Mjeteconer
Just perfect...
Lumsdal
Good , But It Is Overrated By Some
TrueHello
Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.
Leofwine_draca
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.
SanteeFats
I love the Halloween season because a lot of the really good horror type movies are shown!! This one is a little under the radar but it is a good one. Vincent Price plays the lead role. He is a great illusion designer locked into an extremely binding contract. When he tries to go out on his own as a magician he is pulled up short by the employer. Vincent goes nuts and kills the man, then his ex-wife, a competing and overbearing magician, the Great Rinaldi, (who tries to steal the secrets and bind Price to his service by deducing that Price is the killer). Vincent then goes on stage using skin tight masks to impersonate the magician. He is finally found out by a detective using the new fangled means of finger prints. Boy has the law been changed since this picture!! The detective actually breaks into Price's apartment to look for evidence!! That sure wouldn't fly today!!! At the end Price is trying to feed the detective into one of his contraptions and is distracted by an insistent knock on the door. As he goes to answer the door a hidden associate springs to action and releases the detective. The two men fight and Price gets fed in to his own machine. So after three murders the mad man gets it, not in the end, but in a fiery flame of fire.
Witchfinder General 666
The great Vincent Price has done many fantastic Horror films, some of which range among the greatest genre gems of all-time. Price's greatest achievements were doubtlessly his films in the 60s, with films such as Roger Corman's brilliant Poe-cycle (still the greatest Horror cycle of all-time), Michael Reeves' "Witchfinder General" (1968) or Ubaldo Ragona's "The Last Man on Earth" (1964) marking the ultimate highlights of this brilliant man's career. The films that made the man famous and thereby made him the immortal Horror icon he is, however date back to the 50s, with "House of Wax" (1953) marking his rise to stardom. "The Mad Magician" of 1954 follows a plot that is very similar to that of its successful predecessor. This is not to say, however, that this film isn't an original, delightfully macabre and absolutely wonderful gem itself. As the lines above may suggest, Vincent Price is my favorite actor, and, while I personally would not allow myself to miss anything the man has been in, none of my fellow fans of the man may miss this little gem.Price stars as Don Galico (aka. Galico the Great), an underrated master magician and inventor of magic devices, whose boss, a sleazy businessman, stole his wife (Eva Gabor) from him. When the boss takes away one of Galico's ingenious inventions and gives it to his rival, The Great Rinaldi (John Emery), Galico snaps, and a murderous spree of revenge begins...Don't we love Vincent Price when he's out for revenge? Some of his most famous and greatest films such as "The Abominable Dr. Phibes" (1971) or "Theater of Blood" (1973) were about absurd and delightfully macabre revenge murders, and this earlier film in his Horror career is another proof that no one takes revenge as Vincent Price does. This film provides a wonderfully eccentric leading role for Price, who, as always, delivers a brilliant performance, and guarantees 70 minutes of outrageously entertaining and macabre fun for every Horror fan. Another must-see for my fellow Price fans.
Coventry
Basically the exact same movie as "House of Wax" - Vincent Price's first genuine horror hit released the previous year - but seriously who cares, because "The Mad Magician" offers just as many sheer thrills, delightful period set-pieces, joyous 3-D effects, sublime acting performances and macabre horror gimmicks as its predecessor! "Never change a winning team" is exactly what writer Crane Wilbur must have thought when he penned down Price's character Don Gallico, another tormented soul besieged by fate and out for vengeance against those who wronged him. Don Gallico is about to perform his very first own illusionist show as Gallico the Great and plans to exhibit the greatest magic trick in history; entitled "The Girl and the Buzz Saw". Gallico's promising solo career is abruptly ruined before it even begins when his previous employer Ross Ormond appears on stage and shoves a contract under his nose, stating that all of Gallico's inventions are the rightful property of the company. The sleazy and relentless Ormond, who by the way also ransacked Gallico's once beloved wife, takes off with the buzz saw trick and programs it in the show of Gallico's rival The Great Rinaldi. Inevitably Gallico snaps and sadistically butchers Ormond, but – also being a master of creating disguises – recreates his victim's image and even starts leading a double life. "The Mad Magician" is an amusing and thoroughly unpretentious 50's horror movie in Grand Guignol style, with a whole lot of improbably plot twists (the landlady turns out a brilliant crime novelist?) and a handful of fantastically grotesque gross-out moments (although they obviously remain suggestive for most part). The 3-D delights near the beginning of the film, like a yo-yo player and a goofy trick with water fountains, merely just serve as time-filler and contemporary 50's hype, but it's still fun to watch even now and without the means to properly behold them. "The Mad Magician" is also interesting from a periodical setting point of view, as the events take place around the time fingerprints were starting to get used as evidence material and the character of Alice Prentiss is an obvious reference towards famous crime authors of that era. Needless to state that Vincent Price remains the absolute most essential element of triumph in this film, as well as from nearly every other horror movie this legendary man ever starred in. Like no other actor could ever accomplish, Price depicts the tormented protagonist who gradually descends further and further into mental madness in such an indescribably mesmerizing way. You pity Don Gallico, yet at the same time you fear him enormously. You support his vile acts of retaliation and yet simultaneously you realize his murderous rampage must end in death. Vincent Price simply was a genius actor and, in my humble opinion, the embodiment of the horror genre.
