The Mad Magician/Revisit

 I can say that the first time I got the chance to watch this on Turner Classic Movies I was so giddy with excitement because of Vincent Price in a film from the director of The Lodger and Hangover Square. And on top of that, Price was playing a variation on the driven-mad inventor that brought him huge success the year before in House of Wax. Except instead of wax sculptures, the creations are magic contraptions. A series of human obstacles stand in the way of Price's magician getting to perform on his own. I laid out in my 2010 review also included on the blog enough synopses and walkabout through the film, but with that prior first viewing, I admit my hero worship might have had me wearing rose colored glasses. This is a fun Price horror flick in B&W, with a character who wasn't a mad killer at the start, reacting out of mania towards a businessman capitalizing on his love for a woman, exploiting his naivete and desperation, contractually binding him. The greedy, backstabbing wife who threatened to expose him and the thieving performance magician stealing all his ideas. And then the busybody wife of an apartment renter wanting to be a writer, helping a detective invested in fingerprint analyses. No matter the disguise if a victim he masters, no matter the magic contraption weapon he uses to destroy those who wrong him, eventually the jig will be up. But is this little 70 minute programmer perfect for a late night chiller theater during October really as sensational as I felt it was in 2010? Not quite. Still, I think this could easily be a flick to add to a night of classic horror if Price fans want something predating the Corman period. 3.5/5