The Mad Magician

The great Vincent Price has done many fantastic Horror films, some of which range among the greatest genre gems of all-time. Price's greatest achievements were doubtlessly his films in the 60s, with films such as Roger Corman's brilliant Poe-cycle (still the greatest Horror cycle of all-time), Michael Reeves' "Witchfinder General" (1968) or Ubaldo Ragona's "The Last Man on Earth" (1964) marking the ultimate highlights of this brilliant man's career. The films that made the man famous and thereby made him the immortal Horror icon he is, however date back to the 50s, with "House of Wax" (1953) marking his rise to stardom. "The Mad Magician" of 1954 follows a plot that is very similar to that of its successful predecessor. This is not to say, however, that this film isn't an original, delightfully macabre and absolutely wonderful gem itself. As the lines above may suggest, Vincent Price is my favorite actor, and, while I personally would not allow myself to miss anything the man has been in, none of my fellow fans of the man may miss this little gem.

Price stars as Don Galico (aka. Galico the Great), an underrated master magician and inventor of magic devices, whose boss, a sleazy businessman, stole his wife (Eva Gabor) from him. When the boss takes away one of Galico's ingenious inventions and gives it to his rival, The Great Rinaldi (John Emery), Galico snaps, and a murderous spree of revenge begins...

Don't we love Vincent Price when he's out for revenge? Some of his most famous and greatest films such as "The Abominable Dr. Phibes" (1971) or "Theater of Blood" (1973) were about absurd and delightfully macabre revenge murders, and this earlier film in his Horror career is another proof that no one takes revenge as Vincent Price does. This film provides a wonderfully eccentric leading role for Price, who, as always, delivers a brilliant performance, and guarantees 70 minutes of outrageously entertaining and macabre fun for every Horror fan. Another must-see for my fellow Price fans.

The only ingredient missing in this VINCENT PRICE tale of horror is Technicolor which might have provided even more interest in this murderous tale of a magician who kills in order to protect his inventive magic act.

First to go is a partner with whom he has a violent argument and is given the buzz saw treatment. Then, JOHN EMERY, a rival magician who is foolish enough to steal from Price and threatens to reveal what he knows about the death of Price's partner. Emery has a grand time matching his scene stealing tricks with Price.

Skillfully directed by John Brahm, a section of the film dealing with the bonfire is reminiscent of a similar moment from Brahm's HANGOVER SQUARE when Laird Cregar delivers the body of a woman to be consumed by fire.

Acting is uniformly excellent and the script moves at a fast pace under Brahm's direction. Once again, Vincent Price delivers a first-rate performance in a shuddery role. The suspenseful moments lead to an edge of your seat climax involving a crematorium device.

Although there is more ham in this film than a full street of German delis, the movie will definitely hold your attention. We know Price is a ham, but so was Gabor, the landlady writer, and the competing magician. THREE HAMS in ONE FILM! I am pretty sure this is a record. Regardless of the pork content, the film is entertaining because of the story and the characters. A brilliant magician who is a terrible businessman, gets taken in by a few sharpies. His revenge is sweet. But the climax is not as satisfying as one would want. What we really want is for him to get away with the scam. But this film was under the watchful eye of the film code, which guarantees the sappy ending I will not reveal. Good fun.

The Mad Magician (1954)

*** (out of 4)

Vincent Price followed his success in HOUSE OF WAX with this horror thriller. He plays Don Gallico, a masterful creator of magic tricks who is double crossed by his boss and kills him. He eventually takes the dead man's identity but when the police start to investigate he must commit one murder after another trying to cover his tracks. THE MAD MAGICIAN was originally released in 3D and there are a lot of objects flying towards the screen and even when you view the film flat it's still easy to see that the effects are in good nature and appear to be fun. The movie itself is quite fun from start to finish and a lot of credit has to go to the wonderful Vincent Price. He was such a wonderful actor and his great performance made him a perfect fit for the genre. His soft-spoken nature he just makes you really love his character and made you feel sorry for him once the boss rips him off. Even after he starts murdering people you can't help but wish there's some way for him to get out of it. These added feelings for the character would be missing with so many other actors but Price's perfect performance really adds so much to the film. Mary Murphy is good as his assistant and Eva Gabor is simply snake-worthy as Price's ex-wife. Director John Brahm (THE LODGER) has had experience with the genre so he's able to build up a wonderful atmosphere and keep the film moving at a very fast pace. The biggest flaw with the picture is that it's pretty much HOUSE OF WAX but with a magician. The two film's are very close to one another as it's clear Columbia was trying to capture the success of that Warner film and didn't really come up with a fresh plot. With that said, Price certainly makes this film quite memorable and it ranks as one of the better horror pictures from this period.

Horror legend Vincent Price plays Don Gallico, inventor of stage magical illusions, but he wants to be a famous magician himself, Gallico the Great. However his employer and rival in love Ross Ormond, plus a magician The Great Rinaldi put a stop to his ambitions, Gallico's response is a series of elaborate murders and cover-ups using masks that he has made of his victims. Black and white mystery/horror that was filmed in 3-D, I watched this on TV in 2-D, it was still good fun to see objects being aimed at the audience. Price again gives a wonderful performance, as he always does, "They'll lock me in a jail in a padded cell with a straight jacket. No thank you, I'll take the chair!" The gorgeous Eva Gabor plays his ex-wife. The film is set in the 1880's and looks very nice, I wouldn't call this a classic but after having a bad day this did cheer up my evening.