This teleplay is headed by the main character featured in the four 1940's locked room / impossible crime books of Clayton Rawson (as well as a number of short stories). (Rawson also wrote about another magician / detective named Don Diavolo under the name Stuart Towne.)
This is not quite as compelling or fun as the books; maybe the short run time doesn't help. The Great Merlini is a magician who also owns a theatrical gizmo-making shop and helps police solve crimes on the side. There's actually two things going on in this pilot for a show that never made it to a season: the jewel heist and the backstory involving a murder and a locked safe that Merlini is required to open.
The acting is adequate and the actors are well cast but the production values seem bare-bones. (Note: although there is a notation listed in the credits of Broadway singer Barbara Cook, I think the actress playing Merlini's capable assistant Julie is another actress with the same name.)
