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The Mad Magician (1954)

*** (out of 4)

Vincent Price followed his success in HOUSE OF WAX with this horror thriller. He plays Don Gallico, a masterful creator of magic tricks who is double crossed by his boss and kills him. He eventually takes the dead man's identity but when the police start to investigate he must commit one murder after another trying to cover his tracks. THE MAD MAGICIAN was originally released in 3D and there are a lot of objects flying towards the screen and even when you view the film flat it's still easy to see that the effects are in good nature and appear to be fun. The movie itself is quite fun from start to finish and a lot of credit has to go to the wonderful Vincent Price. He was such a wonderful actor and his great performance made him a perfect fit for the genre. His soft-spoken nature he just makes you really love his character and made you feel sorry for him once the boss rips him off. Even after he starts murdering people you can't help but wish there's some way for him to get out of it. These added feelings for the character would be missing with so many other actors but Price's perfect performance really adds so much to the film. Mary Murphy is good as his assistant and Eva Gabor is simply snake-worthy as Price's ex-wife. Director John Brahm (THE LODGER) has had experience with the genre so he's able to build up a wonderful atmosphere and keep the film moving at a very fast pace. The biggest flaw with the picture is that it's pretty much HOUSE OF WAX but with a magician. The two film's are very close to one another as it's clear Columbia was trying to capture the success of that Warner film and didn't really come up with a fresh plot. With that said, Price certainly makes this film quite memorable and it ranks as one of the better horror pictures from this period.