IT CAME FROM THE BOTTOM SHELF!

Orson Welles is one of my favorite directors. From Citizen Kane (1941) to F For Fake (1973), his storytelling techniques were always engaging, unorthodox, and ahead of their time. Unfortunately, almost all of Welles’ directorial efforts were failures at the box office, and by the end of the 1940s, he had to seek work acting in other people’s films in order to self-fund his directorial projects. That phase of Welles’ career really began with the 1949 film Black Magic, which recently received a restoration and Blu-ray release from the boutique label ClassicFlix.

Black Magic was an independent production itself. Producer Edward Small had made a name for himself largely by spearheading film adaptions of works in the public domain, including three previous films based on novels by Alexandre Dumas — The Count of Monte Cristo (1934), The Man in the Iron Mask (1939), and The Corsican Brothers (1941). Orson Welles seemed perfect casting for the lead in his production of Black Magic, an adaptation of Dumas’ lesser-known novel Joseph Balasmo, but signing the actor-turned-auteur took a bit of coaxing. Orson had become enamored with the process of directing and editing, and he found the idea of acting under someone else’s direction both uninteresting and slightly humiliating. Unfortunately, due to the weak reception from audiences and critics to Welles’ latest film, Macbeth (1948), “Welles the director” could not get another project off the ground. Orson agreed to participate in Black Magic for several reasons — he needed the money, the filming (taking place in Rome) would get him out of Hollywood, the director was his old friend Gregory Ratoff, and finally, the role was a larger-than-life character that he could sink his teeth into.

Like Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo, Black Magic is a revenge story, albeit one with a less likeable protagonist. The story also has a bit of the structure of a Universal horror film, where the lead character slowly transforms into a monster over the course of the story. It’s no coincidence that Carl Laemmle, Jr. had considered producing an adaptation of the book in the 1930s with Boris Karloff in the lead.

The 1949 film begins with a prologue, in which the author Alexandre Dumas, misspelled as ‘Alexander,’ (played by Berry Kroeger) explains to his son (Raymond Burr) that the character of Cagliostro has consumed him. He goes on to tell the story of a young gypsy boy, Joseph Balsamo, who witnesses the execution of his parents and is tortured at the hands of Viscount de Montaigne (Stephen Bekassy). Joseph grows into a man (Orson Welles), performing stage magic and selling cure-all elixirs with other members of the gypsy troupe, including Gitano (Akim Tamiroff) and Zoraida (Valentina Cortese). Through an encounter with the celebrated Dr. Mesmer (Charles Goldner), Joseph learns how to turn his natural gifts for hypnotism into profit. He gains fame as a mental healer under the false name of ‘Count Cagliostro.’ It is in this disguise that Joseph once again crosses paths with the Viscount de Montaigne, who has a plan to gain power by using a double for Marie Antoinette (Nancy Guild). In enacting his revenge, Joseph becomes as much of a monster as Montaigne.

In truth, I found the melodramatic story at the heart of Black Magic uninvolving, and the 105-minute running time feels about 15-minutes too long. Still the movie does have many things to recommend it. The production values — sets, costumes, and location photography — are top notch. Apart from the unfamiliar logo at the beginning of the film, you wouldn’t know that the movie hadn’t been produced by one of the major Hollywood studios. Welles supposedly rewrote much of his dialogue and directed a few of his own scenes, so at times, the film has a bit of the Orson Welles flavor. However, the movie’s biggest selling point is that it has two outstanding performances at its center.

Welles is excellent, as always, when playing a big, charismatic character. He seems to be having a lot of fun taking his performance to the outer rim of hamminess. As an amateur magician, he also must have enjoyed having the opportunity to incorporate a bit of “slight of hand” trickery into the role. However, as good as Welles is, I think he’s outshined by Nancy Guild, who gets to play the dual roles of Marie Antoinette and her demure doppelganger, Lorenza. The two roles are polar opposites, and while other characters often remark on the resemblance between the two women, Guild makes them recognizably different. Her body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice are distinctly diverse when portraying each part.

Probably the most notable thing about the 1949 production of Black Magic is that it was the first time that Welles worked with celebrated character actor Akim Tamiroff. Tamiroff quickly became a favorite of Welles, and he would go on to cast him in multiple directorial projects, including Confidential Report (a.k.a. Mr. Arkadin, 1955), Touch of Evil (1958), The Trial (1962), and his unfinished Don Quixote.

While Black Magic wasn’t exactly my cup of tea (or goblet of wine), it is a lavish, well-mounted production, with memorable performances by Welles and Guild. If costume pictures are your jam, or if you are already a fan of this particular film, the ClassicFlix Blu-ray is also heartily recommended. It is the best presentation the film has ever received on home video. Check out the “Video” section below for more on the disc itself.

USA/B&W-105m./Dir: Gregory Ratoff/Wr: Charles Bennett & Richard Schayer (based on the novel Joseph Balsamo by Alexandre Dumas)/Cast: Orson Welles, Nancy Guild, Akim Tamiroff, Stephen Bekassy, Valentina Cortese, Margot Grahame, Frank Latimore, Gregory Gaye, Berry Kroeger, Robert Atkins, Charles Goldner, Raymond Burr

For Fans of: If you like classic Hollywood costume dramas or if you are just an Orson Welles completist, then I recommend you check out Black Magic.

Video: Over the past few years, ClassicFlix has become one of the most reliable boutique video labels for fans of classic cinema. While the quantity of their releases has been low, the quality has been outstanding. Black Magic is another solid release, and fans of the film should be overjoyed with the presentation. ClassicFlix has given the title a new restoration, and the picture quality easily bests previous DVD releases. The image is sharp, with excellent contrast, with apparent (but not overwhelming) film grain. There are a handful of brief shots that are a little more washed out and land in the middle gray range, but overall the film looks fantastic. Most of the scratches and speckles have been digitally removed, and it is unlikely the film will ever look better on home video.

The DTS-HD mono audio is also solid. Dialogue, music, and sound effects are clear, and they sound authentic to the original release. Finally, optional English subtitles are provided for the feature.

BONUS FEATURES:

• The only extras are newly produced trailers for the ClassicFlix home video releases of A Night in Casablanca (1946), The Little Rascals Volume 3 (1932-1933), Stand-In (1937), T-Men (1947), and Tomorrow is Forever (1946)

Streaming: Black Magic can be found streaming online in poor, public domain-quality prints, but the Blu-ray is the only way to see this new restoration.

More to Explore: Edward Small’s previous Dumas adaptations, The Count of Monte Cristo (1934), The Man in the Iron Mask (1939), The Corsican Brothers (1941) have been released on DVD from Hen’s Tooth Video. However, my favorite Dumas adaptations are Richard Lester’s The Three Musketeers (1973) and The Four Musketeers (1974).

Trivia: There was a comic book tie-in with Black Magic in Superman #62 (January 1950). In the story, Orson Welles is kidnapped by Martians while filming Black Magic. Nancy Guild also appears in the comic.

For More Info: You can read a translation of Alexandre Dumas’ novel Joseph Balsamo, also known as Memoirs of a Physician. There are also many biographies and film studies of Orson Welles and his work. The most detailed is Simon Callow’s multi-volume biography of Welles. The filming of Black Magic is discussed in Orson Welles, Volume 3: One-Man Band.