The Magician by Ingmar Bergman

Compared to some of his other films The Magician (the original Swedish title is Ansiktet) is not his best in terms of film as art but it is, as many critics have written, one of his most accessible for audiences in terms of plot and meaning. I am unable to give any details of the plot here without ruining the enjoyment of a film which is an act of legerdemain in itself, as it reveals secrets beneath secrets. 
    
What can be said is that some research must have been done in writing the film. The different attitudes of the people towards magicians of the period within which the story takes place is spot on – and central to the plot. The only real factual blunder is a portrayal of one illusion that probably didn't exist at that time.  
    
When someone has seen the film, there is plenty to talk about but to do so with someone who hasn't seen the film is just being a spoil sport; so although I'm itching to discuss certain topics in the film, in fairness I won’t.
   
The above image shows the Tartan DVD (easily found second hand); there are also others, including a new one on Blu-Ray.

Books by Al Smith

I've received a number of inquiries recently about books by Al Smith. It's the same question and so I might as well post the answer here. I've been asked which books by Al do I stock. I only stock one and that is Card Stalking. For all other titles, and inquiries about his magic magazine The LaBaL, you should ask Al directly by contacting him at:

albertesmith@myway.com

 

To purchase a copy of Card Stalking you can find it on places like Ebay or on my website. If you buy it through my website, then postage is free to anywhere in the world. All other sites charge postage and packaging.

A selection of books by Al Smith: 

 

John Archer Interview

In April's issue of Mystery Magazine you will find an interview - by Walt Lees and myself - of one of the winners of Penn and Teller: Fool Us, John Archer.

Click on the link below for more details.

http://www.themysterymagazine.com/

Derren Brown’s Faith Healers

The recent Derren Brown special on Faith Healers was an interesting dip into the murky world of those who exploit people who have religious faith. Anyone who was interested in the program can follow it up by reading James Randi’s book The Faith Healers, published by Prometheus Books. The book gives a history of the subject and an analytical survey of faith healing in modern America.

Something to watch for in the near future is a Channel 5 program called Impossible hosted by Philip Escoffey. The show will be in a reality TV/game show format apparently. This continues the trend that has been present for some time now. BBC’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, BBC’s The Magicians and ITV’s Penn & Teller: Fool Us have all had a reality TV/rise to the challenge aspect to the them. The Derren Brown special on Faith Healers was just that, pushing Nathan, sometimes unwillingly, through his paces to meet the aim set by Brown. The last Derren Brown series, in which people were trained/mentored to tackle challenges, from escapology to being a quiz whiz, is another example.

I, for one, hope this trend fades. It detracts from the real point of interest which is magic and mentalism. I believe that the choice to do that, unfortunately, lies in the hands of those that hold the purse strings to make any of these programs and not with the performers.

New Publication Dates

These are the new publication dates for these books:

The Art of Iugling by S.R. - 31st May 2011

Hocus Pocus Junior - 1st of July 2011

The Persians by Aeschylus - 1st of August 2011

Pre-orders will be fulfilled first on all titles.

An update on the previous blog entry:
Well, looking into one situation led to discovering other problems elsewhere that have to be dealt with that made the first one look insignificant. But solutions have been provided and it's all being dealt with bit by bit. Phew! A big thank you to Amazon and others for their help. That's all that can be said for now. 

Beware A Book Scam

It was brought to my attention that there is a bookseller selling copies of my Thomas Hill book on Amazon.com and other Amazon sites. The seller claims that they are new copies. I would just like to make it clear that I have never heard of this bookseller before and I have no record of supplying them with any copies of the book. This has been explained to Amazon who is now investigating if the seller is falsely describing second hand copies as new or is selling a pirate edition of the book.
 

Part of the scam is the greatly inflated price of the book. The seller is charging $51.97 when the retail price is actually $16.50.
 

The seller has a website where it is claimed that they sell unusual titles on behalf of publishers; so I’ll just repeat, as a publisher, I’ve never heard of this bookseller before.
 

Until it is discovered who is behind the anonymous website, the books that were to be published this month and in March will now be delayed. It’s along shot that the book is being pirated but until it is confirmed it is not I don’t want to risk two more potentially being treated the same.

Website Working Again

The webhost techno boffins sorted out the problems with my webiste. I wasn't even able to access the website emails for a while.
Hopefully, everything should be working normally. Those who have sent messages using the contact form on the contact page or direclty to the website email address will now start to receive replies. I'd like to thank Beatrice Thomas for dealing with most of the website matters; she will be doing so from now on in order to allow me to get on with other things.

Web Host Problems

Just to let people know that my web host is having technical problems (whatever that means) regarding some of the websites it hosts, including mine. For that reason, while they sort out whatever the problem is, my web site will be unavailable at times. I don't know how long they will take. Hopefully not too long.

R. Paul Wilson on BBC's The Magicians

Having seen three episodes of The Magicians I've warmed to the show. The second two episodes were much better than the first. I suggested in an earlier blog that making such a series from a magic perspective isn't easy and one of the consultant producers, R. Paul Wilson, recently gave an interview regarding the making of the series and the difficulties involved in making it. He explains why it was a "massive challenge."

Here is the link to the audio interview:

http://www.linkingpage.com/magicnewsfeed/2011/1/18/mnw-202-r-paul-wilson.html

Derren Brown in Big Ma; also, don’t blame The Magicians.

“And now, Derren Brown in Big Ma.” Or at least that is what it sounded like as the television announcer introduced the broadcast of Derren Brown’s stage show Enigma. I enjoyed the show very much; so did others I’ve spoken to about it. The quality of the show compared to Brown’s last television special (a man being made more assertive) demonstrates a significant difference to be noted. The Derren Brown television programs have been made by a production company that has undergone a change which, I believe, has brought about that difference. The production company, Objective Productions, was sold a few years back. It was owned by Michael Vine and Andrew O'Connor, two men with a worthy background in magic; it is now in corporate hands that appear to lack that necessary background.

This might not seem a big deal. However, ask anyone who worked with the late Ali Bongo on a magic television show and they’ll repeat the often repeated praise of how invaluable he was during production. When the non-magic types would want to follow standards suitable for non-magical performances, Ali Bongo would step in and do his best to get them to understand that by doing that they were taking the magic out of the magic. There’s more than one anecdote about the usually calm and shy Ali Bongo being incensed into a temper and telling producers “You can’t cut from one camera to another now. It’ll make it look like it’s just a camera trick!”

With non-magic types now running the shop at Objective Productions, it’s difficult to not consider the possibility that their input led to a special that was poorly received by some viewers and was subject to harsh reviews in some magic magazines. The far superior Enigma, however, is the result of Derren Brown and Andy Nyman being left to their own devices and creating precisely what they wanted to create.

That kind of non-magic influence on a television magic show can, I believe, been seen on BBC’s The Magicians. The first episode has not been warmly met by some critics. I’m withholding judgement until I’ve seen more episodes. There were more magicians working backstage on that program than appeared on screen but it seems, judging by the editing, that the non-magic types had the final word and so I say don’t blame the magicians for any sense of dissatisfaction experienced during that episode.

Tonight we have Penn & Teller: Fool Us on ITV1. Ali Cook has published an interesting blog regarding his appearance in the show http://alicook.wordpress.com/2011/01/06/penn-and-teller-fool-us-friday-7th-jan-900pm-itv1/

Tomorrow is the second episode of The Magicians and later there is the Derren Brown evening on Channel 4. I don’t recall seeing that much magic in one week for a very long time. I think it was way back in the 1990s when the BBC had a magic at the BBC week; just before magic disappeared from the BBC schedules completely.