THE MAD MAGICIAN [1954 / 2020] [Limited Edition] [3-D Blu-ray + 2D Blu-ray] [UK Release] Outstanding! Astonishing! Amazing! 3-D Thrills!
Made shortly after the box-office success of ‘House of Wax,’ ‘THE MAD MAGICIAN’ returns Vincent Price to the world of three-dimensional horror. Vincent Price plays Don Gallico, the creator of elaborate illusions for stage magicians, who seeks their fame… and will turn to murder to achieve it!
Directed by John Brahm [‘The Undying Monster’], ‘THE MAD MAGICIAN’ is presented in three-dimensions and 2D, and is accompanied by a pair of 3-D comedy shorts by The Three Stooges.
UK premiere on Blu-ray. Limited edition of 3,000 copies
FILM FACT: ‘THE MAD MAGICIAN’ was produced and distributed by Columbia Pictures, with the release in 3-D to build on the craze started by films such as ‘House of Wax’ [1953], which also starred Vincent Price. Dennis Schwartz from Ozus’ World Movie Reviews awarded the film a grade B, writing “It was cheesy fun with a delightfully villainous Vincent Price, but the whole act was too tawdry and incredible to be swallowed whole and the melodramatic plot points were too contrived and the demented scenario too hokey. On his website Fantastic Movie Musings and Ramblings, Dave Sindelar gave the film a negative review. Dave Sindelar stated that the film felt cobbled together, and lacked the mood and ambiance of its predecessor. TV Guide gave the film 2/5 stars, calling it “vastly inferior 3-D rip-off” of Vincent Price's surprisingly successful 3-D shocker ‘HOUSE OF WAX.’ Jay Seaver from eFilmCritic awarded the film an average rating of 3/5 stars, calling its scenario “straight-facedly silly,” but stated that it was still entertaining even though it was inferior to its predecessor.
Cast: Vincent Price, Mary Murphy, Eva Gabor, John Emery, Donald Randolph, Lenita Lane, Patrick O'Neal, Jay Novello, Corey Allen (uncredited), Conrad Brooks (uncredited), Roy Damron (uncredited), George Eldredge (uncredited), Roy Engel (uncredited), Al Haskell (uncredited), Pete Kellett (uncredited), Jack Kenney (uncredited), Charles Perry (uncredited), Murray Pollack (uncredited), Tom Powers (uncredited), Fred Rapport (uncredited), Keith Richards (uncredited), Sammy Shack (uncredited), Lyle Talbot (uncredited), Roland Varno (uncredited) and Robert B. Williams (uncredited)
Director: John Brahm
Producer: Bryan Foy
Screenplay: Crane Wilbur (story/screenplay)
Composer: Arthur Lange and Emil Newman
Costumes: Robert Martien (wardrobe)
Magical Effects: Bob Haskell
Special Effects: David Koehler
Cinematography: Bert Glennon (Director of Photography)
Image Resolution: 1080p (Black-and-White)
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audio: English: 1.0 DTS-HD Master Audio Mono
English: 2.0 Dolby Digital Stereo Audio
Subtitles: English
Running Time: 72 minutes
Region: All Regions
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Columbia Pictures / Powerhouse Films / INDICATOR
Andrew’s Blu-ray Review: ‘THE MAD MAGICIAN’ [1954] where find Don Gallico [Vincent Price] designs elaborate magical illusions, which are then passed on by his employer Ross Ormond [Donald Randolph] to various magicians, the main beneficiary being Ross Ormond business partner The Great Rinaldi [John Emery].
As well as designing the illusions, Don Gallico is also a master of disguise, creating amazing face masks. These of course come to be used for nefarious means later down the line.
Upon wanting to start his own career as a magician under the name “Gallico the Great,” so Don Gallico’s dreams are shattered when Ross Ormond informs Don Gallico that due to an exclusive contract that was signed a long time ago, Mr. Ross Ormond owns the rights to everything that Don Gallico creates.
So Don Gallico is extremely angry and who can make dangerous illusions and realistic face masks, sets out on a journey of revenge against all involved.
