Murder by Night (7.14)
Moderator: Styles Bitchley
Just watched this episode for the first time and thought it was great! To me, it was very tongue-in-cheek, wink-wink kind of episode paying homage to mystery/detective movies of the past. I suppose for those who are not familiar with film noir genre, they would not get all the subtle (and clever, I thought) references to those films of yesteryear.
I really appreciated the humor, too. For example, when Higgins praises Magnum's book, Magnum realizes there is something wrong and that he must be dreaming, so goes back to bed! Ha, ha!
Also, the way Magnum treats all the women in this episode was very macho and politically incorrect. He kisses them, calls them "precious", and grabs them and tosses them down in the chair. Very reminiscent of how Bogart would treat women in his movies. How times have changed!
And all the smoking and drinking done in the episode reminds me of how much they used to do that in the movies in the "old days." I am sure this was done intentionally to create the feel of the movies of the 1940s, when they did not know smoking was bad for you.
Also, the fact that there would be a black inspector in the 1940s seems so hilarious to me. And why is inspector Wolf using a cane? That is never explained, but I guess just one of the quirky humorous details about this episode that makes it interesting.
All in all, this was for me one of the most enjoyable and fun episodes. This whole season seven seems like they anticipated this to be the last season of Magnum, p.i. Many of the episodes are very innovative, and perhaps they were willing to take chances and go entirely out of the normal settings of the show to do it before it ended.
In any case, I am thoroughly enjoying going through the seventh season DVD. If the show had continued with this quality, it might have gone on many more years. Actually, I am surprised it didn't. Maybe everyone just wanted to move on, or maybe the nation was into comedies at that time (I think the Cosby Show, Family Ties, Cheers, etc. were the shows of choice back then).
I really appreciated the humor, too. For example, when Higgins praises Magnum's book, Magnum realizes there is something wrong and that he must be dreaming, so goes back to bed! Ha, ha!
Also, the way Magnum treats all the women in this episode was very macho and politically incorrect. He kisses them, calls them "precious", and grabs them and tosses them down in the chair. Very reminiscent of how Bogart would treat women in his movies. How times have changed!
And all the smoking and drinking done in the episode reminds me of how much they used to do that in the movies in the "old days." I am sure this was done intentionally to create the feel of the movies of the 1940s, when they did not know smoking was bad for you.
Also, the fact that there would be a black inspector in the 1940s seems so hilarious to me. And why is inspector Wolf using a cane? That is never explained, but I guess just one of the quirky humorous details about this episode that makes it interesting.
All in all, this was for me one of the most enjoyable and fun episodes. This whole season seven seems like they anticipated this to be the last season of Magnum, p.i. Many of the episodes are very innovative, and perhaps they were willing to take chances and go entirely out of the normal settings of the show to do it before it ended.
In any case, I am thoroughly enjoying going through the seventh season DVD. If the show had continued with this quality, it might have gone on many more years. Actually, I am surprised it didn't. Maybe everyone just wanted to move on, or maybe the nation was into comedies at that time (I think the Cosby Show, Family Ties, Cheers, etc. were the shows of choice back then).
- Carol the Dabbler
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I'm sure you're right, that it was done intentionally, for that 40's effect. But people back then knew that smoking was bad for you (though the doctors wouldn't admit it, because they all smoked too). My father used to say that back in the 30's and 40's, the slang term for cigarettes was "coffin nails"! But everybody smoked anyhow, because it was "cool" and "sophisticated" -- as though the entire country consisted of teenagers!Tuan Vu wrote:And all the smoking and drinking done in the episode reminds me of how much they used to do that in the movies in the "old days." I am sure this was done intentionally to create the feel of the movies of the 1940s, when they did not know smoking was bad for you.
Carol
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I have been home sick today--bad cold--and have comforted myself with watching many Magnum episodes. This one was a blast! I am still on my first progression through the series (I was away at college with no TV, when these later seasons aired).
I was delighted with this one--not just for the change of venue, as it were, but because it was such a brilliant example of how this show was willing to *play,* to not take itself too seriously. And once they got a fun idea, they generally did it well--I mean, the opening and ending credits? This episode stayed "in character" from beginning to end--I just loved it.
(and can the Hillerman fan in me marvel at his range? Wow. Thank you.)
I was delighted with this one--not just for the change of venue, as it were, but because it was such a brilliant example of how this show was willing to *play,* to not take itself too seriously. And once they got a fun idea, they generally did it well--I mean, the opening and ending credits? This episode stayed "in character" from beginning to end--I just loved it.
(and can the Hillerman fan in me marvel at his range? Wow. Thank you.)
