Magnum Mania!

Kiss of the Sabre

Episode ID: 95
Episode Number: 5.11
Air Date: 12/13/1984
Writer: Jay Huguely
Director: John Patterson
Producer: Reuben Leder
Exec Producer: Donald P. Bellisario

Guest Stars

Cassie Yates (Betty Windom), David Spielberg (Dan Morgan), Paul Gleason (Ronnie Meeder), Soon-Tek Oh (Dr. Bill Su), Patrick Collins (Russell Smythe)

Plot Outline

Truth is stranger than fiction when Magnum is forced to take a snoopy novelist on his insurance fraud investigation after Robin Masters promises her exclusive use of the guest house and Ferrari.

Rating

7.5 (15 votes) MM Episode Forum Thread & Poll

Notes

1 This is the second episode to feature "fantasy" elements (the first was "Flashback" (3.7)). Here, events in Betty's novel Kiss of the Sabre are acted out onscreen, in between real events of the present.

2 The cast of characters in Betty's novel:

• Sebastian Sabre (Magnum)
• Collette (Betty Windom)
• Boris (Higgins)
• Winston (T.C.)
• Swift (Rick)
• Vittorio Romano (Dan Morgan)
• Dr. Ling (Dr. Bill Su)
• Hans Leopold (Russell Smythe)
• Jacques Arnot (Ronnie Meeder)

3 Honolulu's Leahi Hospital is used as a shooting location.

4 It seems obvious that the accents of the characters in Kiss of the Sabre are intentionally exaggerated, but are they also supposed to be intentionally bad? T.C.'s accent sounds like some weird Jamaican-Belgian mixture!

5 Cassie Yates (Betty Windom) appears again in "Photo Play" (6.21).

6 At the "Burgers -n- Brew" restaurant scene, a Williams Firepower II pinball machine (1983) is clearly seen behind Magnum and Betty. A young lady comes up and plays it during the scene.

7 The scene at the very end where Sebastian and Collette kiss while lying on the sand is very reminiscent of the famous beach kissing scene in From Here to Eternity (1953) with Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr, but with regular clothes not bathing suits.

Quotes

1
Sebastian: (Holds up a calculator) Stop! Or I'll punch in the square root of 18 and you'll all become targets for heat-seeking missles.
Dr. Ling: Drop your ingenious abacus, Mr. Sabre.
[audio]

Flubs

1 The scene where Betty is day-dreaming about the book characters having lunch in Paris begins with a view of the Eiffel Tower and then closes in on the characters in an outdoor setting. When the camera shoots between the two tall buildings, you can see a palm tree clearly visible in the background. There are no plam trees in Paris! (Noted by Wally)

Wish to add something? Got a correction? Shoot me an email.

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