Now You See Him

Season 5, Episode 5, Aired

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9.4
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The Great Santini is a master magician, but his employer discovers that he was a German camp guard during World War II and blackmails him. Santini is forced to engineer a perfect murder--he kills the owner while apparently performing his famous "water tank" illusion on stage in front of dozens of witnesses. Santini in fact supposedly hides out beneath the stage, and uses a radio transmitter to convince a waiter that he is there when he's busy killing the owner. Now Columbo must unravel a magical mystery and break a perfect alibi.

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Fan Episode Reviews (3)

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  • Problem is, it isn't a perfect murder

    6.0
    "Fair"
    By Gislef, May 05, 2012
    It's not even really that good a murder scheme. For some reason they treat the magician's code of silence as some kind of sacred oath that means Santini can refuse to give Columbo an alibi. Ummm, he's not a priest or a psychiatrist. So the first hour pretty much wastes time with Columbo trying to figure out where Santini was. Then the murder just boils down to, "Well, this waiter can testify that I was in my office." What if the waiter was so sick of losing a bet every night for umpteen billion weeks that he decided to lie and say Santini wasn't there? Especially over a junior high school-grade trick. What if Jerome had told anyone about his knowledge of Santini's past? What if he left a "in case of my death" letter revealing Santini's secret?

    Jack Cassidy can play haughty arrogant murders in his sleep and he kinda does. It isn't a particularly well-rounded performance of his, certainly not compared to "Murder by the Book." The character of his daughter is kind of a waste, and gets tossed overboard. What does she think of having a Nazi as a father? Is he really concerned about her and her boyfriend, or is Santini just being a jerk?

    The bits with Columbo and the raincoat (and telling Dog to "not" guard it) are cute, and his relationship with Wilson is funny. But overall this seems to be a fairly week mystery with weak characterization.moreless

  • Two words - Jack Cassidy.

    10
    "Perfect"
    By jamoon2006, Jan 29, 2007
    "Columbo" has had its share of fantastic guest actors as murderers: Robert Culp, Patrick McGoohan, Robert Conrad, Lawrence Harvey, Janet Leigh, Martin Landau, and many more. But for my money, Jack Cassidy and his three turns as a "Columbo" killer make for the best episodes in the series.

    He has saved the best for last, in his final "Columbo" appearance. He plays Santini, the great magician (and a former Nazi concentration camp guard). Threatened with exposure, he kills the club manager who is blackmailing him...all while he appears to be in the middle of performing on-stage. Cassidy's interplay with Falk is as good as always, with Santini wishing he could make Columbo disappear. Watch Falk's reaction after Santini escapes from the handcuffs on-stage. "I knew you could do it," has never been so loaded a phrase. The final reveal, where Columbo exposes Santini using his own trick is priceless. You had to love Cassidy's face, as he realized he was bested by this little rumpled man in a raincoat.

    Speaking of the raincoat...this is the episode where Mrs. Columbo tries to replace the beloved brown coat, only to have Columbo go to great lengths to leave it behind wherever he goes. "The coat - I can't, I can't think in the coat!"moreless

  • Spoilers

    9.5
    "Superb"
    By LAntichristo, Jul 24, 2006
    This episode of Columbo has a very strong whiff of cheese about it. Think of a really bad 1970's parady of a magician and you have The Great Santini. He murders his employer who has found some damning evidence against him. Columbo has to find out whodunnit. Santini has a cast iron alibi - he was doing his "piece de resistance" escaping from a box routine. The venue for his "World famous" tricks appears to be a recently vacated Indian restaurant. Wearing his velvet cape and huge bow tie, Jack Cassidy plays Santini with a camp aloofness that obviously had paid off with his part as gay Miles in The Eiger Sanction a year previously. All I can tell you is that if I had been one of the fortunate wealthy to have paid to see The Great Santini, I would have felt hard done by. Obviously constricted by the types of magic tricks they could blow the cover on, the producers of this episode had to stick with the "chained up in a box and trap-door" routine.

    Columbo takes a surprisingly long time to catch him out, naively believing a trick that isn't even worthy of Paul Daniels. The best bits involve the run up to the box trick, Santini doing a routine with a top hat and doves (yawn). Then, when he is in the box a woman in a leotard does a trick with a long tape on a stick (something I used to do quite well as a five old). In the background, to increase the tension (!) a percussionist does the Tss tss tsstss tss tsstss brrrrum tss tss, etc that always leads up to a finale and enthusiastic applause as Santini emerges unscathed. How did he do that? You will have to watch it and see, but I guarantee to those Columbo fans like myself that this is an entertaining yarn and in some instances downright amusing. Columbo's mannerisms are, as always, are at their usual eccentric best.
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  • TRIVIA (4)

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    • Sgt. Wilson appeared previously in "The Greenhouse Jungle," but the character's first name there was Frederic there, while it is given as John here.

    • After Santini enters the lounge on his first performance, he performs three tricks before going to the stage. The third trick - making a flower vase appear on a table from behind a napkin - is clearly impossible. Not only the people at the table but everyone behind Santini would clearly see how the trick was done.

    • On three occasions outside The Cabaret of Magic, and once outside the locksmith's shop, you can see the same cream-colored Mustang drive by.

    • The sign on the club says it's the Cabaret of Magic. However, when Santini looks at the letter that Jerome was typing, it says that is the Magic Circle Club in Los Angeles.

  • QUOTES (8)

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    • (Columbo is walking into the club wearing a new green raincoat)
      Policeman: Excuse me, sir.
      Columbo: I'm Lt. Columbo.
      Policeman: Oh, I'm sorry, Lieutenant. I didn't recognize you. You look different somehow.
      Columbo: I've had a haircut.

    • Columbo: (to Dog as he puts his new coat in the car) I'm going to leave this coat in the car. If someone tries to lift it, you look the other way.

    • (spotting Columbo coming)
      Santini: Oh no.
      Miss McCarthy: What's the matter?
      Santini: Someone I thought I'd seen the last of.
      Miss McCarthy: Do you think you could make him disappear too?
      Santini: Splendid suggestion but in his case I think rather doubtful.

    • Columbo: Your origin may be more humble than you make it appear.
      Santini: And what about you, Lieutenant? Beneath that ruffled exterior ticks away there ticks away heart of an empiricist philosopher probing for the truth at all costs.
      Columbo: I'm just doing my job.
      Santini: You make it so proletarian. And my job, if you will, has to do with appearances. I'm not what I appear to be. And then again, neither are you.

    • Columbo: Could you at least tell me which name it was? Was it Arlington or was it Kensington?
      Santini: Well, neither, actually. It was Washington.
      Columbo: Do you have a first name on that, sir?
      Santini: Martha.

    • Sgt. Wilson: You see, sir, we're stumped with the motive.
      Santini: Do you have a suspect?
      Columbo: Yes.
      Santini: You do?
      Columbo: We do. But we don't have a motive for you

    • Columbo: A letter addressed to the Department of Immigration and Nationalization that identifies you as a war criminal. Means, opportunity, and motive. It's enough to convict for first-degree murder.
      Santini: It's impossible. It's a trick and not a very good one.
      Columbo: A trick? No, that's the letter.
      Santini: Oh no, Lieutenant. No, you see, this letter was burned. (letter goes up in flames) So much for your letter.
      Columbo: (dramatically pulls another letter from his pocket) There's the letter! I hope you were watching carefully. That's my best trick. Of course, I don't have your but I get pretty good results.

    • Santini: And I thought I'd performed the perfect murder.
      Columbo: Perfect murder, sir? Oh, I'm sorry, there's no such thing as a perfect murder. That's just an illusion.

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