The Knightly Murders

Air Date: 3/7/75
Writer: David Chase, Michael Kozoll
Director: Vincent McEveety
Story: Paul Magistretti
Actors: 
John Dehner as Captain Vernon Rausch / Hans Conried as Mendel Boggs / Shug Fisher as Pop Stenvold / Robert Emhardt as Roger, Coat of Arms dealer / Jeff Donnell as Maura / Don Carter as Lester Nash / Sidney Clute as Bruce Krause / Lieux Dressler as Minerva Musso / Jim Drum as Leo J. Ramutka / Alyscia Maxwell as Freshman Reporter / Ed McCready as First Reporter / Bryan O'Byrne Charles Johnson the Butler / William O'Connell as Brewster Hawking / Gregg Palmer as Sergeant Buxbaum / Paul Baxley as Ralf Danvers

Memorable Line:
Kolchak: "What is important is that it takes 420 pounds pressure - P.S.I. - to crush a telephone. Now, it says right here that a medieval knight in full armor and full weaponry weighs well over 400 pounds!"

Vincenzo: "Oh I feel much better, all my life I wanted to know that a Medieval Knight could crush a telephone."

Story:
A Black Knight kills to prevent the building of a disco on his death site.

Review:
As goofy as the premise sounds, this episode actually has lots of thrills. And as goofy as the premise would suggest. It's a laugh riot. Arguably the funniest episode in the series.

Comedic guests include John Dehner, as the legendary Captain Rausch, who not only is a phony living on past glories but has lost a bit of his mind. This is the best Captain/Kolchak interplay since Keenan Wynn's part in "Spanish Moss". And what's good about it is that it doesn't follow the usual pattern of 'full out shouting match'. Another inspired turn was casting Hans Conried. He too shares some colorful moments with Carl. In addition, there's Shug Fisher (From the B movie "Giant Gila Monster") as Pops. His cameo, as a store owner who wants Carl to write his memoirs in exchange for information, was a kick.

The scenes between Vincenzo and Kolchak are chock full o' their classic banter. Poor Tony, he thinks Carl has really gone off the deep end - and his expressed concern is a nice layer of character development that's well-acted by Oakland

As hinted at earlier, in the fright department the Knight is an effective and impressive foe. Looming large and frighteningly relentless, the best scene comes when it takes battle-ax in hand and crashes through several doors to reach its prey. Pushing Carl (who was bravely trying to save a victim) aside like a rag doll

If there is a frustrating aspect to the story, it's that the cops cast aside Carl's idea that a Knight, or some nut dressed as a Knight, is doing this. Even if they can't buy the supernatural aspects (and in a wonderful moment with Vincenzo, Tony tries to reason this out with his reporter) they can clearly see that medieval weaponry is being used. The door was obviously shredded by a very sharp, heavy object.

Though the end battle is too short, it was cool watching Carl struggling to wield the enormous, blessed ax (which is the only thing to have ever defeated his armored foe). It puts into perspective just how strong this Knight is.

Grade: A