So I got curious about this and had to look it up (as you do)... because I have several sabres and might try this some day :)

This instructional vid is unintentionally (or possibly intentionally?) freaking hilarious!
-The narator introduces the guy as captain whatsit and he does the "suave hero" look with his eyebrows, hahahaha! Then she says "dashing young officer" and the camera pans to a paining of some whiskered old walrus of a general, "pretty young lady" and it pans to a nice lady, but not so young...
and so on, till at the end he knicks off the end of the champers, drinks it and they leave and the narrator says "what a hero", HAHAHAHAHA!


Link

This is great too, for different reasons...
Sabrage gone wrong:




And this vid shows how easy it really is:

This is a forgotten art.

Also, I love that woman's face when the guy pulls the sword out. (No innuendo intended)

lol. "what a hero"

Wot? 'e's a highlander and 'e din use 'is claymore? It'd probably shatter the whole bottle. You need a fine instrument not a butcher's blade. It was British cheek because if you read the credits the "pretty young woman" is the "researcher"... lol!

One legend has it that LaSalle, that most cavalier of Napoleon's hussars, invented the technique or François Fournier; LaSalle's best friend and one of the most reckless men in Napoleon's Army.

Everything goes back to hussars doesn't it? Those dashing light cavalry types.