‘THE MAD MAGICIAN’ features a great performance by the actor Vincent Price, who dials back a few notches from his sometimes over the top acting style. Vincent Price’s screen presence however is just as magnetic, and despite knowing where the narrative will end, he draws you into it with each line of his perfectly enunciated lines of dialogue.
Some of the inevitable deaths, while not overly gratuitous in what they show, are still quite shocking for what they imply. All accompanied by an ever more manic Don Gallico who finds himself in a situation that is spiralling out of his control.
The film is never dull, always very entertaining, this also has the added bonus of having the 3-D version included too. So if you want to really immerse yourself into its world, and then prepare for Don Gallico to be in yet another dimension.
There are some occasionally effective twists – like where Vincent Price leaves a bag containing a severed head in a carriage and the bags get mixed up. There is an entertainingly nasty scene early on where Price beheads one victim with a buzz saw and a good climax with a victim about to be fed into a furnace. Director John Brahm also borrows a trick he used in ‘Hangover Square’ of the killer disposing of a body in a public bonfire. The magic tricks that open the film are reasonably good 3-D gimmicks. The melodramatic plot moments add up to a worthy film and for the Grand Don Guignol 3-D extravaganza film.
On top of all that, Vincent Price hams it up endearingly as a deranged illusionist who kills the rival who stole his outrageous tricks, and then assumes his identity. Wonderfully over-the-top nonsense, with Price badly dubbed each time he's in disguise, and featuring the “buzz saw trick that isn't” and the marvellous stage “crematorium.” Like the film ‘House of Wax,’ it was originally shot in 3-D, which explains some of the weirder effects.
Despite ‘THE MAD MAGICIAN’ only having a 72 minute running time ‘THE MAD MAGICIAN’ packs in a lot into it, each scene revelling in its own absurdity as yet another person has to succumb to the crazed doings of the titular mad magician. Vincent Price is fun to watch, as ever. Because he doesn’t rave, roll his eyes or exaggerate his speeches, fans are going to consider his playing here subdued. Eva Gabor as Clair Ormon is gorgeous and cruel, but the character isn’t given enough attention to make that much of an effect.
‘THE MAD MAGICIAN’ is a well-judged but fairly low-budget thriller, with few surprises but plenty of interesting moments. The sensitive direction of John Brahm makes the most of a lively group of actors, but is a little light when dealing with violent scenes. Director Brahm was always good with actors; the performances John Brahm directs are usually well above par. So folks, be very afraid!
THE MAD MAGICIAN MUSIC TRACK LIST
Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay (uncredited) [Music by Henry J. Sayers]
Sobre las Olas (uncredited) [Music by Juventino Rosas]
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Blu-ray Image Quality – Columbia Pictures, Powerhouse Films and INDICATOR presents us the film ‘THE MAD MAGICIAN’ with a wonderful Black-and-White 1080p image and is of course in the 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The release is sourced from an existing 2K master that was supplied by Sony Pictures. It features a standard 2D presentation of the film as well as a 3-D presentation of the film which is totally amazing and very effective. Even though there are some obvious limitations, but despite this I really liked the technical presentation quite a lot. For example, the grain exposure does not have the smooth consistency and evenness that a new 4K master would have delivered, but delineation and depth are still quite nice. The darker footage where more subtle nuances usually become problematic on older masters also looks good. There are no traces of problematic digital work. The grading job is convincing. Perhaps there are a few areas where the blacks could have been managed a bit better to preserve more shadow nuances, but I don't see a problem with the current appearance of the visuals. Image stability is excellent. Density could be better, but even on a very large screen the film still has solid organic appearance.
Blu-ray Audio Quality – Columbia Pictures, Powerhouse Films and INDICATOR brings us the film ‘THE MAD MAGICIAN’ with just one standard 1.0 DTS-HD Master Audio Mono experience and is very healthy and has also been remastered and sounds far better than you might expect for a film of this age, with clear reproduction of dialogue, effects and music and no hissy trebles resulting from the inevitable but not punishing range restrictions. We also get to hear good clarity, sharpness, and depth were all as good as I expected them to be. Balance was excellent as well. I had the volume turned up quite a bit and did not detect any weaknesses in the upper register, such as distortions or hiss. Despite this, I still enjoyed the audio presentation.
