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Posted: **Thu Jan 09, 2020 10:26 am**

(John Brahm, 1954)
Release date: 23 March 2020
Limited Edition Blu-ray (UK Blu-ray premiere)

Made shortly after the box-office success of House of Wax, The Mad Magician returns Vincent Price to the world of three-dimensional horror. He plays Don Gallico, the creator of elaborate illusions for stage magicians, who seeks their fame… and will turn to murder to achieve it!

Directed by John Brahm (The Undying Monster), The Mad Magician is presented in two- and three-dimensions, and is accompanied by a pair of 3D comedy shorts by the Three Stooges.

INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES

• 2K restoration
• 3D and 2D presentations
• Original mono audio
• Audio commentary with film historians Kevin Lyons and Jonathan Rigby (2020)
• Three-Dimensional Magic (2020): appreciation of The Mad Magician and the 3D filmmaking boom of the 1950s by cinematographer Frank Passingham (Kubo and the Two Strings) and archivist Tom Vincent, presented in 3D and 2D
• Super 8 version: cut-down home cinema presentation in anaglyphic 3D
• Two short films starring the Three Stooges and produced by Columbia Pictures: Pardon My Backfire (1953) and Spooks! (1953), presented in 3D and 2D
• Image gallery: on-set and promotional photography
• Original theatrical trailer
• New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
• Limited edition exclusive booklet with a new essay by Kat Ellinger, a look at the career of producer Bryan Foy, an archival interview with director John Brahm by David Del Valle, a guide to the promotional campaign of The Mad Magician, an overview of contemporary critical responses, Jeff Billington on the Three Stooges’ 3D shorts, and film credits
• UK premiere on Blu-ray
• Limited edition of 3,000 copies

#PHILTD109
BBFC cert: 12
REGION FREE
EAN: 5037899071656

Posted: **Thu Jan 09, 2020 11:23 am**

So Indicator finally gave in to terrorist demands

Posted: **Thu Jan 09, 2020 1:20 pm**

Not that this is in any way a negative, but why the Stooge shorts? :s

Posted: **Thu Jan 09, 2020 1:22 pm**

They're a good example of the kind of non-feature 3-D material that Columbia was producing at the same time.

Posted: **Thu Jan 09, 2020 4:38 pm**

Does it come with those blue-red colored glasses?

Just watched some examples of the LE 2017 release on YT. Looking forward to this one!

Posted: **Thu Jan 09, 2020 6:00 pm**

MikeFH wrote: Thu Jan 09, 2020 4:38 pm Does it come with those blue-red colored glasses?

No, because it's not that type of 3-D.

Or rather, the Super 8 version is old-fashioned anaglyphic (probably the only realistic way that 3-D could be presented in a home environment), so if you have a pair of red/blue (or possibly red/green) glasses that will probably work*, but the main feature and other extras require a dedicated 3-D player, monitor and electronic glasses to watch them as intended. Although the disc's entire contents will play perfectly, if flatly, on any other setup.

(*I haven't seen the Super 8 version myself yet, so don't yet know what tints are required.)

Posted: **Thu Jan 09, 2020 6:34 pm**

I hope this sells well and leads to Indicator rescuing the other Columbia 3D titles that Twilight Time released (Man in the Dark, Miss Sadie Thompson and Gun Fury). In fact I was hoping the hints for The Mad Magician were actually for a "Columbia in 3-D" box set.

The Nebraskan, William Castle's Drums of Tahiti and Jesse James vs. the Daltons, and DeToth's The Stranger Wore a Gun would have made a great Vol 2

Posted: **Sun Jan 12, 2020 6:01 pm**

MichaelB wrote: Thu Jan 09, 2020 6:00 pm
MikeFH wrote: Thu Jan 09, 2020 4:38 pm Does it come with those blue-red colored glasses?
No, because it's not that type of 3-D.

Or rather, the Super 8 version is old-fashioned anaglyphic (probably the only realistic way that 3-D could be presented in a home environment), so if you have a pair of red/blue (or possibly red/green) glasses that will probably work*, but the main feature and other extras require a dedicated 3-D player, monitor and electronic glasses to watch them as intended. Although the disc's entire contents will play perfectly, if flatly, on any other setup.

(*I haven't seen the Super 8 version myself yet, so don't yet know what tints are required.)

That’s much better. Thanks!

.