"What I would have done, Magnum, is what I did." (Mad Dogs & Englishmen)
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I watched this with the family last night--we were in a mystery mood, and 3/5 of us had not seen this episode yet. It was a great favorite. And I already bubbled about it here not long ago, but can I just say again, John Hillerman? Wow.
There was Tom Selleck playing Magnum, pretty much straight translation into that era. And there was Larry Manetti playing Rick playing an alternate role; and Roger Mosley playing TC playing an alternate role. But John Hillerman was playing Sam Caldwell. You forgot he ever WAS Higgins. He created a totally believable new person right there in the space of 45 minutes. Not a nice person, but a totally complete one, divorced entirely from his regular Magnum role, which is something none of the other three did. Just, wow.
~Amanda
There was Tom Selleck playing Magnum, pretty much straight translation into that era. And there was Larry Manetti playing Rick playing an alternate role; and Roger Mosley playing TC playing an alternate role. But John Hillerman was playing Sam Caldwell. You forgot he ever WAS Higgins. He created a totally believable new person right there in the space of 45 minutes. Not a nice person, but a totally complete one, divorced entirely from his regular Magnum role, which is something none of the other three did. Just, wow.
~Amanda
"What I would have done, Magnum, is what I did." (Mad Dogs & Englishmen)
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Just saw this recently too. Although I didn't notice it at the time, I have to agree with you. It wasn't Higgins playing another role.mandolabar wrote:I watched this with the family last night--we were in a mystery mood, and 3/5 of us had not seen this episode yet. It was a great favorite. And I already bubbled about it here not long ago, but can I just say again, John Hillerman? Wow.
There was Tom Selleck playing Magnum, pretty much straight translation into that era. And there was Larry Manetti playing Rick playing an alternate role; and Roger Mosley playing TC playing an alternate role. But John Hillerman was playing Sam Caldwell. You forgot he ever WAS Higgins. He created a totally believable new person right there in the space of 45 minutes. Not a nice person, but a totally complete one, divorced entirely from his regular Magnum role, which is something none of the other three did. Just, wow.
~Amanda
"How fiendishly deceptive of you Magnum. I could have sworn I was hearing the emasculation of a large rodent."
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Three flubs in this episode:
1) Coloring the image spoils one of the final scenes. When Higgins is praising his novel, Magnum realises he's still dreaming because everything is still in black and white. That loses its meaning when we've just watched the whole episode in color.
2) In Sam Caldwell's studio we see a landscape painting of London. I don't remeber whether it's always been there, but I assume it's part of the usual studio decoration in Robin's Nest. If that is the case it would be an intromission of Robin's and Higgins' British universe into the fictional San Francisco world of Sam Caldwell. Of course, it's a dream and dreams have no logic.
3) A black police inspector in the 1930s? Not even Roger Mosley seemed to believe in his own role...
1) Coloring the image spoils one of the final scenes. When Higgins is praising his novel, Magnum realises he's still dreaming because everything is still in black and white. That loses its meaning when we've just watched the whole episode in color.
2) In Sam Caldwell's studio we see a landscape painting of London. I don't remeber whether it's always been there, but I assume it's part of the usual studio decoration in Robin's Nest. If that is the case it would be an intromission of Robin's and Higgins' British universe into the fictional San Francisco world of Sam Caldwell. Of course, it's a dream and dreams have no logic.
3) A black police inspector in the 1930s? Not even Roger Mosley seemed to believe in his own role...
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This episode wasn't colorized. It was shot on the same color film that they always used, and then was desaturated during the transfer to video for TV broadcast. This is what allowed them to do a gradual transition from black and white to color at the end (and in the beginning for the DVD version).
He inhaled without coughing, which is something a non-smoker can't do. When an actor that is a non-smoker "smokes" a cigarette onscreen, they simply draw the smoke into their mouth and immediately blow it back out again. The smoke comes out as a brief cloud of thick smoke (which looks completely different than the exhaled smoke from an actual smoker). This is also how cigars are normally smoked, as the main source of nicotine for the cigar smoker is the tobacco leaves of the cigar pressed against their lips and other parts of the mouth. It works on the same principle as a nicotine patch, i.e., transdermally. People who chew tobacco also get their nicotine transdermally.
A cigarette smoker, after drawing the smoke into his mouth, keeps it there and [usually] removes the cigarette from his mouth and then inhales the smoke that is still in his mouth. When they exhale it comes out in a long steady stream that is highly diluted with air. This is how Selleck smoked cigarettes in this episode and in the earlier episode that I mentioned. So either he conditioned himself to be a smoker specifically for those episodes, or he already was a smoker.
