Like others on this board, I agree that "Short Fuse" may not be the best Columbo episode, but the last scene makes up for a story that moves slowly.
McDowall plays Roger, the heir of a chemical company. He's a problem and has been since childhood when his aunt (Ida Lupino) took him in after his parents died. His uncle by marriage (James Gregory) doesn't like him and wants him out of the company. He intends to sell it, and Roger objects to that, believing the ownership should be his.
Roger is quite smart and rigs a bomb in uncle's cigar box, so that while his uncle is on the road to a country cabin, the bomb goes off.
Columbo shuffles around and the look on Roger's face when his aunt says, "The commissioner told me he would send is very best man" is priceless. Columbo, of course, has caught onto Roger immediately, and you'll see why. He does pick up on the little stuff.
The end is priceless. William Windom and Anne Francis also costar. Enjoyable.
McDowall plays Roger, the heir of a chemical company. He's a problem and has been since childhood when his aunt (Ida Lupino) took him in after his parents died. His uncle by marriage (James Gregory) doesn't like him and wants him out of the company. He intends to sell it, and Roger objects to that, believing the ownership should be his.
Roger is quite smart and rigs a bomb in uncle's cigar box, so that while his uncle is on the road to a country cabin, the bomb goes off.
Columbo shuffles around and the look on Roger's face when his aunt says, "The commissioner told me he would send is very best man" is priceless. Columbo, of course, has caught onto Roger immediately, and you'll see why. He does pick up on the little stuff.
The end is priceless. William Windom and Anne Francis also costar. Enjoyable.