Posted: **Wed Feb 19, 2020 1:38 pm**

Final specs:

Posted: **Thu Mar 05, 2020 4:55 pm**

I received the screener disc for this and was surprised by how low the AVB seemed in 2D despite the movie being only 1h12.
I looked into the encode and found out it has been encoded with one specific 3D file AND one specific 2D file, instead of letting 2D playback being done by the player simply reading the 3D AVC flow (just like any 3D-compatible-with-2D release does). The issue is that the 2D video bitrate is actually much lower than the AVC flow of the 3D version, making it all the more weird to have chosen this route.

3D :
MPEG-4 AVC Video / 28787 kbps / Left Eye / 1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1
MPEG-4 MVC Video / 10202 kbps / Right Eye

2D :
MPEG-4 AVC Video / 20401 kbps / 1080p / 23.976 fps / 16:9 / High Profile 4.1

Not being equipped with 3D, I can't make sense of this choice, so if someone can, I'd be happy to understand the reasons behind this choice.

Posted: **Sat Mar 07, 2020 8:01 pm**

Mondo Digital.

Posted: **Sat Mar 07, 2020 8:33 pm**

tenia wrote: Thu Mar 05, 2020 4:55 pm I'd be happy to understand the reasons behind this choice.

Perhaps there is unique footage in either the 2D or 3D version of the film? I suppose all that matters is the compression doesn't suffer in either version.

Posted: **Sun Mar 08, 2020 9:45 am**

EddieLarkin wrote: Sat Mar 07, 2020 8:33 pm
tenia wrote: Thu Mar 05, 2020 4:55 pmI'd be happy to understand the reasons behind this choice.
Perhaps there is unique footage in either the 2D or 3D version of the film? I suppose all that matters is the compression doesn't suffer in either version.

They're the exact same length and the 3D and 2D versions are identical in content.
Having new been able to compare the 3D and 2D encodes, it seems the 2D encode is visibly superior to the 3D encode, despite a lower AVB. The 3D encode crumbles down in blockiness in a regular manner, so I can only guess someone suggested having a "backup" better encode for the 2D version might be good, and it was feasible considering how short the movie is. Otherwise, I'm sure nobody would have bothered and would have simply used the format 3D/2D compatibility.

(2D first)

Good thing for the 2D-viewers : the dedicated encode is the 2D default one.

Posted: **Sun Mar 08, 2020 11:54 am**

I assume then that the LE & RE images of the 3D version are compression free once they are combined. If it's the case that a single eye image can suffer from compression issues when presented alone, it makes total sense to offer a dedicated 2D file as Indicator have done here.

Posted: **Sun Mar 08, 2020 2:45 pm**

I'm unsure if LE & RE (or AVC and MVC) flows can be combined in terms of encodes to allow the MVC flow to complete the AVC flow and carry additional "regular" bits, just like Dolby Vision flows can do on UHDs. I've always been under the impression that MVC and AVC flows work in a compartimented way, but I might be wrong.
I'm also unsure, seeing how the 29 Mbps AVC encode shows visible blockiness, if the MVC flow isn't similarly blocky too (though if the MVC flow is supposed to complement the AVC flow, this worry is likely to be illegitimate).

Posted: **Thu Mar 12, 2020 10:19 pm**

Beaver.

Posted: **Sat Apr 04, 2020 4:45 pm**

I enjoyed this release a lot. I had seen the movie on 35mm, but it was well worth watching again. Most obvious 3D-gimmicks were a bit lame, but sets looked gorgeous on spacious B&W 3D and the movie was just as much fun as on the first time. For some reason I had never before bothered with The Three Stooges, so this was excellent way to get baptised for their stuff and both shorts delivered. Recommended!

Posted: **Sat Feb 03, 2024 6:10 am**

EddieLarkin wrote: Thu Jan 09, 2020 6:34 pm I hope this sells well and leads to Indicator rescuing the other Columbia 3D titles that Twilight Time released (Man in the Dark, Miss Sadie Thompson and Gun Fury). In fact I was hoping the hints for The Mad Magician were actually for a "Columbia in 3-D" box set.

The Nebraskan, William Castle's Drums of Tahiti and Jesse James vs. the Daltons, and DeToth's The Stranger Wore a Gun would have made a great Vol 2

I wish there were some movement on this, I never went for the Twilight Time discs and supposed that Indicator was gearing up to address the hole in the market. There are still a fair number of golden age 3-D collectors willing to support it (3-D Film Archive restorations for KL more than break even), the Mad Magician LE sold out (too slowly?), and in the case of a followup I don't think even the prospect of a Region B lock would matter much to the target audience. :-k

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