basically the exact same movie a house of wax vincent price first genuine horror hit release the previous year but seriously who care and because the mad magician offer just a many sheer thrill and delightful period set piece and joyous 3 d effect and sublime acting performance and macabre horror gimmick a it predecessor . never change a winning team be exactly what writer crane wilbur must have think when he pen down price character don gallico and another tormented soul besiege by fate and out for vengeance against those who wrong him . don gallico be about to perform his very first own illusionist show a gallico the great and plan to exhibit the great magic trick in history while entitle the girl and the buzz saw . gallico promise solo career be abruptly ruin before it even begin when his previous employer ross ormond appear on stage and shove a contract under his nose and state that all of gallico invention be the rightful property of the company . the sleazy and relentless ormond and who by the way also ransack gallico once beloved wife and take off with the buzz saw trick and program it in the show of gallico rival the great rinaldi . inevitably gallico snap and sadistically butcher ormond and but also be a master of create disguise recreate his victim image and even start lead a double life . the mad magician be an amusing and thoroughly unpretentious 50 horror movie in grand guignol style and with a whole lot of improbably plot twist ( the landlady turn out a brilliant crime novelist . ) and a handful of fantastically grotesque gross out moment ( although they obviously remain suggestive for most part ) . the 3 d delight near the beginning of the film and like a yo yo player and a goofy trick with water fountain and merely just serve a time filler and contemporary 50 hype and but it still fun to watch even now and without the mean to properly behold them . the mad magician be also interest from a periodical setting point of view and a the event take place around the time fingerprint be start to get use a evidence material and the character of alice prentiss be an obvious reference towards famous crime author of that era . needless to state that vincent price remain the absolute most essential element of triumph in this film and as well a from nearly every other horror movie this legendary man ever star in . like no other actor could ever accomplish and price depicts the tormented protagonist who gradually descend far and far into mental madness in such an indescribably mesmerize way . you pity don gallico and yet at the same time you fear him enormously . you support his vile act of retaliation and yet simultaneously you realize his murderous rampage must end in death . vincent price simply be a genius actor and and in my humble opinion and the embodiment of the horror genre .