Mandrake, le magicien

While not made with an over-powering budget by any standards and populated with the dime-store variety of plot devices, mediocre special effects, and bearable, workmanlike performers, the Columbia serial Mandrake the Magician has many fun, entertaining moments and is quite thrilling at times. Isn't that what a serial is suppose to be? Warren Hull plays the dapper Mandrake in top hat and tails and seemingly an expert in every field and every form of fisticuffs. With him is his faithful Lothar, a servant who like Mandrake can fight at will and ease under any circumstances. Of course when Lothar fights - the actor playing him Al Kikume is easily seen not to be fighting as the stunt double looks nothing like him. That is just one of a host of problems with the serial in terms of direction, production, and cinematic achievement. Routinely actors are poorly doubled. Fight scenes are nothing more in some instances than actors playing patty-cake with their fists. The identity of the serial villain - the Wasp - is clearly evident in the final three or four chapters. The leading lady - Doris Weston - is as bland as cottage cheese. When would the parade of henchmen end? And some of the storyline about "a machine invented by Professor Houston to benefit mankind"(you remember those catch phrases once you have heard it 12 different times at the beginning of each chapter)was utterly ridiculous with all that nonsense about shutting off/destroying public works so as to let the Wasp take over the world and the platinite(don't ask) needed to fuel it. But despite all these things, Mandrake the Magician is a lot of fun to watch, and I must confess that for at least the first 9 chapters I had to find out who the Wasp was as three of Mandrake's circle were framed so as to suggest each one. Each episode left with some great calamity, and this serial is definitely worth a peek.

"Mandrake, the Magician"(1939 - 214 minutes - 12 episodes), is one of the classics B&W cinema serials of Columbia, directed by Sam Nelson and Norman Deming. Based on the known Comics created by Lee Falk and Phill Davis in 1924 and written by Joseph F. Poland, Basil Dickey and Ned Dandy. Mandrake (the actor Warren Hull) is a sagacious detective who is traveling in a maritime cruise when he knows the professor Hudson (the actor Forbes Murray), the author of a machine that uses the energy of the radio waves. Developed for the good, the powerful device becomes a dangerous weapon when it falls in the hands of an evil genius known as "Wasp". Mandrake and his faithful assistant, Lothar (the actor Al Kikume), will fight Wasp and his gang, living an intensely battle between the good and the evil. The Mandrake's dress style with the black and red layer, ternary and top-hat, had immortalized the figure of the magician. The English word "Mandrake" is the name of a root that was always associated with magical powers and miraculous cures. Lothar was an African prince and one of the first black character treated in a serious way in Comic books, he was always considered as an intelligent and loyal ally. With original special effects for that time, the film deserves reverence to the great performance of Warren Hull, that gave life to one of the biggest icons of the Comic books of all times.

Mandrake, the Magician features a dashing, young hero who may not have any super-powers to speak of, but, being a magician (the worlds' best, of course) he does manage to foil the bad guys with a well-timed magic trick, or two. And if that happens to fail, Mandrake can certainly be counted on to throw a mean punch, sometimes heroically taking on up to five of The Wasp's ruthless henchmen all at one time.

Presented in 12 super-exciting chapters, this enjoyable, 1939 "Cliffhanger" has Mandrake and his loyal pals taking on The Wasp, a dastardly evil criminal, who will stop at nothing in order to get his greedy hands on Prof. Houston's amazing radium-energy machine.

For plenty of laughs and excitement, check out all of the B-Grade action!

If you have stumbled upon this title and think you will see the hero of your comic book youth brought to the screen you will be disappointed. Mandrake has been shoehorned into a stock serial plot that could have used any one of a dozen heroes from Batman to Dick Tracy. Once again, a wonder invention cooked up by a solitary recluse in his basement is stolen from a mostly unguarded private residence and now the world is threatened. The police and the FBI are apparently helpless so it falls upon Mandrake to set things right. Alas, this Mandrake is a pale imitation of the comic wizard. The hypnotically gesturing magus of the comics has become a stage magician, doing card tricks on an ocean liner. Instead of confusing his enemies with black magic, he slugs it out with his fists, implausibly whipping two or three thugs at once, all without displacing his top hat.

This is not to say the serial isn't entertaining. But most will likely view it as a 70 year old curiosity rather than the exciting thriller it was meant to be. Whether you want to invest almost 4 hours of your life watching it is the question. Incidentally, the title music would later be reused in the Columbia serial "The Vigilante, Fighting Hero of the West" in a somewhat re-orchestrated form. The story, of course, would be recycled again and again.

This serial does not hold up well in the 21st century. However, Mandrake and Lothar make up for the silly villain, The Wasp (he is more of a pest than a villain). This combination may have been responsible for the development of the Marvel character, Dr. Strange. However, in this film, we are only given conventional Hollywood devices to work with. A cruise ship, a series of crimes, and the inevitable solution by the hero. All rather predictable and dated stuff, but still fun.