The Mad Magician is directed by John Brahm and written by Crane Wilbur. It stars Vincent Price, Mary Murphy, Eva Gabor and Patrick O'Neal. Music is by Arthur Lange and Emil Newman and cinematography by Bert Glennon.Magician Don Gallico (Price) is incensed when his attempts at stardom is scuppered by a contract he signed, so much so he takes matters in to his own hands...One of the eras 3-D productions, The Mad Magician sees Columbia recycle Warner Brother's 1953 release of House of Wax. The familiarity of it all is impossible to shake off, with a key scene even stolen from one of director Brahm's more notable productions. Yet it's still a fun movie, watching Price turn in a good one, as he gradually gets more dastardly with each passing quarter, all set to Victorian style backgrounds.There's some ghoulishly enjoyable macabre moments, played straight but with tongue in cheek evident, and while the scenes shot for 3-D gain obviously lose impact, they hold well enough in 2-D for story enjoyment. Performances around Price are fine, the girls (including Murphy's outstanding legs) add colour to the otherwise weak plot, and although the absence of Brahm's skilled Gothic/noir touches is a blow, the look of the piece is suitably moody.More one for Brahm and Price completists, this is still enjoyable fare (it was a commercial hit upon release) that's worth tracking down. 6.5/10

Revenge is mine saith the magician, and here, he's on a quest for revenge against the people who have prevented him from utilizing his own magic trick invention. Those who stand in his way meet brutal ends which includes having their head sawed off, being burnt to death and other means of torturous demises. Hiding behind the mask of several of the victims is the victim of fraud himself, the former master of wax dummies who has switched to trickery in this variation of a story he had just done. You guessed it, Vincent Price, the tall, gangly seemingly milquetoast who discovers in the middle of a performance as he tries to introduce his newest invention that he's under the thumb of his employer whom he despises for stealing his wife. A clever bit of trickery turns revenge into a gory end for the rascal, and when there's murder (no matter what the motivations), madness is sure to follow for the perpetrator. Enter ex-wife Eva Gabor who finds that blackmail doesn't quite always end in a cash settlement and magician rival John Emery who is really burnt up about the threat he has to his title as the world's greatest illusionist.With the help of a nosy murder mystery writer (a very funny Lenita Lane), New York detective Patrick O'Neal investigates the common fingerprints found at the scene of a murder in Lane's boarding house and all doesn't add up. Murderers gain confidence and become clumsy as they begin to think they're fool-proof, and in the case of Price, it's only a matter of time before he slips up. There isn't really a mystery here, only the fun of watching Price getting away with his gruesome actions and the knowledge that his retribution will be equally as gory as the crimes he's already committed. Mary Murphy plays his assistant who also slowly becomes aware of Price's nefarious plots while Don Randolph is slimy as Price's boss whose sneaky actions send Price over the edge.Certainly not as colorful as its predecessor "House of Wax" (made the year before and certainly the inspiration for this), the film still is quite enjoyable and has some genuine thrills that are bone-tingling. The mixture of comedy and horror always made even the most maudlin of Price's films seem much better, and in the case of "The Mad Magician", there are some moments that will live in your cineramic memory long after you've seen this film. There's a very funny conclusion which will have you in hoards of laughter after the gruesome climax that came just before.

Furious over his boss' repeated attempts to curtain his career, a famous trick maker finds he can utilize his craft to kill for the sake of his career, only doing so requires him to constantly repeat the act in order to stay away from his friend and the authorities on his trail.Essentially a remake of another film by the same star from the previous year with a new profession behind it that powers the revenge motif, there's not a whole lot with this one that really works. The fact that it's so similar with the exception of the profession change does little for this one, requiring it to introduce a few spectacular gags for the revenge aspect when doling out the deaths but beyond that we don't get anything hardly original in here. The 3D gags are lifted straight from the previous film, going around with masks on to commit his crimes is a plot-point from there as well and the romance angle is taken from there as well with just a few minor tweaks that would naturally come about due to the profession rather than anything else. The constant plot of him being under the bosses thumb is nothing more than a requirement to start the rampage and goes on way too long for what it should be, the bumbling authorities accidentally uncover the whole ploy through sheer accident without willfully doing anything to piece the puzzle together and moreso the comic relief couple are rather tired and irritating more than a positive force upon the movie. That said, it's still quite fun with a few good moments here and there, including a few spectacular tricks to be employed by the stage-show, the finale contains quite a bit of action with the brawl in the shop and as usual it's always fun to see Price get to do his thing every now and then where he just gets to monologue for a while spouting off the reasons for his revenge, the end result containing a rather twisted logic behind it all that sounds reasonable enough for the rampage to ensue and not come off like a hokey joke. While it's nowhere near the top of his career works and certainly not near the bottom rung either, there's just too much about it that doesn't work to say it does nothing more than be overall adequate.Today's Rating/PG: Violence.

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