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Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:
Special Feature: 3-D Audio Commentary with Jonathan Rigby and Kevin Lyons [Audio only] [2020] [1080p] [1.85:1] [72:48] With this featurette, we get to hear their personal audio commentary with film historians Kevin Lyons and Jonathan Rigby and we hear them say, “Welcome to the INDICATOR audio commentary for the film ‘THE MAD MAGICIAN’ and my name is Jonathan Rigby and the author of “American Gothic: Six Decades of Classic Horror Cinema” by Signum Books in 2017, as well as seven other novels, and then says, “I am delighted to have sitting next to me this afternoon Kevin Lyons who informs us that he edits the “Encyclopaedia of Fantastic Films and Television” website. They both talk about the previous 3-D film ‘House of Wax’ that of course starred Vincent price. They mention the credit for the Magical Effects by Bob Haskell and they talk about the mechanics of some of the magic tricks that are seen in the film as well as the 3-D visuals. They also mentions that we get to hear a bit of “Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay” which is the famous music hall number of 1781 and we don’t hear it again until the 1965 horror film ‘Study in Terror.’ They also talk about the scene where they are rehearsing on the stage and we first see the legendary actor Vincent Price as Don Gallico who they think is totally marvellous as a big new movie star who again appeared in the 3-D film ‘House of Wax.’ They now talk about our starlet Karen Lee “The One With The Legs” who was of course the actress Mary Murphy. They now talk in-depth about the film ‘THE MAD MAGICIAN,’ that was shot on the 14th September, 1953 to 8th October, 1953 on the Samuel Goldwyn lot and it was released in Los Angeles in 1954 and had a Premiere on the 19th May, 1954 and it was shown at the London Pavilion Cinema in July 1954, and was followed up with the UK general release. They both talk about the screenwriter Crane Wilbur for the film ‘THE MAD MAGIVIAN’ who was a screenplay veteran. Now we get to the first view of Don Gallico bizarre “Buzz Saw” contraption, and inform us that Otto Röhm made it and was actual a metal worker who would supply high quality props for magical acts and was a pioneer of “Plexiglass” in 1933 and Otto Röhm worked in collaboration with Bob Haskall. They now both talk about that character Don Gallico played by Vincent Price who is portraying an injured partner like in the 3-D film ‘House of Wax,’ who eventually became part of the Vincent Price horror film franchise which included ‘Tower of London’ [1939], ‘The Invisible Man Returns’ [1940], ‘Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein’ [1948], ‘The Fly’ [1958], ‘House on Haunted Hill’ [1959], ‘The Tingler’ [1959], ‘The Bat’ [1959], ‘House of Usher’ [1960], ‘The Pit and the Pendulum’ [1961] and 24 other horror films. They both now get back to the topic of the “Buzz Saw” contraption and they mention that we do not see any grizzly scenes with the “Buzz Saw” only a close up of Vincent Price’s face when the horror scene happens. Next we get to see the actress Mary Murphy visiting Vincent Price in in his workshop, and talk about the actress Mary Murphy who was not very well known, but did appear in quite a few films and TV series and mentions ‘The Lemon Drop Kid’ [1951], ‘Carrie’ [1952], ‘Houdini’ [1953], ‘The Wild One’ [1953], ‘Sitting Bull’ [1954], ‘Crime and Punishment U.S.A.’ [1959], ‘Harlow’ [1965] and her last film appearance was in ‘Born Innocent’ [1974] and sadly passed away on the 4th May, 2011. Now they talk about a bit of comic relief with the Hungarian actress Eve Gabor, and they mention a number of credits to her film roles, and they mention films like ‘Paris Model’ [1953], ‘Captain Kidd and the Slave Girl’ [1954], ‘My Man Godfrey’ [1957], ‘Gigi’ [1958], ‘You Can't Take It with You’ [1990], but also appeared in the American CBS TV series “Green Acres.” They now both talk about the director John Brahm who was Germany and was born in Hamburg in 1893 and started his career as an actor and tread the boards in Vienna, Berlin and Paris, before taking up stage directing, and was forced to flee Germany in the mid 1930’s when the Nazi Party came to power and found himself in London and that is when he started to direct films, and his first film was ‘Broken Blossom’ [1936]. They also feel director John Brajm did a magnificent job with the film ‘THE MAD MAGICIAN’ and was helped a lot by his cinematographer Bert Glennon who actual got three Oscar® nominations under his belt before he was involved with ‘THE MAD MAGICIAN.’ They both now talk about the upsurge in the popularity of 3-D films in its heyday of the 1950’s period, especially over a couple of year period, and feels that they had a three boom period with 3-D and trying to get it excepted in the main stream cinemas, because Hollywood was really concerned about the popularity of television, and of course publicised that you cannot watch 3-D films on your television, and of course for a short period people started to flock to the cinema in droves to view 3-D films. When we get to chapter 10 and the climax of the film, where the two of them sat it is utterly insane and total madness when the Ms. Karen Lee's boyfriend, police detective Lt. Alan Bruce [Patrick O'Neal] is strapped to the metal plate that will take him unto the “Crematorium” contraption and be engulfed with the raging flames and they also comment about the two women heroines who come to the rescue of police detective Lt. Alan Bruce, because of Vincent Price character has gone berserk and total madness and the build-up is quite intense, and it is all done in a very clever way with the intense build up to the climax of the film, as this is what punters wanted in a 3-D film, and the two commentators then think it is a gruesome end to the character of Vincent Price when he is engulfed in the “Crematorium” contraptions fire inferno, and they feel Vincent Price was hoisted by his own petard and got his comeuppance, and it is pretty nasty stuff. Both commentators clearly enjoyed the film but are not remotely precious about it and are happy to pick holes in the elements that they believe don't stand up to scrutiny, their favourite being the whole plot strand involving Don Gallico's disguises and the very idea that anyone could be fooled by his impersonation of Ross Ormond. I get where they're coming from, but I do think they're being unnecessarily harsh on a film whose make-up effects budget could likely only stretch so far – such criticism comes from a similar place that mocks all older horror movies because their gore effects are not photorealistic by modern standards. Kevin Lyons and Jonathan Rigby offers up plenty of personal anecdotes about meeting various cast members as well as tons of production history information and the film's place in the short-lived 3-D craze of the early 1950’s. As we come to the end of the film, Jonathan Rigby and Kevin Lyons feels it is a suitable end to the film and thanks us for listening to their audio commentary. This audio commentary is good to listen to if you are a fan of the film ‘THE MAD MAGICIAN’ and especially in the brilliant 3-D version.
