Columbo

Columbo (1971)

7 mistakes in Étude in Black

(34 votes)

Starring: Peter Falk

Genres: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Étude in Black - S2-E1

Character mistake: Columbo discusses the murder of Jennifer Welles with Alex Benedict - who killed her - and he reveals that the odometer reading of Benedict's car showed an extra nine miles despite the fact that it was supposedly immobilised in a garage on the night of the murder. Benedict challenges Columbo, saying that he assumes that he has established the distance between the garage and Jennifer's apartment. "Yes, sir." says Columbo. "Exactly nine miles." Since the murderer would have had to have driven to and from the garage to the scene of the murder - the car was back in the garage when the police searched it the next day - shouldn't he have said "Exactly four and a half miles."?

Étude in Black - S2-E1

Continuity mistake: Towards the end of the episode when Columbo is about to expose the killer he asks the conductor and his wife to adjourn to the recording studio from the stage. When his wife walks off the stage she has one hairstyle, but when she enters the recording studio she has a completely different hairstyle.

Étude in Black - S2-E1

Character mistake: During a rehearsal, conductor Alex Benedict instructs the orchestra to play "quasi un fantasia." Columbo asks Benedict's wife Janice what those words mean. She tells him, "It's Latin for 'like a fantasy." The words are Italian, not Latin.

Étude in Black - S2-E1

Other mistake: When Benedict puts his briefcase in the back of the Jaguar, the hatch does not close properly. It is still not closed properly when he picks up the car from the repair shop.

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Columbo mistake picture

Étude in Black - S2-E1

Character mistake: When Columbo is in Mr Benedict's house with Mr Benedict, he calculates the cost of Mr Benedict's house at $720,000. A moment later Mr Benedict asks Columbo; "How did you arrive with that figure, $750,000?" (00:43:20)

Columbo: Oh, I didn't come to ask any more questions. I came to arrest you.

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How to Dial a Murder - S7-E4

Trivia: A clever, subtle hint as to Mason's guilt - Columbo arrives at the animal pound just in time to stop him feeding Laurel and Hardy (the dogs he trained to kill on command) a large amount of chocolate treats. He has planned this murder meticulously, and he would be aware that chocolate is extremely toxic to dogs. The amount he is planning to feed them from the bulging bag of large chocolate balls he is holding would kill both dogs within hours if ingested.

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Answer: "Apparent" drowning answers your question - things are not always as they seem. Drowning could be accidental, but it could also be a murder in disguise. Moreover, the actual cause of death has not yet been determined - accident, suicide, murder, or natural cause (e.g, heart attack while swimming). Columbo would be there to investigate if anything looks unusual for it to be a mere drowning or if there is evidence or suspicion of something else.

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This was just on TMZ.com's "Aaron Carter Dead at 34" (11/05/2022): "Law enforcement sources tell TMZ... homicide detectives have been dispatched to the scene but we have no information or evidence of foul play. It's standard operating procedure for homicide detectives to investigate such [drowning] death scenes."

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