A magician in a carnival--who actually can read minds and levitate people and objects--works with a superintelligent chimp named Alex, who can also talk. The magician and the chimp soon become the stars of the carnival, drawing in big crowds. However, the wild-animal trainer, who has been displaced by the team as the carnival's top act, decides to kidnap Alex and sell him to a medical laboratory for experimentation, thereby getting rid of his competition.
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A magician in a carnival -- who actually can read minds and levitate people and objects -- works with a super-intelligent chimp named Alex, who can also talk.Whether this is a bad movie or a so-bad-it-is-good movie will be up to the viewer to decide. I mean, either way we have to all agree it is pretty bad, right? But it does have a certain charm.The "talking" ape is bizarre, because he basically just grunts and says nothing of value. There is a creepy 40-year old man who sexually assaults a teenage girl... and the next day she announces to her father that they are getting married. What? There is a mad scientist with s poorly dubbed German accent. Why? And a dead wife who is never fully explained.
Honestly, the only interesting part of this film is the life story of the director, Al Adamson. He was murdered by a contractor, and buried in his own house. He gave his wife Regina roles in 14 of his (cheesey) films. Film quality, terrible. Script -- terrible. Sound, picture ... terrible. Mystery Science Theater 3000 highlighted one of his films, "Carnival Magic". Don Stewart is "Markov", who has a talking chimp, which steals the show in the failing carnival. Stewart spends most of the film shirtless, in an effort to boost the ratings. Awful. Terrible. Did I mention its pretty bad? They keep referring to "Alex" the chimp as HE and HIM, but acc to the credits, the chimp is actually a male, and in addition, is voiced by a female, in spite of the fact that Alex has a low, weird, gravelly voice. Mystery Science 3000 version, currently showing on Netflix. Mildly interesting, but ain't no thang. Turrible. Turrible.
Carnival magician Don Stewart (as Markov) is fired from his job, but gets it back when he makes his talking chimpanzee companion "Trudi" (as Alexander) part of the act. The attention has a bad side effect when "Alex" is chimp-napped by a mad scientist and jealous lion tamer who think he may be the missing link. Director Al Adamson's wife Regina "Gena" Carrol (as Kate) is Mr. Stewart's bosomy assistant. Fortunately, Stewart kept his day job on "The Guiding Light" serial. Even more fortunately, Mr. Adamson's threatened sequel "More Carnival Magic" (1982) did not materialize.*** Carnival Magic (1981) Al Adamson ~ Don Stewart, Jennifer Houlton, Howard Segal, Mark Weston
Al Adamson noted/notorious for making less than average films, outdoes himself with this creation "Carnival Magic !"Take several aging would-be actors, place them in a sub-standard setting(Carnival), add a chimpanzee with an incredible ability, stir the pot and voilà', a hysterical look at the American culture, albeit a limited slice of the pie but still a slice. Don Stewart as Markov the Magician has amazing powers , yet one of them is not having the ability to stay employed, unless , enter Alexander the Great(the chimp), who has the power to talk..wow...Nice gimmick, except like the rest of the film, it is poorly executed.Even Alex looks aged.Spoiler Alert, Alex is or was Trudi the Chimp in real life. Not since "The Crying Game" has the gender bender been played so royally...except this time they used an animal, like "Lassie."So, the jealous animal trainer doesn't like being second banana and arranges for the abduction of our talking hero, to the confines of a medical laboratory for a closer look, if you know what I mean.So obviously the story has to resolve getting Alex back, but not before a chimp/police chase, hilarious or could have been under better supervision. The closing credits roll over the carnival parade in Gaffeny, South Carolina, which has been a host to no less than 7 other films, what a hoot ! Watching Don tongue an underage girl in her teens is Classic, I guess his powers include perversion and statutory rape. Nice.Oh, look for the Shriners, it wouldn't be a parade without them ! BTW, the joke I referred to in the summary title, is that you can build a TV Show/Film and/or Video Vehicle around a chimp, i.e."The Monkees", "BJ and the Bear","The Hathaways", it is done over and over because they try to reinvent the wheel or at least disguise it for a buck. Al Adamson was no different, he just failed to use demographics and threw this film against the wall, to see if it would stick. 3 stars out of 10, but filled with unintentional laughs, once you know the joke. Chimps are funny, people are too, but that is a different show.
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