Mandrake the Magician (1939)

Directors:

Norman Deming
Sam Nelson

Writers:

Joseph F. Poland (screenplay) &
Basil Dickey (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

6 May 1939 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure

Tagline:

BLACK MAGIC Conjures Up A Holocaust Of Thrills!

Plot:

Columbia's 7th serial (between Flying G-Men and Overland With Kit Carson)was based on the King Features...

Plot Keywords:

Serial | Part Animated | Electrocution | Based On Comic

Cast

Warren Hull	...	Mandrake the Magician
Doris Weston	...	Betty Houston
Al Kikume	...	Lothar, Mandrake's Assistant
Rex Downing	...	Tommy Houston
Edward Earle	...	Dr. Andre Bennett
Forbes Murray	...	Professor Houston
Kenneth MacDonald	...	James Webster
Don Beddoe	...	Frank Raymond
Dick Curtis	...	Dorgan, thug [Chs. 6-8]
John Tyrrell	...	Dirk, lead thug
Stanley Brown	...	Green, thug [Chs. 1, 2, 4]
Beatrice Curtis	...	Rest Home Nurse [Chs. 3,10]
Robert Sterling	...	Henchman
Sam Ash	...	George Regan, hypnotist [Chs. 3-5]
Lester Dorr	...	Gray, gas station thug [Chs. 8-9]

Runtime:

215 min (12 episodes)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Chapter Titles: - 1. Shadow on the Wall - 2. Trap of the Wasp - 3. A City of Terror - 4. The Secret Passage - 5. The Devil's Playmate - 6. The Fatal Crash - 7. Gamble For Life - 8. Across the Deadline - 9. Terror Rides the Rails - 10.The Unseen Monster - 11.At the Stroke of Eight - 12.The Reward of Treachery

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Le streghe (1967)

No Sleight of Hand Here

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.