Directed
by Richard Attenborough. Starring Anthony Hopkins, Ann-Margret, Burgess
Meredith, Ed Lauter. Horror, US, 1978, 107 mins, cert 15.
“It was you the whole time...I hope
I don't die first, is all...”
Back in 1978, way before Chucky
and Annabelle, but some considerable time after Hugo from DEAD OF NIGHT (1945),
director Richard Attenborough chanced his arm by bringing William Goldman’s
novel and adapted script to the screen with Anthony Hopkins chancing his arm by
sticking it up a creepy ventriloquist dummy.
MAGIC was Attenborough’s only directing
foray into the horror/thriller genre - his follow up project turned out to be
the multi-Oscar laden GHANDI. It’s a well-crafted portrait of psychological breakdown
and all-consuming schizophrenia with shades of PSYCHO (1960). Corky (Anthony
Hopkins), is an unsuccessful meek and mild stage magician who hits the big-time
by reinventing his act with the addition of a snappy foul-mouthed sidekick ventriloquist
dummy named Fats.
The film’s pedigree is
undeniable. Hopkins throws himself into the role hook line and sinker and delivers
an unbridled tour-de-force performance, even taking illusion and ventriloquism lessons
before filming in order to pull-off his voice-throwing magician routine
in-camera. Burgess Meredith provides sterling support as Corky’s cigar smoking
agent Ben Greene, “The Postman” (because he always delivers). Having discovered
Corky, Ben secures a potentially lucrative network TV contract for his client,
the only stumbling block being the network’s insistence on a routine medical
examination. Corky panics (presumably due to a fear of what the psychological
tests might find) and flees New York heading back to the rural wooded Catskills
where he grew up. Taking a log cabin by a lake, he meets (and hooks up) with his
old high school crush, Peggy Ann Snow (Ann-Margret). Having been far too shy in
high school to act on his yearning, Fats’ persona imbues Corky with the swagger
to finally act on his feelings. Inconveniently, Corky gets caught in a
love-triangle because Peggy Ann is married to her alcoholic high school
boyfriend, Duke (Ed Lauter).
Corky’s agent pursues him into
the Catskills and stumbles in on one of his client’s argumentative meltdowns
with his dummy Fats. This leads to one of the film’s most effective scenes when
Meredith’s character challenges Corky to keep Fats quiet for a full five
minutes.
It’s a film which incrementally
creeps up (and out) thanks to Hopkins’ sleight-of-hand performance instilling
the genuinely unsettling Hopkins lookalike dummy with a palpable sense of
menace. To this end, Victor Kemper’s cinematography cunningly frames Fats in
ways that suggests the dummy is an active participant and teases the occasional
twitch from the wooden doll in the shadowed periphery. Attenborough orchestrates
a couple of surprisingly violent and bloody sequences which jar (in a good way),
and the lake setting provides suspenseful mileage thanks to a corpse that firstly
won’t stay dead, and then won’t stay submerged. Proceedings are accompanied by
a typically lyrical and rich score from legendary composer Jerry Goldsmith,
with initially soothing strings punctuated with a disconcerting harmonica.
The sharp robust HD transfer is
really good with an appropriately authentic cinematic feel (by all accounts an
improvement on the previous US release). This is praise indeed because I’m a
fussy old git when it comes to PQ!
And yet – despite its obvious
qualities both on and off screen - the film doesn’t quite fully satisfy. Perhaps
it because for a film that’s called MAGIC, there ultimately isn’t any narrative
misdirection to surprise the viewer. The final act kind of feels like it needs to
pull a rabbit out of its hat.
*** (out
of 5*)
Paul Worts
This review was originally published by FrightFest.
