Chandu the Magician (1932)

Chandu the Magician: Directed by William Cameron Menzies, Marcel Varnel. With Edmund Lowe, Irene Ware, Bela Lugosi, Herbert Mundin. When delusional madman Roxor kidnaps a scientist in hopes of using his death ray to achieve world dominance, he is opposed by Chandu, a powerful hypnotist and yogi.

“Based upon the radio show of the same name this film is the story of Chandu,, real name Frank Chandler, a white man taught the secrets of the yogis. Chandler has been set loose to save his family who has been put into peril by the evil Roxor, played by Bela Lugosi (who not long after would play Chandu himself in a movie serial).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eContaining more action than most serials this is a true popcorn movie that moves pretty much from start to finish. There are dangers aplenty as Chandu struggles to save the world.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe film is near perfect, but suffers from a couple of small flaws. The first is the over use of the small man that Biggles sees each time he drinks. Chandu enchants Biggles to prevent him from drinking and its used a couple of time too many. The second is that toward the end the effects look weak. The underwater sequence is terrible, and the use of rear screen as people flee the temple is awful.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eStill this is a movie to sit down with a big bucket of popcorn and enjoy.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003e9 out of 10.”