COMPLETE MAGICIAN, the
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Title: COMPLETE MAGICIAN, the
Reference number: 7443
Date: 1986
Sound: sound
Original format: super 8mm
Colour: col
Fiction: Fiction
Running time: 11.46 mins
Description:
A short comedy which tells the story of a frustrated husband who has been made redundant and to make ends meet he decides to develop a magic act and buy a parrot as a gimmick. Thwarted on all sides, he rehearses his act only to find that the parrot gives away all his secrets.
Won first place in the Strathclyde Film Event. For follow-on storyline see ref. 7467.
Note from Mr Saberton: This film was made for the Strathclyde Film Event on the theme of "It's Magic". The story is based on an old joke about a magician on a cruise ship, with a parrot that gives away all the tricks until one night the boat sinks. For the film the location, was transferred to a domestic setting. It tells the story of a frustrated husband who has been made redundant and to make ends meet he decides to develop a magic act and buy a parrot as a gimmick. Thwarted on all sides, particularly by his Brother-in-Law Bert, he rehearses his act only to find that the "parrot" gives away all his secrets. The film ends with Bert accidently blowing up the house. This was filmed at the home of Bryan and Evelyn Law at 47 C Hillfoot Avenue, Coltness, Wishaw. The cellar was in Motherwell. The explosion was achieved using alternating black and flash frames. Bill Farquharson is actually an accomplished magician and the scenes where he does his tricks were deliberately filmed without any cuts so that the audience could see that he wasn't faking anything - the tricks were done for real. Bill was also a member of Lanarkshire Little Theatre. Many audiences don't catch what the parrot says at the end of the film which is a bit unfortunate as it is the punch-line of the whole story. The words are "all right I give in, what have you done with the house". The wrecked garage had lost its roof in a storm and Bryan Law had the foresight to film it in case it could be used for a future film so we wrote it into the script.
Paper archive records relating to the Dalziel Camcorder Club are held at the National Library of Scotland Moving Image Archive.
Credits:
cast Bill Farquharson, Margaret Farquharson, Joey, Jack Anderson, John Ballantyne
p. team Brian Saberton, Bryan Law, T. Stafford, Evelyn Law
Shotlist:
[shotlisted from VHS - manual control track]
DALZIEL CINE CLUB PRESENTS - title on spine of book - magician Andrew sits in his living room practising card tricks while his wife Sadie hoovers around him and nags him about his failed career ideas - Andrew receives a phone call from another magician who wants to sell him a parrot for his act (3.45) Sadie's brother Albert comes round to the house to repair their faulty boiler and is introduced to Andrew's new parrot - Andrew tries a card trick on Albert, but the parrot starts to give away his tricks - Andrew receives a phone call from his new 'dolly bird' assistant Angela, and tries to conceal this from Sadie (7.10) Albert sets to work on the boiler in the cellar - Andrew practises a magic trick on his parrot but again the parrot gives the trick away - again the phone rings and Andrew tries to pretend it's not his assistant - Andrew starts another trick, but at the same moment Albert lights a match in the cellar and blows up the house - ecs - THE END (11.46)