"Chandu the Magician" can loosely be considered an action movie though by today's standards it certainly can't be. Just about every action movie has the good guy, the bad guy, and the girl. In this case Chandu (Edmund Lowe) was the good guy. He was a white guy who went to Egypt and became a powerful yogi. I'm sure he was the most powerful yogi Egypt had ever seen even though yoga and yogis aren't endemic to Egypt. Roxor (Bela Lugosi) was the bad guy. He wanted to create a death ray and he needed the knowledge of Robert Regent (Henry B. Walthall) to do so. Princess Nadji (Irene Ware) was the girl. She was a young, beautiful, Egyptian princess who Chandu was in love with. She told him that she was dedicated to her people, but we all knew that Chandu would woo her anyway.
It was a lame movie to me. Chandu went around staring at people and making them do what he wanted. This movie further cemented the idea of white superiority and non-white inferiority. They even had the nerve to play on the fears of many white men.
In order to try and force Robert Regent to give him the information he needed to make his death ray work, Roxor had Robert's daughter put on an auction block to be sold. Robert stared on in horror as grubby dirty Egyptians bid for his blond, fair-skinned, nubile daughter. It was such a putrid scene. It was a clear case of projection to show a group of people openly auctioning off another human being. This way we could all point our righteously indignant fingers at Egypt.
Of course, there was nothing to really worry about because Chandu the Magnificent and Omnipresent was there to save her.
No, I didn't like this movie. It was corny, terribly written, and terribly acted (even for 1932). I can't do Chandu.
Free on YouTube.
It was a lame movie to me. Chandu went around staring at people and making them do what he wanted. This movie further cemented the idea of white superiority and non-white inferiority. They even had the nerve to play on the fears of many white men.
In order to try and force Robert Regent to give him the information he needed to make his death ray work, Roxor had Robert's daughter put on an auction block to be sold. Robert stared on in horror as grubby dirty Egyptians bid for his blond, fair-skinned, nubile daughter. It was such a putrid scene. It was a clear case of projection to show a group of people openly auctioning off another human being. This way we could all point our righteously indignant fingers at Egypt.
Of course, there was nothing to really worry about because Chandu the Magnificent and Omnipresent was there to save her.
No, I didn't like this movie. It was corny, terribly written, and terribly acted (even for 1932). I can't do Chandu.
Free on YouTube.