Columbo: Lovely But Lethal (1973) Review of Vera Miles

"Lovely but Lethal" is a Season 3, Episode 1 episode of Columbo that features Vera Miles as a beauty industry executive, Vincent Price as her rival, and Martin Sheen as a young chemist. Reviews describe it as a solid but not top-tier episode, highlighting Miles' performance as memorable and praising the supporting cast, even while acknowledging that the plot formula isn't as strong as other episodes." 

Source:IMDB with a look at the beautiful & adorable Vera Miles.

From IMDB

As my colleague Fred Schneider write about this episode back in 2023: 

"I got into this episode of the Columbo series 4-5 years ago and was blown away by the fact that Vera Miles was on it. And thanks to Sundance and COZI-TV, probably seen this film 10 times now and even have it on DVD. Only 70 minutes, not a dull moment in it and that plus Vera's presence and her being so cute and beautiful on it and just comes off as a total sweetheart on it, (at least for a two-time murderer) I can see it over and over again, to the point that I wanted to write about it." 

From The New Democrat

I'm just going to give you a little of my own background information about this episode, first and then I'll give you my response to what Schlock Horror (who'll you will hear from later on) said about this episode on YouTube. 

I first started watching Columbo in my mid-teens and when I was just out of high school in the mid-1990s. A&E back in the 1990s had this series on as part of the Mystery Matinee series almost everyday, with other shows like Rockford Files, McMillan & Wife, McCloud, and perhaps a few others. 

And now that classic TV and movies has gone through resurgence that last 10-15 years, with cable networks not just going 24 hours of day of classic TV reruns and even modern TV reruns, but doing marathons of a specific type of programming, like mystery TV, Columbo, which is still 1 of the most popular TV cop detective shows, ever... this series is now on 3-4 cable networks, almost everyday now. If it's not on COZI-TV, you can find it on Hallmark Mystery, or Sundance, METV had for a longtime as well. 

To make a long story shorter... I saw the Lovely But Lethal episode from COZI-TV, 10-11 days ago. Similar with Fred, I've seen this particular episode, at least 10 times the last 7-8 years. Vera Miles is just that good and that great to look at and to listen to. A better looking Lana Turner, who was born to do soap operas and mystery TV, because of her great appearance, but her ability to verbal jab and comedic timing, and keep her counterpart on the run and even guessing as far as what she's doing and how that person might stop her. 

And I'm with IMDB on this... Lovely But Lethal is in my personal top 10 as far as my favorite Columbo episodes. But not in the top 3, or even top 5:  

The Jack Cassidy episodes (which I wrote last December on The New Democrat) 

as well as Lee Grant's episode, (which Kire Schneider wrote about on The New Democrat) 

Robert Conrad's episode (Exercise in Fatality) and the 2 Robert Culp episodes, I think are better than Lovely By Lethal. But what Schlock Horror said about this episode, I think goes too far: 

"We're (finally) back with the weakest season opener of the '70s." 

Source:Schlock Horror with his own review of Lovely But Lethal.

From Schlock Horror

And I think Nicholas Schroeder had the perfect response to Schlock Horror: 

"Completely baffled by the dislike of Vera Mills:  I think she's deliciously evil in this--and she's supposed to be shallow.  She's just an aging, mercenary beauty queen.  This episode is also loaded with humor." 

So Schlock Horror's main criticism of Lovely But Lethal episode, is centered around Vivica Scott. (Played by Vera Miles) He's says there isn't any depth to her and we don't really learn anything about her. He says she's not all that dastardly or that sympathetic. "She's just kind of there". 

So my response to Schlock Horror, is... pre-1974, Columbo episodes were only 70 minutes on NBC. Sure, that's more than a Rockford Files episodes, which were about 45 minutes. (Not including commercials) But when the network is giving you about 100 minutes, (give or take) including commercials, to put together what's essentially a short film, do you really want them to spend a good part of their limited time talking about: 

what it was like growing up in Oklahoma in the 1930s and 40s? 

Or, what it was like breaking into the Los Angeles cosmetics industry in the 1950s? 

How about Viveca Scott explaining what life was like without TV when she was growing up in Oklahoma?

Anyone who is familiar with the Columbo series, knows this is not A&E Biography. It's a police detective show. All they're going to give you is a little background as far as what the murderer does for a living, the pressures that person is under, why they killed the person that they did, and the actual homicide itself. You are not going to see Peter Graves or Harry Smith, Jack Whitaker (3 A&E Biography hosts) talk about the life and career of Vivica Scott in the Los Angeles cosmetics industry, before she murdered 1 of her cosmetics designers, Carl Lessing (played by Martin Sheen) in 1973. 

And the thing about Vincent Price... I agree he's great at playing the bad guy. He can be both very evil and hilariously funny at the same time. Which is an impressive talent, especially in Hollywood. But replace Vera Miles with Price and it's no longer "Lovely But Lethal". The episode would be more like: "Tall, Gruesome, and Lethal". With of course Vincent Price playing the lead, because who better, (at least from Price's generation) at scaring the hell out of people... while making them laugh at the same time, then Vincent Price

But as Fred got into on his post, Vera Miles is perfect for Lovely But Lethal, because that's exactly what she was. She's 44 at this point and still as cute as a doll and beautiful as most young women back then, even in Los Angeles. So who more perfect to play a cosmetics company owner, who is struggling financially and needs a new hit product, or risk having to sell off her business, then Vera Miles. 

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