Cagliostro

I just watched the video of BLACK MAGIC again tonight and was once again impressed with it. Orson Welles turns in one of his finest performances. I was also impressed by the quality of the production considering it wasn't a Hollywood studio production (although it was released by United Artists). Elaborate costumes and sets and tons of extras. Interesting plot and photography. It has a nice film noir look to it. But the best part of BLACK MAGIC is Welles.

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.

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.

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!

Black Magic is an unjustly neglected 1949 Orson Welles film, based on Alexandre Dumas's novel Joseph Balsamo, a fictionalized version of the life of the occultist better known as Cagliostro, set mostly against the background of the days just before the French Revolution. The film is entertaining and well done, though it's a pity that it's in black and white, since the meticulously recreated ancien regime sets and costumes would have looked much more impressive in color. Welles reportedly said that he had more fun making this film than any other, and it's easy to see why, since the melodramatic script gives ample room for over-the-top histrionics, which only an actor of Welles's talent could put over convincingly. It's interesting that Welles here again plays an eccentric genius whose early success was soon undermined by his own flaws -- in other words, a character whose career is intriguingly parallel to his own. I think most people will find the film entertaining, and real Welles fans should consider it a must-see.

The Hen's Tooth Video DVD seems to be the only Region 1 DVD currently available, and it's of adequate sound and image quality, though from a rather poor original print. The film is certainly important enough to deserve a redigitized version with booklet and special features, if possible from a better print, but lacking that, the Hen's Tooth Video version is watchable.