Murder by Night (7.14)

[Styles Bitchley]

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

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.

[Croix de Lorraine]

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...

[MaximRecoil]

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).

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

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).

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.

[Little Garwood]

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.

[J.J. Walters]

*raises hand*

I care.

[308GUY]

Raises hand....make that two....

[Little Garwood]

It turns out to not be the same painting but here's the screen cap from Kolchak anyway:



I only feel slightly embarrassed that it doesn't look like the Murder By Night painting![/img]

[308GUY]

Well...at least you followed through! Sometimes follow through turns out good.....sometimes not ....now we know . Thanks for the follow up.

[Croix de Lorraine]

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.

[Stelth]

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.

[marlboro]

It really, really ticks me off that Universal stuck an altered version of the episode on the dvd. Why would a "colorized" version even exist?

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.

I completely agree. Once again, Hillerman has blown me away with his acting ability.


I'm a film noir fan, so this episode was right up my alley. A really fun episode. Nice to see the great character actor Henry Jones again; I'll always remember him from 3:10 to Yuma and a lot of Alfred Hitchcock Presents episodes.

A couple of random thoughts:

- Roger Mosley was pretty bad in this. Larry Manetti was good though.


- I wish Jean Bruce Scott had been worked into the cast. Maybe as Magnum's secretary or something.

- Tom Selleck looked great, but he could use some work on his delivery. It just didn't sound very noirish. He should have slowed it down a bit. Maybe do a little Robert Mitchum impersonation. "Cool nonchalance" is what he should have been going for.

[SignGuyHPW]

I enjoyed it. It was a colorised version except for the scene with Magnum dreaming that he had woken up and was talking to Higgins. It gave the actors something different to do which probably was refreshing for them.

I'm not a fan of all of the smoking, but understand why they did it in this episode. Magnum coughing at the end to show he didn't really endorse it was a nice touch though. I felt that the reverend came off kind of cartoonish though that may have been their intent.

I thought it was a good mystery and something different for them to do. I found it interesting that Mosley's character drank from a flask considering he seemed to not want the regular character to drink at all. I agree with those that thought Hillerman put on an absolutely marvelous performance.

[J. Rickley Schneider]

3) A black police inspector in the 1930s? Not even Roger Mosley seemed to believe in his own role...

I agree with those that think Roger Mosley didn't put in a very good performance. It might be because he was miscast.

You're right, a black police inspector in 1941 San Francisco is highly unlikely.

John Hillerman should've played the part of Inspector Wolf just like how he played the police inspector during Magnum's 1941 dream sequence at the beginning of "A.A.P.I." This would've worked well since there is an antagonistic relationship between Magnum and Higgins and between Magnum and Wolf.

Roger Mosley should've played the role of the butler. The role of lawyer Sam Caldwell should've went to someone else. Lance LeGault, maybe?

[tiger73]

Hi all. Sorry for my bad english. I have reseen this episode yesterday and have noticed It's clearly inspired to Mike Hammer by the great late Mickey Spillane. I am great fan of Magnum PI & Mike Hammer too

[tiger73]

I did an article on Mike Hammer Magnum tribute, here the english version with google translator

http://translate.google.com/translate?s ... -hammer%2F