Chandu le magicien

I have to agree with other reviewers on this film: Bela Lugosi steals the show. He's good a usual in this underrated fantasy film.

The sets and costuming are lavish, elegant and beautiful eye candy. Loved the Egyptian setting. The special effects are great for it's time era.

The story is good, it has quite a bit of romance and comedy in it. The film does have some action and it's fun adventure to watch. It's simply a worthwhile film classic to view.

Simply worded: If you like film surrounding magic, mysticism, fantasy, Egyptian-themes, and/or Bela Lugosi then I'm sure you will enjoy Chandu the Magician.

7.5/10

Sixty or more years ago, I saw this movie in Tehran, Iran. I was about ten at that time and there was a huge poster of the movie in the bicycle shop where I took my bike for repairs. The whole poster was the face of Chandu the Magician with his hands and opened fingers in front of him. I was mesmerized by the supernatural powers of that magician, who could make the audience see things that were not there. It was the first movie I fell in love with, but they didn't show the sequels which I now see on this website had been produced. I was waiting in such earnest to see more of my favorite hero. They were innocent times....

If you like old-fashioned cliffhanger thrills, you'll enjoy CHANDU THE MAGICIAN. It has everything you could want in a serial adventure- a dashing hero, a megalomaniacal villain, an exotic setting, and a series of hair-raising perils that keeps the scenario rolling until the end. CHANDU's plot which concerns the title character's supernatural efforts to prevent the fiendish Roxor from taking over the world is trite and simplistic. However, the story's very triteness and simplicity is part of CHANDU's corny charm.

CHANDU boasts dazzling set design and fluid cinematography that create a fascinating, mysterious Egyptian milieu with majestic temple sets and an atmospheric desert locale. CHANDU's sense of adventure and mystique is further enhanced by special effects illustrating the powers of both Chandu and a death ray Roxor plans to employ in his world-domination plot. Even by today's Industrial Light and Magic standards, these effects look impressive.

Edmund Lowe is acceptable in the title role of Chandu but Bela Lugosi in the role of Roxor steals the film. Lugosi tackles his part with a demonic zeal, displaying odious glee over his scheme in both his facial expressions and line deliveries. There is little restraint or subtlety in his performance, but Lugosi projects such persuasive charisma that one can forgive his indulgences. Overall, CHANDU is no classic, but it's fun escapist entertainment.

Based upon the radio show of the same name this film is the story of Chandu,, real name Frank Chandler, a white man taught the secrets of the yogis. Chandler has been set loose to save his family who has been put into peril by the evil Roxor, played by Bela Lugosi (who not long after would play Chandu himself in a movie serial).

Containing more action than most serials this is a true popcorn movie that moves pretty much from start to finish. There are dangers aplenty as Chandu struggles to save the world.

The film is near perfect, but suffers from a couple of small flaws. The first is the over use of the small man that Biggles sees each time he drinks. Chandu enchants Biggles to prevent him from drinking and its used a couple of time too many. The second is that toward the end the effects look weak. The underwater sequence is terrible, and the use of rear screen as people flee the temple is awful.

Still this is a movie to sit down with a big bucket of popcorn and enjoy.

9 out of 10.

Leave your brain at the door, because Chandu the Magician (utilizing his Powers from the Mysterious East) is about to enchant you into believing that trash is pure gold!

This pre-code potboiler from Fox Films introduces Edmund Lowe as Chandu the Magician, an American who has learned almost supernatural powers from the Yogi of the East. He can control men's minds, he possesses powerful protective powers of divination, he can walk on fire or astrally project or perform any number of other miraculous feats.

For reasons that defy logic, Chandu's brother(?) Robert, a Scientist, has been working on developing a Death Ray which can take out an entire city. Just as Robert has finally perfected this project, the evil Roxor (the fabulous Bela Lugosi as "That Monster in Human Form") and his Arabic henchmen kidnap Robert in an attempt to wrest the Secret of the Death Ray from its creator.

In the meantime, Chandu has fallen in with the beautiful Egyptian Princess Nadji, with whom he has been in love for 3 years... Princess Nadji is also in love with Chandu, but has been sacrificing herself Most Nobly for her People. Will these unusual interracial lovers find happiness at last? (Since miscegenation was illegal in many parts of the U.S. during this period in history, this is actually a genuine question!)

Of course, Princess Nadji falls into the clutches of the evil Roxor, and a great deal of deranged soliloquizing follows in the villain's Super-Scientific Laboratory (filled with the requisite Bride of Frankenstein-like crackling electrical apparatus). Will Robert have the strength to keep his Secret of the Death Ray before Roxor has tortured or destroyed all of his loved ones? Will Chandu be able to find Roxor's secret lair in time to Save the World and rescue Robert and the Princess?

In the directorial hands of Marcel Varnel and the brilliant William Cameron Menzies, this unpromising material becomes a stylish-looking, stunningly photographed and beautifully paced bonbon of pulp-y goodness.

If you are in the mood for a campy, beautifully designed, fast-moving melodramatic kiddie-matinée "thriller", I highly recommend this movie. Yummy, stupid, enchanting... and surprisingly progressive about miscegenation for a 1930's film that otherwise wallows in racial stereotypes!