New posts

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mel O&#039;Drama" data-source="post: 287979" data-attributes="member: 23">Murder With Too Many Notes continuedI thought it interesting that Billy used his natural accent here, and found myself wondering what American audiences made of it. And of course I couldn’t help noticing he used some American words and pronunciations (“elevator” instead of “lift”; stressing the second syllable instead of the first on “baton”) which grated a little, as it always does when Brits do this. All the same, he did a decent job here. A classic Columbo antagonist he isn’t, but I found him watchable enough, and his humour was applied well to the role. It wasn’t played for laughs, but the humour was part of his character’s charm.I’m less sure about him as conductor. To me it looked like he was just waving his arms about randomly. But then I must confess it looks that way with many professional conductors. It was very reassuring that the first act was both leisurely and engaging. I appreciated spending time with Crawford and Gabriel and seeing the murder being planned and carried out. In classic Columbo style, it’s planned to appear to happen while Crawford is conducting a concert, and it is a decent opening that raised my expectations for the episode. Unfortunately it didn’t quite live up to it. It’s a shame there are no longer 75 minute episodes at this point because if this episode were a bit brisker it could have been a great one. As it was, it was bogged down by several minutes of filler inserted at several intervals, making it feel bloated. The scene where Columbo escorted Crawford home felt absolutely endless. They took a fun, quirky moment and rode it until the wheels came off. And the result was tedium. It also bears saying that this is an episode in which a composer points out that one only notices a film score if it’s bad, and yet it’s also an episode which features cartoony tuba music for its lighter moments, as well as various “comic” interludes such as the band “spontaneously” playing That’s Amore, the aforementioned film themes and the now-obligatory rendition of This Old Man (which in my opinion has become overused as the revival has progressed to the point it’s no longer charming). It’s not all bad news, though. There’s some decent investigative work leading up to the Gotcha. And there are some nice smaller moments, such as Columbo visiting the tailor and speaking to an assistant whose function feels very much like an early Vito Scotti role.Étude In Black this isn't. But considering its placement as the penultimate episode it's pleasing to see there is still a little life in the old dog yet. </blockquote>

Verification: What month follows July?