically involved with the actress, Ruth Jernigan. |
| youthful indiscretion | major | The Hollywood film director, Alex Brady, had in his teenage years shot a 16mm film of a childhood friend, Jenny, riding a motorcycle roughshod in the hills. When Jenny fell and gravely injured herself Alex and his cameraman high-tailed it away from the scene of the accident, leaving Jenny for dead. The plot turns on this cowardly action coming back to bite Alex. |
| blackmail | minor | Rose feigned to blackmail Alex into paying for her to take a long paid vacation and a cruise around the world. In the end, it was revealed that Columbo had put her up to it. |
| boss and employee | minor | Alex treated his secretary, Rose, with contempt. |