Trailer—The Magus

source: The Magus

The Magus

As with any film, one can not hope to portray the book exactly. Some movies give the feel or outline. And some movies actually improve on the book. In this case the movie squeaks by with the basic story and feel. Michael Caine did a pretty good Nicholas Urfe as I think the person and the character are quite similar. Candice Bergen did a great Lily and could have been the one in the book. The only person that looked physically out of place and tried but did not quite pull it off was Anthony Quinn as Maurice Conchis. Some where out there is a copy. I will be looking for it

I don't like many movies at all, I feel pretty dumb for rating a movie I haven't seen for 37 years, and I seldom like one so much that I run out and but the book. But I did, and I liked it too. Without giving away the ending, I think it's safe to say this much: I despise stories based on the supernatural or mysteries that remain unsolved. Let me just add that this movie makes you wonder what magic a benevolent psychotherapist might work if he could cheat in the service of salvation--if, for the sake of delivering a man from himself, no holds were barred. I was 29 years old when I saw this movie, and things were different in 1968, but I still like movies I can easily follow. It surprises me to read that _The Magus_ is vague or confused. If I got it, anybody would. _The Ipcress File_ had introduced me to Michael Caine in 1965, but I'm not sure I'd seen Candace Bergen before. She was never so beautiful.

I love this movie. I remember seeing it on the big screen when it first came out and how heightened my state of awareness was on leaving the theater. I've read other professional reviews other than the one by Leonard Maltin that thought it was excellent. For those who find it confusing, perhaps you've missed the whole point of the film itself which seeks to push you to a state of awareness beyond your rational thinking mind. Like a zen koan. Do you remember the lines that Nicholas reads from the book he finds which are from T.S. Eliot's "Little Gidding"? "We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time." Does anyone know where I could get a video tape of this fine film or where I could rent it? P.S. The film "The Game" which failed miserably in it's attempt to rip off the premise of this film is horrible.

This movie, contrary to the Woody, Allen, is extremely testy and requires that you understand the title. It is only magic if you let it, and try to follow it, rather than just enjoy it as a prank. From that perspective, it really catches you entirely off guard and it cannot be made sense of - kind of like most magic tricks. I saw it in 1968, by accident, and being the type to always be looking for "meaning" to most things, got completely taken in. If you just watch it without trying to find a plot, you see rather quickly, that there is none and none will be found and THAT will drive you and Woody and the previous teacher, mad. I loved it because it got ME, and I did not get IT. Not until years later!

I saw The Magus in 1968 in Tokyo, Japan where I was stationed in the Air Force. I was with four other airmen who were bored looking for something to do in one of the world's largest cities. One of the guys in our group had apparently read the book and suggested we go see it. "It will be a wild ride!", he said. By the time we walked out of the cinema we were, 1. In love with Candice Bergen. 2. Totally confused what point the movie was trying to convey. The guy who had read the book? "I, uh, didn't really understand the book either. I was kinda hoping the movie would clear up my confusion." It failed.

I saw this first in the evening aboard a naval ship, before going up to the bridge for the midnight to 4AM watch. It was a very interesting 4 hours, after which I had a real interest in reading the book. As with most novels, it would be very difficult to re-create on screen. The movie though, gave enough of a flavor of the continuous surprise twists that it draws you in to the mystery of trying to figure out what is going on. I have most of it on a video tape somewhere, and don't remember it as being very good. John Fowles agrees with me. He also said in an interview that he didn't think much of the book, but many people disagree with him on that. It was at least another version of the theme, and visually very interesting. I rated it high because it caused me to think and explore Fowles works further, for which I am very grateful.

I loved the gorgeous Greek scenery but the story, which is not something you can follow anyway, was even harder to follow in the movie. I cannot imagine how anyone watching the movie can get any kind of grip on it if they have not read the book, and then, like me, they would probably wonder why Australian Allison turned into French Anne, and many other seemingly pointless changes in the story. The mysteries in the book seemed to be chopped up or left out in the movie. I saw it when it first came out and had the same problems with it then, since I had read the book several times. I recently watched it with my granddaughter (very intelligent at 20 and usually into movies I like) who was mostly amazed at how young Michael Caine and Candace Bergen were in it, but otherwise could not imagine why one would watch it except for the scenery.