Mandrake, the Magician (1939) – Chapter 5: The Devil’s Playmate

03 Tuesday Feb 2015

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Al Kikume, Columbia, Doris Weston, Drama, Interstate Power House, Lothar, Magician, Mandrake, Norman Deming, Platinite, Professor Houston, Radium machine, Regan, Review, Sam Nelson, Serial, The Wasp, Thriller, Warren Hull

D: Sam Nelson, Norman Deming / 14m

Cast: Warren Hull, Doris Weston, Al Kikume, Rex Downing, Edward Earle, Forbes Murray, Kenneth MacDonald, Don Beddoe, John Tyrrell

With Mandrake unconscious on the mill wheel, and facing certain death, luck intervenes as the wheel rotates down into the cellar below and the magician falls from the wheel onto the floor. Regaining consciousness he exits the Mill River Inn where he finds Lothar fighting some of the Wasp’s men. Together they escape. Back at the home of Professor Houston, Mandrake muses on how the Wasp could have known he was going to the Inn. He suspects there is a listening device hidden somewhere in the house and with Betty’s help he not only finds it, but he also sets a trap for some of the Wasp’s men by telling her that the formula for platinite is in a safety deposit box at his bank.

The next morning, Mandrake baits the trap and manages to capture one of the Wasp’s men. The man tells Mandrake about the Wasp’s plan to destroy the Interstate Power House; Mandrake and Lothar rush there to try and stop it from happening. Somehow, the Wasp finds out about Mandrake’s imminent arrival at the power station and his men there are alerted. When Mandrake and Lothar get there they are both overpowered by the Wasp’s men: Mandrake is tied to a generator while Lothar is knocked unconscious. Just as the Wasp aims the radium machine at the building, Mandrake frees himself. Grabbing Lothar he lurches towards the exit, but then the room begins to collapse around them.

With Mandrake again taking the fight to the Wasp, Chapter 5: The Devil’s Playmate inherits the mantle of shortest entry from Chapter 4: The Secret Passage, and also continues the trend of having a title that doesn’t relate to anything that happens during the episode. But this is an episode that crams a lot in and speeds along with gusto, the writers’ decision to make Mandrake even more proactive proving a good choice indeed. He’s not getting any nearer to finding Professor Houston or his radium machine, and he still isn’t any nearer to discovering the Wasp’s real identity, but at least he’s trying, and at last he’s found the hidden radio transmitter (go Mandrake).

This time around there are the usual punch ups and car chases (one of which ends with the Wasp’s men veering round Mandrake’s car so they can end up in the river), and the bizarre sight of Mandrake swinging from an upper balcony of the bank in order to take out three of the Wasp’s henchmen. Tommy is present for a minute or so before being sent to bed, Raymond shakes Betty’s hand then holds onto it for a very long time indeed, and as Mandrake makes to grab Lothar he stops to pick up his hat and put it on (he must really like that hat). As noted above, the Wasp somehow learns of Mandrake’s last-minute trip to the Power House, but unless he’s telepathic it’s impossible for him to know (we know he’s someone working with Mandrake but this is stretching his omniscience a bit too far). And it’s a shame that the cliffhanger ending is much the same as the destruction of the radio building at the end of Chapter 3: A City of Terror. But again, this is an episode that flies by, and it retains the series’ charm.

Rating: 5/10 – shorter than previous entries, but in some ways better, Chapter 5: The Devil’s Playmate has an energy about it that makes it all the more enjoyable; much more rewarding than the previous chapter, this bodes well for the development of the rest of the serial.

Mandrake, the Magician (1939) – Chapter 4: The Secret Passage

27 Tuesday Jan 2015

Posted by dullwood68 in Movies

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Tags

Al Kikume, Columbia, Doris Weston, Drama, Lothar, Magician, Mandrake, Mill River Inn, Norman Deming, Platinite, Professor Houston, Radium machine, Regan, Review, Rex Downing, Sam Nelson, Serial, The Wasp, Thriller, Warren Hull

D: Sam Nelson, Norman Deming / 17m

Cast: Warren Hull, Doris Weston, Al Kikume, Rex Downing, Edward Earle, Forbes Murray, Kenneth MacDonald, Don Beddoe, John Tyrrell, Sam Ash

Narrowly escaping from the collapsing radio station (and without a scuff mark between them), Mandrake and Betty return to her home. With Dr Bennett and Webster present he lets them know that he’s going to focus his investigation on finding Regan, the man who impersonated Professor Leland. He heads over to his friend Raymond’s magic store to see if he has any information but Raymond draws a blank. Coincidentally, Tommy Houston is there for a junior magician’s meeting, and is met by Betty. After Mandrake has left they overhear two of the Wasp’s gang in the store talking about Regan. Tommy hides in the boot of their car and learns Regan’s whereabouts.

He manages to jump out of the car without being seen and makes it back to Mandrake’s apartment where he tells Mandrake where he can find Regan, a place called the Mill River Inn. Mandrake and Lothar head there straight away and ambush Regan just as he’s about to go on stage. While Lothar ties up Regan and takes him back to their car, Mandrake disguises himself as Regan and performs his act. But the Wasp’s henchmen find out about Mandrake’s presence at the inn and arrive to take Regan away. Megan escapes from Lothar and Mandrake is attacked by the Wasp’s men. They corner him at the top of a staircase and force him over the railing and down on to a mill wheel that rotates downward with Mandrake unconscious on it.

With a bit more purpose about it, Chapter 4: The Secret Passage has the shortest running time so far (and the first three minutes are a recap of Chapter 3), but it at least shows Mandrake being a bit more proactive than in the last episode. It’s still heavily reliant on coincidence and people overhearing other people in order to propel things forward – if the Wasp’s henchmen weren’t such blabbermouths Mandrake wouldn’t find out anything – and contains a couple of obligatory fight scenes (Mandrake takes on three goons in his apartment and only thinks to involve the police when he’s caught two of them). And it gives Downing, as Tommy, a chance to get involved as well, after spending the first three episodes largely in the background (and looking bored).

At the Mill River Inn, Mandrake’s magic act involves a tablecloth that deposits a lot of cutlery on the floor, a basket of flowers that appear from under it as well, and a variation on the Indian rope trick (which is strangely ineffectual). It’s a reminder of the character’s background, or day job, but the tricks shown are more in line with Tommy’s junior magician group than someone who’s meant to be the world’s greatest magician. It’s the first episode where the Wasp doesn’t make an appearance on the big TV screen in his gang’s hideout and instead, literally, phones in his orders, and there’s no car chase in the countryside. And while it’s Mandrake in peril at the end this time, it’s probably a fair bet that he’ll wake up just in time to save himself.

Rating: 5/10 – another solid entry that, briefly, gives Mandrake the upper hand, Chapter 4: The Secret Passage doesn’t feature a secret passage, and doesn’t give any further clues to the Wasp’s real identity (though the word “moustache” might give it away); still ticking over, the serial meanders ever onwards in search of a more exciting series of events to satisfy its audience.