tomsview I love a tricky movie. However, over the decades, we have been prepared by the work of filmmakers such as David Lynch, Denis Villeneuve, Jonathon Glazer and others to expect the unexpected. I can see how "The Magus" would have left many in a 1968 audience wondering if the projectionist had mixed up the reels.Although "The Magus" is a pretty light workout compared to "Lost Highway" or "Vanilla Sky", in a way it was getting us ready for those films. It's greatest influence at the time was possibly the films of Ingmar Bergman.Nicholas Urfe (Michael Caine) takes a teaching position on the Greek island of Phraxos. When he encounters the wealthy, reclusive Maurice Conchos (Anthony Quinn), he experiences events that seem at first like practical jokes, but as they become more bizarre he isn't sure if he is losing his mind. He seems to be caught in re-enactments of the events in the life of Maurice Conchos, which also relate to his own.Apparently Michael Caine hated the film lumping it with "The Swarm" and "Ashanti" as his worst films. Candice Bergen didn't understand it at all although she was one of its major attractions.Maybe they were responding to a movie that was a little ahead of its time as far as structure was concerned. "The Magus" is anything but linear and I have to admit I'm not sure I understand the end. Although it probably isn't the most definitive of the 'is it real or is it imagined' genre, I think the journey is an absorbing one.The cast is just about perfect. Anthony Quinn eats up his role as the Magus - magician, illusionist, physician or faker. Michael Caine, despite his doubts about the film, gives an arresting performance, informing his role with a lack of emotion that plays about right for the hedonistic and selfish Nicholas.Possibly director Guy Green's straightforward approach to every scene including flashbacks whether real or imagined is a little heavy-handed, but it also adds to the obscuration - we are never sure about what we are seeing.John Dankworth contributed an effective score - capturing a sense of mystery and infusing it with a hint of Greek music along with some trademark jazz influenced themes - without overdoing any aspect."The Magus" is a fascinating attempt at something different, and it's definitely a lot better than "The Swarm" and "Ashanti".As Albert Einstein once said, "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one".

kentwarrenmcdonald 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.

MARIO GAUCI Being an arty psychological puzzle - and one which might well be not just incomprehensible but also meaningless - I'd always been interested in checking this film out; the fact that it was a critical and box-office failure made it doubly fascinating. Still, what must have seemed like the turkey of the year when new has, with time, acquired a certain charm all its own! On the surface, the film is certainly good-looking (shot by Billy Williams in numerous European locations, mainly a sunny Greek island) and boasts a fine score by Johnny Dankworth (which, in keeping with the film's theme, seems oddly unsuited to what's going on); the star cast responds competently to the mystifying plot (structured like a Chinese box - where past events are constantly re-enacted, identities exchanged and, of course, nothing is what it seems). Still, while Anthony Quinn may be everybody's idea of a Greek larger-than-life character, here he is saddled with an unbecoming Picasso hairstyle and, underneath it all, Michael Caine may well have been mirroring the bewilderment felt by his character since, in his autobiography, he singles out THE MAGUS as his worst film ever (though I personally would beg to differ and choose THE ISLAND [1980] for that unenviable spot)! Actually, it all reminded me of L'INVENZIONE DI MOREL (1974) - another obscure island-set drama where a man intrudes upon a remote community sharing an exclusive fantasy existence: incidentally, that film was partly shot in my native country and also featured Anna Karina (who in THE MAGUS has the rather thankless role of Caine's jilted girlfriend - though her performance is quite good and his callous treatment of Karina has a strong bearing on the main character's ultimate personal growth) as the mystery woman who captivates the hero; with this in mind, as I lay watching the film under review, I wondered at the possibilities had Karina exchanged her role with that of Candice Bergen (who's too young for her role but great to look at nonetheless).Then again, the subject matter was far more congenial to a Joseph Losey rather than the journeyman Guy Green...and one can only surmise how different - and more significant - the film would have been in the former's hands! As it stands, there are some undeniably compelling passages but also a lot of shallow modishness (the skin-flick with Bergen and Julian Glover[!] at the climax is plain risible) and lame moralizing (the WWII flashback scenes, featuring a bizarrely but effectively cast Corin Redgrave as the Nazi Commandant, being especially maudlin).At several points towards the end, it feels like the story is coming to some sort of conclusion but it just goes on and on, peeling off yet another layer to the meandering enigma; to get an inkling of what the film is like, just imagine watching two of the more cerebral episodes of the cult TV series "The Prisoner" (1967-68) back-to-back! In hindsight, the film's epitaph may have been delivered by none other than Woody Allen who once remarked that, if he had to live his life all over again, he would do everything exactly the same...except watch THE MAGUS. As for myself, I wouldn't mind taking another look at it in future: by then I'd be over the initial "shock" and could perhaps appreciate it better...

katraya Agreeably, The Magus was confusing and many critics hated it. However, very few novels can be condensed into a movie with all of the novel's major details. I do feel the movie captured the 'feel' of John Fowles book. It was mysterious, beautiful Greek Isle scenery and a great cast, especially a young and sexy Candice Bergen. I found it to be an excellent cautionary tale. When the movie was released, I was a young college student aspiring to become a high school teacher. This created a strong sense of identity within me for the Michael Caine character, and his punishment for bad behavior and later redemption. Warning, watching The Magus on TV is a waste because of commercial interruptions and the editing massacred the script's flow, leaving a very confusing plot. Unfortunately, I do not think the flick is available on DVD?Postscript: Good news. Cinema Classics Collection is schedule to release The Magus DVD on October 17, 2006. Hopefully it will be an unedited release version?