The Man from Marseilles, not from Marseilles

[Vanity]

I have recently received my Season 5, and I'm preciously watching it, episode after episode.

Still, in the episode "The Man from Marseilles", one error is striking - especially if you know the French Riviera - the episode starts in Marseilles. But the city we see when the episode opens is not Marseilles, but Cannes.
I really wonder why, if they already went that far to shoot, why didn't they shoot the right spot. They're only 2 to 3 hours drive away.

I wonder if this has also happened in other episodes in regards to other cities ?

[Danno]

Vanity, I'm pretty sure it's just stock footage that they would have used for the 'Marseilles' establishing shots. When the action starts, it's a dock in Hawaii (that I think had been used in other episodes).

I think at the time, in the 1980s TV shows weren't under the scrutiny of fans like they are today. Perhaps Universal didn't even have access to stock footage of Marseilles. Who knows- but certainly it wouldn't have been of great concern.

One of the great things about the entire series, that I've enjoyed immensely is the way in which Hawaiian locations are dressed up to be the hills of Scotland, or the streets of St Louis or locations in Japan and Vietnam. Sometimes it's painfully obvious, but for some reason, we let them get away with it. Like the obvious stunt people, the show has it's own charms...

Forgive me for going on a bit here...

[grapeshot]

Sometimes it's painfully obvious, but for some reason, we let them get away with it. Like the obvious stunt people, the show has it's own charms...

Well, back in the day, TV productions were cheap cheap cheap. At the time, most viewers wouldn't have thought twice about seeing stock footage inserted, even if they'd recognized it as such.

I used to wonder how come shows always looked so cheap, but that was long before I had any inkling about the economics of the tv industry, and since I seemed to be the only one among my circle of friends and aquaintances who even thought to ask that question, there weren't a whole lot of other people around me to discuss it with. IIRC, at the time Magnum began airing, there was much ado made about the fact that it was shot on location in Hawaii -- That's because it was that rare for a show to be filmed on location.

Also, large screen TVs, which might have provided a clearer picture, were rare. Cable was still in its infancy, too, and many people watched this show broadcast over the airwaves, which could make the picture even less clear. When you make the switch from an older and smaller TV screen to a larger and flat one, or better yet, to an HD screen, and then see the show on DVD, it's stunning how much clearer details are. The biggest difference to me is that I see a larger range of emotion portrayed by the actors, but yes, stunt men become more obvious, too. Also, the change in color tones between the look of the actual show and the inserted stock footage is more obvious.

It's only relatively recently that some tv shows have had enough money spent on them to showcase better production values. And of course, now that there is a clearer digital picture available, and HD TV screens, HD broadcasts, and DVD versions of shows, it's a lot more obvious to viewers when production values are being short-changed.