Saturday 11 April 2020

The Mad Magician

"The Mad Magician" (1954, John Brahm, Colombia Pictures) is the tale of a frustrated magician who turns to murder.

Don Gallico (Vincent Price) makes illusions. But truly, he aspires to perform them as a famous stage magician himself. Adopting the name Gallico the Great, he arranges a fantastical stage show where he will disguise himself as his previous famous clientele and perform the tricks that he invented for them and also his newest invention; a terrifying buzz-saw trick. But his show is halted by legal action and his inventions are taken. Utilising his flare for disguise, he turns instead to murder in order to exact his revenge...

A fun film which has some similarities to "The House of Wax" but with Price playing a slightly more sympathetic villain. The disguises are fun and the action is delightfully shlocky. The film was originally released during the 50s boom of 3D mania and enjoys some of the hammy shots that were made with that in mind. Price, as ever, delivers a fun and gleefully dastardly villain.

[Image: Colombia Pictures]
Hani

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