To summarize: smoking a cigar or pretending to smoke a cigarette is a 2-step process: draw smoke into mouth, blow it back out. Smoking a cigarette for real is a 3-step process: draw smoke into mouth, inhale, exhale. It is always easy to tell which actors are really smoking and which ones aren't.
On another note, I thought it was interesting that "the lads" were given more fitting names in this episode: Isis and Osiris (the names of the famous Egyptian god and goddess), "Isis" being a female name and "Osiris" being a male name. One of "the lads" is blatantly female in most MPI episodes (including this episode):
The dog on the right looks to be about 20 pounds heavier, has a significantly larger head and neck, and a thicker, more square muzzle (the more square muzzle is more obvious in scenes which show a side profile). The head and muzzle on the female looks like a Dachshund's in comparison to the male's. I don't know why they didn't just use two males. Even using two females would have been better, because without a male being right there for comparison, it isn't as easy to tell.
Selleck was a real smoker, or at least, he really smoked those cigarettes onscreen. He did the same thing in an earlier episode where there is a black and white 1930s/1940s style scene at the beginning and he shoots two of Icepick's (or whatever character Elisha Cook Jr. was playing in that scene) goons in a warehouse (I can't remember which episode that was).Carmen wrote:Fun episode.... I like the fact Magnums cigarette is a fake in most of the scenes... must have been difficult for a (as I think) Non-smoker like Tom Selleck to light these many cigarettes, so no wonder he has the "not lighted-version" between his lips most of the time
He inhaled without coughing, which is something a non-smoker can't do. When an actor that is a non-smoker "smokes" a cigarette onscreen, they simply draw the smoke into their mouth and immediately blow it back out again. The smoke comes out as a brief cloud of thick smoke (which looks completely different than the exhaled smoke from an actual smoker). This is also how cigars are normally smoked, as the main source of nicotine for the cigar smoker is the tobacco leaves of the cigar pressed against their lips and other parts of the mouth. It works on the same principle as a nicotine patch, i.e., transdermally. People who chew tobacco also get their nicotine transdermally.
A cigarette smoker, after drawing the smoke into his mouth, keeps it there and [usually] removes the cigarette from his mouth and then inhales the smoke that is still in his mouth. When they exhale it comes out in a long steady stream that is highly diluted with air. This is how Selleck smoked cigarettes in this episode and in the earlier episode that I mentioned. So either he conditioned himself to be a smoker specifically for those episodes, or he already was a smoker.
To summarize: smoking a cigar or pretending to smoke a cigarette is a 2-step process: draw smoke into mouth, blow it back out. Smoking a cigarette for real is a 3-step process: draw smoke into mouth, inhale, exhale. It is always easy to tell which actors are really smoking and which ones aren't.
On another note, I thought it was interesting that "the lads" were given more fitting names in this episode: Isis and Osiris (the names of the famous Egyptian god and goddess), "Isis" being a female name and "Osiris" being a male name. One of "the lads" is blatantly female in most MPI episodes (including this episode):
The dog on the right looks to be about 20 pounds heavier, has a significantly larger head and neck, and a thicker, more square muzzle (the more square muzzle is more obvious in scenes which show a side profile). The head and muzzle on the female looks like a Dachshund's in comparison to the male's. I don't know why they didn't just use two males. Even using two females would have been better, because without a male being right there for comparison, it isn't as easy to tell.
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I watched this again last night and I noticed a painting that must have been in the Universal prop room for decades! There's a painting of London's Parliament building and I am quite sure that the very same painting is seen in another Universal TV show, 1974-75's Kolchak: The Night Stalker! The episode is called Primal Scream. I will have to take another look to be absolutely certain. If anyone cares, I will post the screen caps from both shows if they are in fact the same painting.
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Re: Murder by Night (7.14)
After a recent rewatch, I must say this episode is very viewable even in color. Color actually highlights the detail of the clothes, etc.
I did notice though that on one occasion Magnum unbuttons his double-breasted jacket when he sits on the sofa. Double-breasted jackets are definitely not meant to be unbuttoned - which I guess is one good reason not to wear them.
I did notice though that on one occasion Magnum unbuttons his double-breasted jacket when he sits on the sofa. Double-breasted jackets are definitely not meant to be unbuttoned - which I guess is one good reason not to wear them.
Re: Murder by Night (7.14)
I watched this episode on Cozi last Thursday and fortunately it wasn't the colorized version. This was a nice change of pace and a great episode. It's fun seeing the cast doing different characters (except for Rick; always the dork). I especially liked the ending with the "double dream" and the very last bit with Magnum coughing.