This is simple a great Hitchcock classic but if any of you older enough to remember... the classic television show, Columbo. What was great about Columbo was you always saw the crime first and comes Columbo to figure it out just like this film but the cop didn't play dumb or look like he slept in his clothes. Columbo was a play first too and Ray Miland was in two episodes of Columbo.
sharemy response to similar thread:
"I thought the same thing. In fact I thought that as soon as he showed up. I thought "here comes Columbo. So much for your perfect upper class smart guy murder." And later when he said the line I actually said "Ha!" out loud. I wonder if the makers of Columbo were aware of this when they made the show a couple decades later.
I think the Agatha Christie influence may be stronger on both works, but I must admit my Agatha Christie knowledge is pretty low. But I liked Hubbard in a Columbo way also because he was just a guy doing his job, and he was very good at it. A little snobbier than Columbo (who isn't?) but all in all, just a guy doing his job. And Ray Milland's reaction in the final scene was similar to some of the more graciously vanquished perps in some Columbo episodes too."
Good point about Ray Milland being a couple of Columbo episodes. He was a good go-to actor for these roles.
I'm big fan of Columbo and must say that after a half of the movie I had a feeling I was watching another episode of the show - so many similarities (no secret who is the guilty party, forced alibi, stupid mistake by antagonist, smart police detective with traps and so on).
And yes, I was also wandering was there any hidden connection between this two classics.
One might had inspired the other!
Its that man again!!