The Case of the Red Faced Thespian (4.12)

Jodykmg365 · Vice Admiral Joined: 29 May 2008 Posts: 117

The best part about this episode for me is getting to see so much of the upstairs.

J.J. Walters · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 5:49 pm Post subject:

Decided to put on my sleuthing hat again. I may be the only one here who finds this interesting.

The Agatha Christie/Miss Marple movie that Magnum watches briefly, the one that helps him solve the crime, appears to be The Murder at the Vicarage, the first novel to feature Miss Marple (1930). This is based solely on the dialog that is heard (Miss Marple & a hated Colonel), as the clip that is seen doesn't match the audio. Miss Marple wasn't featured on screen until 1961 (Murder, She Said). The first four Miss Marple movies (all in the '60s) featured Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple. The "Miss Marple" in the clip that is seen in this episode is definitely not Margaret Rutherford circa 1960s. Miss Marple wasn't seen again on screen until the 1980s, and the clip is certainly not from that time period.

The clip appears to be from something else entirely! The other possibility is that the Magnum team actually filmed this little clip and made it look like an old Agatha Christie movie. The guy on the left sort of looks like Ronald Lacey. If that's the case, they flubbed the audio sync.

Lastly, can anyone ID this car?

Thanks

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Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

N1095A · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 11:09 pm Post subject:

J.J. Walters · Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2009 5:07 am Post subject:

Ah, that's it Mike. What a car. Thanks!

_________________
Higgins: It's not a scratch! It's a bloody gouge!

N1095A · Posted: Wed Jan 28, 2009 7:43 pm Post subject:

No problem James, It looked like either an Auburn, or a Cord. Matching the shape of the doors with the hood ornament proved it was the Auburn. The louvers above and below the exhaust pipes threw me of a little, but these cars were the same or very similar for many years so not sure of the exact year.

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"But Higgins, I can explain."

IKnowWhatYoureThinking · Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 3:00 pm Post subject:

I love old cars! The detail that used to go into making a car was amazing! Too bad we have lost that.

Estate resident · Commander Joined: 27 Apr 2009 Posts: 39

Lucky Rick - smokin hot brit chick on the beach. Her waist can't be over 20in.!

Jay-Firestorm · Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 8:51 pm Post subject:

My second review of my now traditional double-review Friday!

[rating=8.0]

Higgins suffers a concussion just before a lavish costume ball on the Estate, and Magnum soon has a mystery to solve when Rick is accused of theft and Higgins, believing himself to be a Shakespearean actor, is suspected of murder. Fun but not a favourite…

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This episode (working title: 'All The World's a Stage') is one of those 'dress up' stories that MPI liked to do every so often, with everyone in costume. And for that, it is quite fun, although it is not one of my favourites of the season. I know there are some who will probably count this as a classic, but I'm more take-it-or-leave it with this one.

The episode contains several notable stars, including Ronald Lacey and Colleen Camp. All of the characters seem to have a motive for the crimes that take place, and there are a number of red herrings along the way. However, I do agree with the thoughts of some other fans that the story takes too long to get to the actual mystery section; in this sense, the episode is a bit uneven.

And as fun as it is to see Higgins believing himself to be (fictional) Shakespearean actor Sir Fearing Pangborn, I didn’t really buy into it. It’s strange, I can believe John Hillerman when he is playing one of Higgins’ eccentric half-brothers, but here in this episode, I couldn’t really accept his concussed state that kept turning him into Pangborn.

It is a nice touch that Magnum is an Agatha Christie fan, something that he shares with Lieutenant Tanaka. The 1920s theme, leading to the inevitable climatic scene with all of the suspects gathered together in one room, is enjoyable, and the whole episode has a novel feel to it.

When Five ran the series here in the U.K. in 2002-3, I had not seen this particular episode before. I recorded all of the episodes, and, getting home late that day, ended up watching this one at about 2 a.m.! There were so many little moments that kept rewinding to watch, that it took me about two hours to get through the whole episode!

Kudos to the series for once again trying something a bit different, but for me this ends up as one of those episodes that is just okay to watch occasionally – it doesn’t really stand out as anything special in my book.

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Other notes, bloopers and misc.:

* In the scene where Higgins is by the tree, and a dagger zips by him and embeds itself in the tree, look closely at the tree – I may be wrong, but there seems to be a notch in the tree from a previous practice shot of the dagger being thrown. I’ve noticed such examples in several other series (it’s a bit like skid marks on the grounds from cars from previous takes), and am pretty sure that this is one such example.

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J.J. Walters · Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 4:14 am Post subject:

Rutledal · Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 11:35 am Post subject:

I finally got back from my holiday to good ol' Magnum PI and this was the next episode on the DVD. Good episode, another fun "whodunnit" episode.

I also think I noticed a flub. In the scene where Higgins comes with the diamonds he found in his "double-v c" Rick calls Cynthia for Cindy. It might just be that me hearing is bad, but I think it was the case.

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