Manthast Absolutely amazing

RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

ChicDragon It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

fredleted-1 If Tangiers was meant to be an exotic and mysterious location, heaven help the rest of the world. Based on the write up on the DVD sleeve, I found no evidence that Vincent was a hypnotist, but a one trick illusionist. His knowledge of Tangiers nightlife comprises of tame femme mud wrasslin', hokey belly dancing dives, and upper class brothel placement (about 100 feet from a car wreck yard). (I won't mention the dilapidated train carriages and the rusted engine hulk, the site for a running fight) Vincent's world famous and money spinning act is 2 minutes of his assistant reading minds culminating with a disappearing act, which must cost all night-clubbers a total of some $23 a head.In the mean-time, George Nader goes around brow beating the local police, repeatedly beating up on the same 2 thugs, shrugging off an annoying photographer (what's with his bed friend?), and ......and what's with the night turning into day turning into night scenes? And the cane that fires 3 rounds of gunfire, when I thought it was a sword? And the 'slave' girls out numbering the house madame? And who was the judo girl? The story? Just read the 10 line summary on the DVD cover. Campy. Worth a second look, just to pick on the loopyness.

MARIO GAUCI To begin with, this was yet another "Movies 4 Men" screening hampered by the usual garbled sound problems! It is also an example of a maligned Vincent Price film (Leonard Maltin says he "walks through it in a daze"!) which is actually not too bad. That said, the actor was not well served by "Euro-Cult" (this is a Spanish-German production, despite the British involvement of the writer-producer and director), as can also be gleaned from his sole Mario Bava collaboration DR. GOLDFOOT AND THE GIRL BOMBS (1966)! Price and co-star Martha Hyer are a couple engaged in a magic act (called Manderville, so that he is later mockingly dubbed "Mandrake"!) who are involved in the trafficking of women for the purposes of prostitution (they purposefully choose lonely girls to make them disappear both on stage and in real life but, of course, they are bound to slip sometime...because otherwise there would be no film!). Considering the subject matter and Towers' resume', this is remarkably chaste; in any case, the very first victim we see here (being transported in a coffin!) is none other than Maria Rohm aka Mrs. Towers. Her boyfriend sets on her trail, which leads him to Tangier, where he seeks the help of criminal pathologist George Nader (the hero inevitably played by an ageing Hollywood presence). Hindering their progress is local photographer Herbert Fux, while the proper Police investigation is carried out by Wolfgang Kieling (who had just been a villain, served with a memorable death scene, in Alfred Hitchcock's TORN CURTAIN {1966}).Typically, the identity of the organization's head is a mystery to all; hence, the ultimate revelation proves quite a surprise...and, though it then transpires that Price was not as villainous as had been inferred, he still gets a melodramatic demise. By the way, I was surprised to notice the Maltese name of Charles Camilleri as the film's composer; actually, I had already heard his (only other film) work on Jess Franco's THE CASTLE OF FU MANCHU (1968) and, interestingly enough, he died a couple of years back right in my home-town!

Boba_Fett1138 What an incredible lackluster movie!You're constantly waiting for the movie to finally start off. When is the suspense and mystery going to kick in? The movie feels like one big constant introduction to events that just never occur.This movie would had had absolutely no watch-ability value if Vincent Price wasn't in this. He played in lots of movies like this and he often didn't even played the lead role. In some cases he was on the screen for no more than 10 minutes but still was always being presented as THE evil main villain of the movie. This movie is one of those examples. But as always his presence uplifts the movie and gives it more class and sense of professionalism. It's always amazing to see how he absolutely has no difficulties delivering the most awful lines in an almost Shakespearean way. But still, a movie like this makes you wonder what Vincent Price is doing in it. The only reason I could think of was that this movie was based on an Edgar Allen Poe story but this wasn't even the case.I wish I could call the movie sleazy. In that case the movie would still had some camp value but the movie just never goes in that direction.The story is very silly and simple. At times it seems it's heading in the horror direction, at times it seems it's heading in the thriller direction, but it's just never fully heading anywhere in any direction in the end. I also wouldn't know under which genre to qualify this movie.There is a good reason this movie gets very rarely shown anywhere.3/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

John Seal This drab thriller would be far worse without star Vincent Price, who admittedly still seems to have phoned in his performance as Manderville the Magician. (He also seems to have brushed off the top hat and cape he wore in 1954's The Mad Magician.) Shot on location in Tangiers, the film accomplishes the near impossible and makes this exotic location seem about as exciting as Bakersfield. Blame ultra cheap producer Harry Alan Towers, who wrote the screenplay using his Peter Welbeck nom de plume, and director Jeremy Summers, whose previous suspenser--the shot in Hong Kong Five Golden Dragons--is even worse. Perhaps the film would improve if seen in widescreen, but the only way you can see this baby is via an out of print HBO tape, which at least letterboxes the opening credits. Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers provide the groovy song that briefly plays out over the closing credits. A year later, their career in tatters, the Rebel Rousers split up.