Touches You

Fresh and Exciting

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Mandrake, the Magician features a dashing, young hero who may not have any super-powers to speak of, but, being a magician (the worlds' best, of course) he does manage to foil the bad guys with a well-timed magic trick, or two. And if that happens to fail, Mandrake can certainly be counted on to throw a mean punch, sometimes heroically taking on up to five of The Wasp's ruthless henchmen all at one time.Presented in 12 super-exciting chapters, this enjoyable, 1939 "Cliffhanger" has Mandrake and his loyal pals taking on The Wasp, a dastardly evil criminal, who will stop at nothing in order to get his greedy hands on Prof. Houston's amazing radium-energy machine.For plenty of laughs and excitement, check out all of the B-Grade action!

...a pity it didn't transfer like that to the big screen. Lee Falk created Mandrake in 1924 but, not trusting his own talent, he sold the strip to King Features in 1934 and bought in commercial artist Phil Davis to draw it. Mandrake always seemed to be in the papers when I was growing up - he usually hypnotized the bad guys into exposing themselves.This serial wasn't quite how I remembered Mandrake - for a start Warren Hull looked nothing like the Mandrake I remembered. Comic strip Mandrake looked very swarthy with a pencil thin moustache, sort of like the stuntman who doubles for Hull in the fights, of which there are many. Gone also is Narda, Mandrake's very, very patient girlfriend (who after a wait of over 50 years finally wed her reluctant suitor in 1997). She is replaced by the far more conventional Betty Houston, daughter of the doctor whose ray gun invention has the crooks on his tail!! She was played by Doris Weston, whose career highlight was as Dick Powell's leading lady in "The Singing Marine" (1937), one of his lesser efforts (I thought she was quite cute in it anyway). Fortunately Lothar, Mandrake's very loyal and constant companion was not given a "make over".Every serial had to have a hidden villain, one who wanted world domination etc and Mandrake's nemesis was "The Wasp", a quietly spoken man hidden in cloaks and the obligatory mask. He seemed to be always two steps ahead of Mandrake and caused some spectacular disasters - a dam exploding, an avalanche, a mountain skylift falling, a plummeting airplane!! Then you start to wonder who "The Wasp" is?? The two candidates are, of course, Mandrake's oldest friends - James Webster (Kenneth MacDonald) and Dr. Andre Bennett (Edward Earle) who dislike each other intensely and who are both always missing when trouble is afoot!! As usual, with these serials, there is always an eager young kid, probably to appeal to the boys in the audience. This time it is Betty's younger brother and he has more get up and go than half the cast. At one stage he hides in the boot of the villain's car, hears just enough info to relay the plans to Mandrake, then jumps from the car - without the crooks even knowing they have had an eavesdropper!! Even though Mandrake doesn't have any super hero tricks - his magicianship is put to good use and all in all it is an enjoyable serial.

If you have stumbled upon this title and think you will see the hero of your comic book youth brought to the screen you will be disappointed. Mandrake has been shoehorned into a stock serial plot that could have used any one of a dozen heroes from Batman to Dick Tracy. Once again, a wonder invention cooked up by a solitary recluse in his basement is stolen from a mostly unguarded private residence and now the world is threatened. The police and the FBI are apparently helpless so it falls upon Mandrake to set things right. Alas, this Mandrake is a pale imitation of the comic wizard. The hypnotically gesturing magus of the comics has become a stage magician, doing card tricks on an ocean liner. Instead of confusing his enemies with black magic, he slugs it out with his fists, implausibly whipping two or three thugs at once, all without displacing his top hat.This is not to say the serial isn't entertaining. But most will likely view it as a 70 year old curiosity rather than the exciting thriller it was meant to be. Whether you want to invest almost 4 hours of your life watching it is the question. Incidentally, the title music would later be reused in the Columbia serial "The Vigilante, Fighting Hero of the West" in a somewhat re-orchestrated form. The story, of course, would be recycled again and again.

While not made with an over-powering budget by any standards and populated with the dime-store variety of plot devices, mediocre special effects, and bearable, workmanlike performers, the Columbia serial Mandrake the Magician has many fun, entertaining moments and is quite thrilling at times. Isn't that what a serial is suppose to be? Warren Hull plays the dapper Mandrake in top hat and tails and seemingly an expert in every field and every form of fisticuffs. With him is his faithful Lothar, a servant who like Mandrake can fight at will and ease under any circumstances. Of course when Lothar fights - the actor playing him Al Kikume is easily seen not to be fighting as the stunt double looks nothing like him. That is just one of a host of problems with the serial in terms of direction, production, and cinematic achievement. Routinely actors are poorly doubled. Fight scenes are nothing more in some instances than actors playing patty-cake with their fists. The identity of the serial villain - the Wasp - is clearly evident in the final three or four chapters. The leading lady - Doris Weston - is as bland as cottage cheese. When would the parade of henchmen end? And some of the storyline about "a machine invented by Professor Houston to benefit mankind"(you remember those catch phrases once you have heard it 12 different times at the beginning of each chapter)was utterly ridiculous with all that nonsense about shutting off/destroying public works so as to let the Wasp take over the world and the platinite(don't ask) needed to fuel it. But despite all these things, Mandrake the Magician is a lot of fun to watch, and I must confess that for at least the first 9 chapters I had to find out who the Wasp was as three of Mandrake's circle were framed so as to suggest each one. Each episode left with some great calamity, and this serial is definitely worth a peek.