A ventriloquist is at the mercy of his vicious dummy while he tries to renew a romance with his high school sweetheart.A ventriloquist is at the mercy of his vicious dummy while he tries to renew a romance with his high school sweetheart.A ventriloquist is at the mercy of his vicious dummy while he tries to renew a romance with his high school sweetheart.
- Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award
- 2 wins & 5 nominations total
Anthony Hopkins
- Corky
- (voice)
- …
Steve Hart
- Captain
- (as Stephen Hart)
Robert Hackman
- Father
- (as Bob Hackman)
Michael J. Harte
- Minister
- (as Michael Harte)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaGene Wilder was the original choice for Corky, and director Richard Attenborough and writer William Goldman wanted him, but producer Joseph E. Levine refused, on the grounds he wanted no comedians in the movie to distract from the serious nature of the story.
- GoofsMembers of the crew are reflected in the cabin window when Corky gets his jacket before going out in the boat with Duke.
- Crazy creditsCredits: Fats Anthony Hopkins
- Alternate versionsMost commercial TV broadcasts of "Magic," strongly censor "Fats's" R-rated dialogue completely, or replace it with PG rated content.
- SoundtracksAh! Sweet Mystery of Life
(uncredited)
Music by Victor Herbert
Lyrics by Rida Johnson Young
Portion sung by Anthony Hopkins
Featured review
Surprisingly good!
Ventriloquist "Corky" is about to hit the big time when he starts to realize fame and fortune isn't all it's cracked up to be. He retreats to a lakeside cabin owned by the woman he fell in love with as a teenager but things turn nasty. He is suffering from schizophrenia and uses the dummy to voice the things he can't bring himself to say. This is done superbly and Anthony Hopkins plays it all extremely convincingly. Ann-Margret puts in a mostly believable performance too although at times she seems a little unlikely. It doesn't detract though, her screen presence adds a lot to the movie and she looks radiant as ever. For a while when watching this film I had a horrible feeling that the dummy would turn out to have an intelligence of its own and would start walking around with a knife in its little wooden hands. Thankfully this doesn't happen and it's a much more sinister and impressive film for it. Overall this was surprisingly watchable, well made and at times genuinely scary. The violence is filmed well and doesn't resort to bloodfests to get the message across. One of the few 70's horror flicks I've seen with good acting and a credible plot, well worth watching!
helpful•611
- joe_powell
- Oct 12, 2004
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Magic - Die Puppe des Grauens
- Filming locations
- Blue Lakes, California, USA(Le Trianon Family Resort)
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $7,000,000 (estimated)
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