Special Feature: Three-Dimensional Magic [2020] [1080p] [1.85:1 / 1.78:1] [15:02] With this featurette, we get to view an appreciation of the film ‘THE MAD MAGICIAN’ and the 3-D filmmaking boom of the 1950’s by cinematographer Frank Passingham [‘Kubo and the Two Strings’] and archivist Tom Vincent, and is presented in 3-D and 2D, and at the start of this featurette, I viewed it in 3-D, and we first start off with a clip from the film ‘THE MAD MAGICIAN,’ then we get to meet first Tom Vincent [Archivist] and with him in 3-D puts his hands towards the 3-D camera where you get a really brilliant 3-D effect, and talks about the 1954 film, which at the time was a very exciting time in Hollywood with the 3-D craze, and started churning out loads of 3-D films, and feels ‘THE MAD MAGICIAN’ was trying to cash in on the 3-D craze, and of course around the same period in time they brought out in 3-D film ‘House of Wax’ which also starred Vincent Price. Next up is Frank Passingham [Cinematographer] and explains that Television was at its height in popularity in America in the 1950’s era, so they started bringing out 3-D films to entice audiences back into the cinema, so they felt this 3-D process was fresh and something totally unique that would not see on your TV, and to emphasise this, we get clips from the black-and-white 3-D film ‘THE MAD MAGICIAN,’ and 3-D films were was at the dawn of cinema, but these early 3-D films were only experimental, which of course was all started with the pioneer William Friese-Greene [1855 – 1921] who was a prolific English inventor and professional photographer and claimed to have made an experiment in stereoscopic cinematography in October 1889, using a camera built by Frederick Henry Varley, and filming in Hyde Park, London. Frederick Henry Varley patented the camera on 26 March, 1890. But then came the problem of how do you project a 3-D film as non were available at the time, then in 1915 they invented the first 3-D projector, but you had to use the red and green cardboard anaglyph glasses to view the film in 3-D, so from then on they did lots of experimental 3-D films and it took a few years later when they produced actual proper 3-D films via the Lumière Company and their first 3-D film was entitled ‘Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat’ [1895] and was silent short 3-D film that runs 50 seconds and depicts a train pulling into a train station in the French coastal town of La Ciotat which we see a clip of it and was produced by the Lumière Brothers. Then in 1938 a 3-D film was brought out in “The New AUDIOSCOPIKS and is a Pete Smith short that deals with the newly-created 3-D process, where you have specially designed glasses required to view the movie in 3-D are made to be held in the right hand over the eyes (with the red lens of the glasses covering the right eye), leaving the left hand free to reach out to try and grab the images seemingly coming out of the screen. But the watershed moment for 3-D films was in 1951 during the Festival of Britain and a 3-D event was held in a specially built Transport Pavilion in the South Bank Exhibition in London and happened in the special 3-D Telekinema cinema on the 11th May, 1951 where the Cinema-goers wore special 3-D glasses, to watch a special 3-D “stereoscopic” short film and was very influential and of course not only for Great Britain but of course was bound for Hollywood, and the executives from America came over to Great Britain and was very impressed in what they viewed, and the first 3-D Hollywood film was the 1952 3-D film was ‘Bwana Devil’ in thrilling color, and was a massive box office hit, so of course this is when they started to roll out a steam of 3-D films and got on the band wagon of making money and then the next big 3-D film was the ‘House of Wax,’ and more short 3-D films were released, but also cartoons were released in 3-D, then there was two 1953 3-D films were released and they were ‘Pardon My Backfire’ by Paramount Pictures and was a short subject directed by Jules White starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges (Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Shemp Howard). Then the other The Three Stooges 3-D film was ‘SPOOKS!’ and again it was a short subject directed by Jules White where The Three Stooges are private detectives that are hired to track down a kidnapped girl name Mary Bopper [Norma Randall], daughter of George B. Bopper [Frank Mitchell]. Then Bryan Foy [1896 – 1977] was a American film producer and director, knew there was a golden opportunity to bring out 3-D films and released the 3-D film ‘THE MAD MAGICIAN.’ So how did the audiences react to this new way of viewing a film in 3-D and at first the public was very enthusiastic, because it was something completely new to them, but behind the scene there were technical nightmares and had to have two projectors that had to be interlocked and 100% synchronised and of course if something went wrong with one of the projectors, they were in very serious trouble, but also they had to have an intermission to change the reels, also there was a thing called “alignment” so that you get a perfect 3-D image and if you did not do this, the audiences would get a nasty headache. When they showed the 3-D film ‘THE MAD MAGICIAN’ to the trade press in March 1954, they got quite positive reviews, and especially mentioning the actor Vincent Price and of course the 3-D film, which was released at the end of the 3-D craze and probably the last ever 3-D film to be released. Although they did release the 3-D film ‘Creature of the Black Lagoon’ in 1954 and they released the sequel 3-D film ‘Revenge of the Creature’ in 1955 and sadly the golden age of 3-D films was over. But of course coming in place of 3-D films was Widescreen films in CinemaScope and Vista Vision, then in 1952 was the World Premiere of ‘This is CINERAMA’ in glorious Technicolor and was premiered on the 30th September, 1952, at the Broadway Theatre in New York City and was a massive sensation and they felt the three projection set up was their prayer for this system to overtake the 3-D system. But with the CinemaScope process, they promoted it as “The First Motion Picture in CinemaScope – The Modern Miracle You See Without Glasses!” In The UK, the studio were not very enthusiastic about the 3-D process and in 1953 Michael Balcon [English film producer] from the Ealing Studios went to Hollywood to checkout this 3-D phenomenon and when he came back to the UK, Michael Balcon decided that 3-D films were not for the future, but despite the fact that Ealing Studios were actually doing 3-D test films and so of course this was finally stopped. But when 3-D films were at the height of their success, but the one actor who embraced this 3-D technology was the actor Vincent Price and he appeared in four 3-D films, which of course was ‘THE MAD MAGICIAN,’ ‘House of Wax,’ ‘Dangerous Mission’ and ‘Son of Sinbad’ in SuperScope, which was filmed in 1953, but was help back and was finally released in 1955, and was only shown in the 2D version. But of course when 3-D films started coming out, there of course was a massive explosion of 3-D films, but sadly it all ended in a very sad whimper. But when Super 8 came out, 3-D films were released in that format and you had to view the cut down 3-D film with the red and green 3-D cardboard anaglyptic glasses and these cut down 3-D films lasted about 20 minutes and sadly they were not very successful, especially having to view these cut down 3-D films in the ghastly red and green 3-D cardboard anaglyptic glasses. But with the new restorations of these old 3-D films and especially with the 3-D Blu-ray releases have become very popular again and in a new experience of what audiences in the 1950’s experienced, and for me personally and the presenter Tom Vincent of this featurette, is also very pleased that these old 3-D films have finally got a new lease of life for our modern audiences, and at that point of this brilliant 3-D featurette finishes, but for me, the only negative person with this featurette I did not really like, who was also totally useless and that was the cinematographer Frank Passingham, whereas presenter Tom Vincent of this featurette was totally brilliant and so informative and because of Tom Vincent being very informative and very intelligent, and so I cannot recommend this featurette very much, but it must viewed it in 3-D.
Special Feature: ‘THE MAD MAGICIAN’ Super 8 Version #1 [1954] [480i] [1.37:1] [8:34] With this featurette, we are informed that before the popularity of home video formats, cut-down Super 8 versions of feature films were distributed for audiences to view selected scenes in the comfort of their own home. The following presentation of ‘THE MAD MAGICIAN’ is silent and includes white subtitles to help the viewer keep pace with events on the screen. To enjoy the 3-D viewing experience, a pair of anaglyph red and green glasses is required. Unfortunately, the quality of the image presentation is absolutely atrocious. Please Note: you have the choice of watching ‘THE MAD MAGICIAN’ in either 3-D or 2D.
Special Feature: ‘THE MAD MAGICIAN’ Super 8 Version #2 [1954] [480i] [1.37:1] [16:22] With this featurette, we are informed that before the popularity of home video formats, cut-down Super 8 versions of feature films were distributed for audiences to view selected scenes in the comfort of their own home. The following presentation of ‘THE MAD MAGICIAN,’ this time with sound, but they have had to reduce the film’s running time to a fifth of its original running time. To enjoy the 3-D viewing experience, a pair of anaglyph red and green glasses is required. Unfortunately, the quality of the image presentation is absolutely atrocious. Please Note: You have the choice of watching ‘THE MAD MAGICIAN’ in either 3-D or 2D.
Special Feature: Original Theatrical Trailer [1954] [1080p] [1.78:1] [2:09] With this featurette, we get to view the Original Theatrical Trailer for the film ‘THE MAD MAGICIAN,’ where they inform us “Hoax… or Horror? Magic… or Murder!!!” asks and exclaims the opening caption of a trailer that makes great play of the lethal nature of the buzz-saw trick (it even features a buzz-saw shaped wipe transition). It also describes Vincent Price as “that House of Wax man,” and is not embarrassed about simply splashing the word “Weird!” across the screen to describe his character. Unfortunately, the Original Theatrical Trailer is only shown in 2D.
