Cagliostro

During his lifetime Orson Welles appeared in many films of other directors to earn money to finance his own projects. Some of those films were horrible, some contained some of his best performances. I always have felt his best performance in a non-Welles film is in Compulsion. Many would hold out for The Third Man. But I think some would say that his portrayal of Cagliostro the great mountebank of the 18th century would get a few votes.

The opening scene and dialog with Berry Kroeger and Raymond Burr as Alessandro Dumas Senior and Junior is an interesting well acted scene. Kroeger has set out to write a novel based on Cagliostro, but he cannot get a handle on the character. A common complaint with authors trying to reach a goal.

The real Cagliostro's character would probably rate a mini-series. This guy was some piece of work. The affair of the diamond necklace as portrayed here was only one chapter in Cagliostro's life. Failing as the senior Dumas said he was doing he wrote a novel with some plot elements from previous work like The Three Musketeers and The Man In The Iron Mask.

As a child Joseph Balsamo aka Cagliostro saw his gypsy mother executed for practicing black arts by Stephen Bekassy the local prefect, a skill which he inherited. His natural abilities as a hypnotist were developed with study under Dr. Mesmer played here by Charles Goldner. But like characters in stories involving superheroes Orson Welles as the grown up Balsamo now stylizing himself as Cagliostro is ready to make a name for himself.

Bekassy has also risen in power and influence and he's got some intrigue going. Welles whom he does not recognize is part of his plan, but Orson has some plans of his own.

Part of those plans involve Nancy Guild who plays the dual role of a girl from out of town and the Queen of France herself Marie Antoinette. Guild does equally well as the girl in love with soldier Frank Latimore the nominal hero of the film. As Marie Antoinette she's not as noble as Norma Shearer in the same part, but no doubt she's royal personage used to royal prerogatives. I do love the scene where Guild gives Madame DuBarry played by Margot Grahame the old fashioned heave ho.

The real Cagliostro died in 1795 surviving the King and Queen of France and he left the mortal coil in Rome. But Black Magic is the kind of film that makes you wish what happens here is true. Orson Welles has so many emotions working at once in the title role, greed, revenge, lust and a spark of a little boy whose mother was taken from him. Note also good performances by Akim Tamiroff and Valentina Cortese as the gypsy confederates of Cagliostro. Cortese is carrying one big old freedom torch for Welles, but he's no time for her, eyes on the prize as it were the prize being the power behind the throne of France.

Quite a few people will see Black Magic as Orson Welles's best performance in a non-Orson Welles film.

An excellent adaptation of a rather obscure (even in France) novel by Dumas who appears 'in the flesh" in the first -and a bit pointless- scene.But all that remains is quite absorbing and there's never dull moment.

The beginning displays an unusual cruelty ;the hangmen are about to scratch the boy's eyes out :in the distance ,we can see the gallows,where his parents have just been hanged .Orson Welles is absolutely stunning in his portrayal of a disturbing dreadful mysterious person,who could mesmerize (no pun intended) the crowds who stood in awe of this French Rasputin (too bad Welles never portrayed the Russian monk).

Taking with French history the largest liberties ,to put it mildly , the screenplay mixes fictionalized events with some real ones :yes,the king would play the occasional clock-maker ,a footnote of history;yes, Marie-Antoinette could not stand La Du Barry and she had her sent to a convent for two years after Louis The Fifteenth 's death;actually the affair of the necklace occurred about ten years after in 1785. Dumas replaced the Dramatis Personae by his own characters: thus Lorenza unintentionally plays the role of Madame De La Motte ,of evil memory,and the Viscount of Montaigne that of The Cardinal De Rohan ,a naive man who wanted to attract the queen's attention .On the other hand,Cagliostro did take part in the greatest French swindle of the eighteenth century (the queen was totally innocent,in spite of the liars Madame De La Motte would write ,in her obnoxious memoirs ).Cagliostro ,nevertheless,did not die after the trial but about ten years later (apoplexy):he got a life sentence,after being tried for heresy by the papal court .

The love affair is almost devoid of interest ,but it's Welles that counts and he delivers the goods: the scene of the would be sick people in the palace of Versailles ,or Cagliostro digging up Lorenza ( a Poesque scene) can still grab today's audience.

I saw this movie as a boy and it lingers after nearly fifty years as a haunting memory. It may be what we now call noir, but the twinkle in Welles' eye also lingers, suggesting a gris texture. That twinkle is the same that Harry Lime (cine verde?) flashed to Holly Martin in the alley scene of The Third Man (which was also made in Europe in 1949).

Cagliostro was a brilliant montebank, alchemist,poseur and rascal of the first order. Welles gave him credibility, perhaps recognizing a kindred spirit down the centuries. I still remember the dark, cobbled streets and slick rainy roof tops of eighteenth century European cities -- scenes also not unlike the ones in The Third Man. The ending, I remember, was also bitter sweet.

I wish that those who produce lesser know classics for DVD restoration might see this "foreign" movie; it is obviously available somewhere since there have been other reviewers. If they chose it I could have my childhood Madeleine experience, and others would have another Welles film to compare with the finite now available.

Not having readt the story by Dumas,I really don't feel qualified to comment as to this film's fidelity to the original work.However,it has very little,if anything,to do with the actual history.till,it's a superb example of a cross between swashbuckling and film noir. Has anybody ever commented on the fact that,when Orson Welles did historical or Shakespearean figures,he was really telling so much about himself.Noble,talented,gifted people,whose grandiose designs were brought low by their own tragic flaws.And how good looking he was.If he hadn't doubled his girth in later years,he could have played leading men similar to those of Walter Pidgeon.

HISTORICAL NOTE:The real Cagliostro was exiled from France in 1789,following the business about the diamond necklace.He then moved to Rome,where he established a Masonic Lodge.Now,in Europe,the Masons are NOT viewed as a men's fraternal organization,as in the U.S.A.,but,rather,as a hot bed of treason,treachery,and heresy.Consequently,he was arrested,and sentenced to be executed.The Pope commuted the sentence to life imprisonment,and he spent the rest of his life in prison.

MORAL:We really don't need anyone else to foul up our lives,now,do we?We happen to do a great job on our own.

Orson Welles is mesmerizing and perfectly suited to the roll of Count Cagliostro. The Count has waited silently for over 20 years secretly planning revenge on the ruling class he holds responsible for the drunken public execution of his mother he witnessed as a boy.

Is Cagliostro an ambitious Gypsy charlatan or a demonic master of the black arts? Is he really a Count?

There are several entertaining scenes where Cagliostro gains the upper hand over odds stacked against him such as the "choking rope" switcheroo in the jail, and the "your legs are like wax" turnabout. Yet similarly to SVENGALI (John Barrymore) he will not be able to exert this will power forever over everyone.Welles seems to be thoroughly enjoying himself throughout.

BLACK MAGIC has threads in common with "The Prisoner in the Mirror" Boris Karloff presents THRILLER teleplay, an updating of the evil magician known as Cagliostro. The real mystery is why such an enjoyable movie starring Orson Welles was so long overlooked, not released on DVD until 2016 (unfortunately the source print used by Hen's Teeth is not nearly as clear as the sharp print TCM aired in January 2017).

Though considered by some as a costume melodrama with little more than Welles and the art direction going for it, ever since I watched a primitively colorized print of BLACK MAGIC (aired on a local San Francisco station KOFY-TV20 around 1990) it's been my favorite off- beat Welles movie, always a fun find to share with friends who hadn't seen it!