Don Gallico is an inventor of stage magic effects who aspires to become a star in his own right. Just before his first performance his act is shut down by capricious manager Ross Ormond who wants Gallico's brilliant buzz saw effect for the act of The Great Rinaldi, an established star. With this defeat, and the humiliation of having already lost his wife Claire to Ormond, Gallico decides it is time to take matters into his own hands.
Similar titles
Reviews
It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.
I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.
It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.
Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.
This 1954 3D classic was meant as a follow up to "House of Wax" and except for not being in technicolor the opening scene is almost identical to the earlier film. Other reviewers have covered the details of the story but I just wanted to add that it recently became available in 3D on blu-ray! It's really the only way to watch this movie and I highly recommend it!
This excellent little follow-up to the previous year's classic HOUSE OF WAX is a film that looks and feels very similar. Once again, Vincent Price plays a grand showman, driven to commit murder by the ruthless rivals surrounding him; as in the other film, there's a strong taste of the theatrical. Price is a magician here, forever developing new magic tricks like 'the buzz saw' and 'the crematorium', which inevitably are used for nefarious purposes by our crazed anti-hero. A lot of the fun comes from waiting to see just who's going to fall foul of the next contraption.As in HOUSE OF WAX, our hero becomes a serial killer before finally being offed by his own invention, and as in HOUSE, events are portrayed in 3D so the usual fires are present, blazing out at the camera, as well as yo-yo tricks and water squirting at the screen. The main difference is that THE MAD MAGICIAN has a lower budget, most noticeable in the lack of large set-pieces and the standard black-and-white filming, but these factors don't stop it from becoming a minor classic.Price is in his element playing much the same character as he did in HOUSE, and the truth is that nobody does it better. The fact that he keeps you on side throughout, sympathising with his actions and his murderous deeds, is what makes this so much fun. The cast that supports him is average for a '50s thriller, with Lenita Lane and Jay Novello standing out as the comedy relief, playing an eccentric couple who run a boarding house. The film is decidedly non-grisly despite the potentially violent scenes, always careful to cut away from the threat of showing any bloodshed, but the combination of smart storytelling, fast pacing and a short running time make it a delightful watch. One for Price fans and lovers of the genre in general.
The line went all the way around the Elm Theater in Elmwood, Ct., when this was shown in 1954.It wasn't screened in 3-D, but still scared me silly! I now own a film print of it, as well as a 35mm 3-D print of House Of Wax. Wax had bigger budget, stereo sound called WarnerPhonic if I recall. Both are excellent, and the two together are definitely my choices for Price's best, followed by SHOCK and DRAGONWYCK. I know many will like his later films, which have many great titles also; House of Usher, Comedy of Terrors, The Raven, Theater of Blood,.....I could go on and on. And I should have included THE TINGLER and HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL in my favorites....especially THE TINGLER, which also had a color partial scene in it, and was definitely equal to WAX and MAGICIAN in its terror.Gotta love VP for being so "swarmy"!!!!
This was enjoyable, but certainly no classic. It's fun to watch the actor Vincent Price in these insane roles. I was surprised to read, in the credits, Eva Gabor was a player; I thought she looked familiar, but she did not have the familiar wig from later years. The furnace was hot, but the disguises were easy to see through, I thought. The final scene had good suspense, but I knew Mr. Price's character was going to hop on that conveyor belt.Lenita Lane and Jay Novello seemed very familiar as the Prentiss couple. They must have played these kind of roles in other films; they should starred in a TV sit-com together. ***** The Mad Magician (5/19/54) John Brahm ~ Vincent Price, Mary Murphy, Eva Gabor
Top Streaming Movies
