Movie Review - Chandu the Magician (1932)
I originally stumbled onto the character Chandu with the movie Chandu on the Magic Island, and found it interesting, but it was obvious that I was jumping into the middle of a story. I was intrigued, because this story of a man how had studied with Indian Yogis to master the magical arts starred Bela Lugosi as the hero (Chandu), whereas normally Lugosi is cast as the villain.
Some research led me to the first movie in the series, Chandu the Magician – and while watching it late at night, I became confused – as Lugosi was playing Roxor the villain. Thinking I must have missed something I shelved this until a recent revisit.
To set the stage - Chandu the Magician was based on a radio show of the same name that had been released a year earlier (running from 1931-1935). Producers had hoped that the movie could capitalize on the existing audience. The first movie (Chandu the Magician) was released as a standalone movie, whereas the next two movies were released multiple times, originally as serials and then later with the serials combined into two feature files.
In Chandu the Magician, we meet Frank Chandler (a former British Army Officer played by Edmund Lowe) who takes on the identity of Chandu after learning the skills of fire walking, rope tricks, illusion, projection and teleportation. We learn that Chandu’s brother-in-law, Robert Regent (Henry Walthall) is a scientist who has invented a “Death Ray” capable of striking anywhere in the world, and he has been kidnapped by the evil Roxor (Bela Lugosi), who (like all evil villains) wants to use the weapon to rule the world.
A brief summary of the movie is that the dialog is campy…
“Yes, for years, my brother-in-law has worked to perfect a death ray, strong enough to destroy whole cities… but he’s never found it…”
“This death ray in the hands of Roxor means an end to goodness. An end to all that is noble. All that is sane.”
“At last I am king of all! That lever is my scepter. London, New York, Imperial Rome, I can blast them all into a heap of smoking ruins. Cities of the world shall perish. All that lives shall know me as master and tremble at my words. Paris, city of fools! Proud of their Napoleon. What will they think when they feel the power of Roxor?”
...there are some pretty good special effects…
…and the overall acting is pretty good, with Lowe as Chandu being the weakest link. His portrayal of Chandu comes of condescending and bossy, not heroic. Instead, you find yourself almost rooting for Lugosi as Roxor, as he does a stellar job, eating up as much screen time as they could throw at him. You can really is a master of horror with the way he works the shadows and lighting.
The other unsung actress in this is June Lang, who portays Betty Lou – Robert Regent’s daughter. She doesn’t over act (something almost unheard of from women actors during this time period), she is likable and her sexy innocence is on display in probably the films most famous scene, the Egyptian slave auction.
Its sad that Lang had married a mobster, as this basically ended a career that I would have loved to see move forward. Her wholesome "look" really is one of the shining moments of the film. She does not appear in the sequels.
Speaking of the sequels, each have some pros and cons, and you do not need to watch them, as there is no cross over to close out a story line, but if you liked the first movie....the other two are good additions. Stay tuned, I will be reviewing those as well.
Overall, Chandu was a lot of fun and well written movie for the audience of the day....aka, pre-teens and the Saturday Morning Matinee crowd. I really think this feels like a Marvel Dr. Strange type of movie, and I could see this being reworked a little and fit into that mold for a modern adaptation.
For the time period, I can only imagine it being amazing, especially as it was fitting to the Egyptian genre films at the time. Due to the lead actor, I cannot put it on par with the classics, although I believe if they would have started out casting Lugosi as Chandu, as they would do with the later films, I think it would have been an even better movie than The Mummy, which was released at the same time. An overlooked gem, I would recommend checking this movie out.
You can watch the full movie below, or you can get the DVD HERE on Amazon.
