Vincent Price! One of the all-time greats! I don't do enough of his films on my blog. Even his lesser known films are superb. Today we have one in which he plays a mad murderer...and we still cheer for him. As Vincent Price portrays a fiend, us the viewer are on his side and cheering for his success. Today we look at 1954's "The Mad Magician," directed by John Brahm.
Movies about magicians are at a disadvantage. Because of "movie magic," or nowadays CGI or other f/x, the tricks we see on the silver screen just don't cause awe and shock. Put Vincent Price in the film and that doesn't matter. Gallico the Magician (Price) and his nubile assistant Karen (Mary Murphy) woo an audience. The magician has a special trick called "The Lady and the Buzz Saw" in which he'll cut off Karen's head. Brilliant! Too brilliant, I'm afraid. Gallico's act and him are owned by seedy businessman Ross Ormond (Donald Randolph), who closes the curtain on the act. Ormond takes Gallico off stage and tells him to give all his tricks to his rival, The Great Rinaldi (John Emery). Furious, Gallico strangles Ormond and creates a mask and impersonates him. Now, as Ormond, Gallico rents a room from mystery writer Alice Prentiss (Lenita Lane).
Okay. Gallico will continue his murders. You can guess the slate. Enter Eva Gabor as the mad man's ex-wife, and current wife or Ormond. Thinking she is confronting Ormond, she is actually confronting Gallico. Yep...poor Eva Gabor. Bad news for Gallico, his pretty assistant is dating the very handsome and bright Detective Bruce (Patrick O'Neal). Even more bad news...Alice Prentiss has a great imagination. Every thought of hers is about homicide and then thrown into her novels. She's suspicious. As the walls close in around Gallico he becomes more mad...and more homicidal. Now Detective Bruce wants to use new and modern investigative techniques...and the nubile Karen will find herself in great peril.
In getting rid of his enemies, can Gallico shake a police investigation by the lover of his assistant? Will Alice Prentiss end up with her next great best-seller or will she end up at the end of a blade in Gallico's next magic act? Is there a chance that Gallico will turn the tables, pull a Dr. Phibes on everyone, and escape? This is a good one. Not the best known Vincent Price film but true fans will want to see "The Mad Magician."
Oh, I'll have to find this one - never heard of it, but sounds FUN!
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