MovieChat Forums > Prescription: Murder (1968) Discussion > Here's what I don't understand...

Here's what I don't understand...

posted 17 years ago by IFeedPigeons
4 replies | jump to latest

Here's what I don't understand:

At the end, it is revealed that Dr. Flemming has another ('real') girlfriend, whom he plans to marry, after dumping the actress. It turns out that he was just using the actress girlfriend in order to kill his wife.

BUT>>> Why in the world wouldn't Flemming think that (once he dumped her for the other woman), the acress would not go and immediately tell the police of the murder?? Hasn't the doctor ever heard of "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned?" Man, I'd turm him in so quickly, his head would spin. Funny how he never seems to think about this as a possibility.

Although she was an accessory to the murder and so maybe would keep quiet, I feel it was only likely/a matter of time before the police would be able to connect the two anyhow (although her sentence would probably be minor).

Aside from this, I like this Columbo quite a lot.

[–] Jason_Radley 17 years ago

At the end, it is revealed that Dr. Flemming has another ('real') girlfriend, whom he plans to marry, after dumping the actress. It turns out that he was just using the actress girlfriend in order to kill his wife.

Sorry, but when is this revealed? To my mind, the loose ends are i) whether Flemming is being truthful when he says he doesn't love Joan, and ii) whether Columbo is relying on this reaction to make Joan finally talk.

[–] Jason_Radley 17 years ago

It's a minor quibble, but when Mrs. Flemming is murdered she's wearing a black dress (at least, I think it's a dress - would she be wearing a pearl necklace in a dressing gown?). In her husband's plan, she's meant to have returned from the airport, some time around 11pm, taken off her blue dress and put it out for laundry. Wouldn't it be more likely that she'd have changed into a nightdress or gown instead of another dress? OK, it doesn't amount to a plothole, but I was waiting for Columbo to pick up on it as one of those little loose ends he likes to unravel.

[–] Bflogal11 16 years ago

I think it is a house dress. Fleming tells her to close the doors and get changed. She may have put her jewelry on earlier so all she had to do was change her clothes just before leaving. Besides, June Cleaver wore pearls to do housework, lol.

Push the button, Max!

[–] scribe1270 16 years ago

As I recall the Dr. had been her Dr. before their relationship meaning he knew her well as his patient. I think it was in the back of his mind from the start that he would 'lose' a former patient to suicide as a way of tying up a loose end. He even cautions Columbo about putting pressure on her as she might snap and kill herself (a clear setup for what he planned to do/have happen). An accomplice can't turn state's evidence against you if he/she is dead after all.