Special Feature: Image Gallery: With this featurette, we get to view 33 black-and-white 1080p wonderful images of production stills, extraordinary and wonderful hand drawn sketches that are totally brilliant and International film posters relating to the 1954 film ‘THE MAD MAGICIAN.’
Special Feature: ‘SPOOKS!’ [1953] [1080p] [1.78:1] [15:47] With this featurette, we get to view a short film directed by Jules White starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges, which are Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Shemp Howard. PLOT: The Three Stooges are private detectives that are hired to track down a kidnapped girl name Mary Bopper (Norma Randall), daughter of George B. Bopper [Frank Mitchell]. They decide to trace Bopper back to where she was last seen, which leads them to mad scientist Dr. Jekyll [Philip Van Zandt] and his assistant, Mr. Hyde [Tom Kennedy]. There is also a gorilla kept imprisoned in the house for experimental purposes. The Three Stooges arrive to rescue the kidnapped girl disguised as door to door pie salesmen. Please Note: You have the choice of watching ‘SPOOKS!’ in either 3-D or 2D, so I decided that I much preferred to watch the short film in 3-D.
Special Feature: ‘Pardon My Backfire’ [1953] [1080p] [1.78:1] [15:59] With this featurette, once again we get to view a short film directed by Jules White starring American slapstick comedy team The Three Stooges, which are Moe Howard, Larry Fine and Shemp Howard. PLOT: The Three Stooges are auto mechanics who need money in order to marry their sweethearts. While working in their auto garage, some escaped convicts pull in with a damaged fender. While the trio are working on the vehicle, they hear a news flash over the radio about some escaped convicts. They put the pieces together and realize that the baddies are right in their garage. The boys The Three Stooges capture the crooks, collect the reward, and marry their sweethearts. Please Note: You have the choice of watching ‘Pardon My Backfire’ in either 3-D or 2D, so I decided that I much preferred to watch the short film in 3-D.
BONUS: Limited edition exclusive 40 page booklet with a new essay by Kat Ellinger entitled “Merv Taylor: The Real Mad Magician” and takes a look at the career of producer Bryan Foy. Next article is entitled “Bryan Foy: King of Little Pictures” where get to read an archival interview with director John Brahm by David Del Valle. Next article is entitled “An Interview with John Brahm” and talks about John Brahm who was born in Hamburg, Germany in 1803. Next article is entitled “Exploiting The Mad Magician” and gives us a guide to the promotional campaign of ‘THE MAD MAGICIAN’ and gives us a guide to the press book promoting the film ‘‘THE MAD MAGICIAN.’ Next article is entitles “Critical Response” an overview of contemporary critical response by an anonymous reviewer in The Monthly Film Bulletin publication. Next article is entitled “the 3-D Stooges” and is by Jeff Billington on the Three Stooges’ two 3-D shorts.
Finally, ‘THE MAD MAGICIAN’ [1954] was conceived to replicate the success of the 3-D film ‘House of Wax,’ and the film’s strongest element, however, is the wonderful over the top Vincent Price, and he is a great deal of camp fun, and a great joy to watch. Vincent Price always relishes the role as it gives him the chance to assume different identities throughout the film. With Vincent Price’s distinctive facial structure effectively disguising the actor with the characters we see him perform in the film, it gives Vincent Price a chance to flex his professional acting skills. Overall, it’s an enjoyable, lightly camp horror film. Some say it is a little low on thrills, but I totally disagree as the actor Vincent Price is always a total pleasure to watch. It is also great fun to see an old 1054 film restored in 3-D and on top of all that the wonderful 3-D gimmicks definitely add to the appeal of watching this classic 1954 film. If you still wish to add ‘THE MAD MAGICIAN’ to your 3-D Blu-ray library, then this release from Powerhouse Films and INDICATOR should be on your radar 100%. Very Highly Recommended!
Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film Aficionado
Le Cinema Paradiso
United Kingdom
