MAGIC (1978) / CERT: 15 / DIRECTOR: RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH / SCREENPLAY: WILLIAM GOLDMAN / STARRING: ANTHONY HOPKINS, ANN-MARGRET, BURGESS MEREDITH / RELEASE DATE: MARCH 23RD
Despite being a film that was written by William Goldman, directed by Richard Attenborough, has as its star Anthony Hopkins along with support from Ann-Margret and Burgess Meredith amongst others, and comes from one of 20th century cinema’s most celebrated decades, Magic doesn’t seem much discussed when talk turns to psychological horrors or classic films of the seventies.
It’s a dour tale that’s unrelentingly bleak, a purposefully washed out palette not bringing much brightness to proceedings. Hopkins plays Corky, a magician who spectacularly blows his first attempt at being a professional performer. Taking a year out, Corky comes back with a new act of the same magic but this time supported by the banter and bad language of his ventriloquist’s dummy Fats. Picked up by agent Ben Greene (Meredith), Corky is seemingly destined for success, but when the opportunity for stardom comes, he instead panics and heads home to the Catskills, frightened the world might discover that his ‘relationship’ with Fats isn’t entirely sane. When there, he reconnects with a childhood crush going through marriage problems and the stage is set for tragedy.
Whether you’ll enjoy any of this depends on how much you dig clammy, oppressive tales in which every character seemingly makes the worst possible decision they could, every time. That’s a challenging vibe but one that Magic largely carries off. This is not a film that seeks to comfort you, but instead seeks to unnerve and as a result it very much qualifies as horror. Performances range from good to excellent (one moment in particular with Burgess Meredith where he just drops his gaze for a second is a masterclass in inhabiting the character internally onscreen). Hopkins has the hardest job to do and uncharacteristically struggles, but despite being one of his most awkward, difficult performances it doesn’t ultimately damage the film. Attenborough directs with restrained style and Victor Kemper’s cinematography becomes another character, ensuring you know there’s never a happy ending on the cards.
The print here is strong and detailed and for such a gloomy film there’s no loss of sharpness or detail. For extras, there’s a solid selection of archive material including a wonderful, bizarrely framed interview with Hopkins and, should you wish, a history of ventriloquism. There’s an interview with William Goldman (who also wrote the book he based his screenplay on) about how the inspiration for the story came about. Although nothing is essential, as a collection there’s plenty of context that should enhance your appreciation of what they worked to achieve here.
Magic is an unfriendly, unpleasant film but is never less than compelling. With a good package of supporting extras, for anyone interested it comes recommended.
