Episode 12, "The Adventure of the Black Falcon," features the return of radio sleuth Simon Brimmer (John Hillerman), broadcasting live from an exclusive night club run by Nick Kingston (Lewis Charles) and Eddie Morgan (Howard Duff). Present are Inspector Richard Queen and son Ellery, prepared for an arrest if Brimmer comes forth with new information on an old case (this gives the Inspector a reason to explain why his department resents Brimmer's interference). Just as the broadcast begins, the dead body of Nick Kingston is discovered locked in the wine cellar, clutching a broken bottle of wine originating from Germany, 'The Black Falcon.' Into a glass of wine someone had slipped poison, both colorless and odorless, otherwise Nick would never had swallowed it, then removed all traces of the wine and the glass, never noticing the dying man reaching for The Black Falcon, which features the same insignia that can be found on the victim's ring. Suspects, apart from Nick's partner Eddie (with whom the deceased was known to argue), include piano player John Randall (Tab Hunter), his chanteuse sweetheart (Rosanna Huffman), mind reader The Amazing Armitage (Roddy McDowall), and cleaning woman Flora Schumann (Signe Hasso), who claims to be Dutch, not German. While Simon Brimmer makes good use of himself for a change, Ellery is directed to the solution of the murder by the wine steward, Alexander the Sommelier (a solid performance by prolific character actor William Schallert). As with every other episode of this regrettably short-lived series, one taste and the viewer is hooked.
3 Reviews
Simon Brimmer Gets Something Right
DKosty1239 May 2011
Warning: Spoilers
A devilish mystery here as a famous nightclub partner is murdered with plenty of suspects around being poisoned in his own wine cellar.
The guest cast features Tab Hunter, Howard Duff & Roddy McDowell. John Hillerman's Simon gets involved with this one at the outset as he is making a radio broadcast from the night club. He and Ellery work together on this one and while Ellery gets the killer right, Simon gets a sub-plot of this one very right.
The amazing quality of the Marc B Ray script here is another reason to watch this one. As for the wine, well the wine is just a sub plot here, as the motives abound.
The guest cast features Tab Hunter, Howard Duff & Roddy McDowell. John Hillerman's Simon gets involved with this one at the outset as he is making a radio broadcast from the night club. He and Ellery work together on this one and while Ellery gets the killer right, Simon gets a sub-plot of this one very right.
The amazing quality of the Marc B Ray script here is another reason to watch this one. As for the wine, well the wine is just a sub plot here, as the motives abound.
The Falcon And The Detective Man
chashans19 March 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Yet another terrific episode of Ellery Queen. With such quality on screen - acting, story, sets, direction, etc., - it truly becomes an even greater shame that audiences of 1975 abandoned this series to cancellation after 1 season. They didn't know what they had.
Roddy McDowall leads the guest cast, portraying a psychic appearing in person at an exclusive restaurant/night club. Using a bizarre accent, McDowall's character isn't afraid of teasing the police investigating the murder of one of the co-owners of the club. This includes Ellery's father, which irritates the easily irritated Inspector, no end.
John Hillerman is back as Radio Mystery Show host, Simon Brimmer. Brimmer is already on-scene when the murder takes place, having been invited to broadcast his show from the restaurant. Most welcome in this episode is that Brimmer's snobbery is toned way down. He actually becomes a sort of contemporary of Ellery's, joining the sleuth in the investigation. Brimmer even gets a moment of actual discovery and revelation of a hidden secret which leads to indication of a motive for the murder. It's interesting that the writers assigned this spark of enlightment to Ellery's usual nemesis, and not Ellery himself.
What's also enticing within this episode's script is that Ellery is truly stumped. The murder victim has just enough time to leave a seemingly great clue, yet Ellery can make no sense of it. The clue just doesn't lead anywhere conclusive.
There's plenty of backstory provided for all the suspects. With some tantalizing and puzzling secrets revealed that has Ellery scratching beneath that Detective Hat of his. Excellent televisual entertainment.
Roddy McDowall leads the guest cast, portraying a psychic appearing in person at an exclusive restaurant/night club. Using a bizarre accent, McDowall's character isn't afraid of teasing the police investigating the murder of one of the co-owners of the club. This includes Ellery's father, which irritates the easily irritated Inspector, no end.
John Hillerman is back as Radio Mystery Show host, Simon Brimmer. Brimmer is already on-scene when the murder takes place, having been invited to broadcast his show from the restaurant. Most welcome in this episode is that Brimmer's snobbery is toned way down. He actually becomes a sort of contemporary of Ellery's, joining the sleuth in the investigation. Brimmer even gets a moment of actual discovery and revelation of a hidden secret which leads to indication of a motive for the murder. It's interesting that the writers assigned this spark of enlightment to Ellery's usual nemesis, and not Ellery himself.
What's also enticing within this episode's script is that Ellery is truly stumped. The murder victim has just enough time to leave a seemingly great clue, yet Ellery can make no sense of it. The clue just doesn't lead anywhere conclusive.
There's plenty of backstory provided for all the suspects. With some tantalizing and puzzling secrets revealed that has Ellery scratching beneath that Detective Hat of his. Excellent televisual entertainment.
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