Customer Reviews

Penn & Teller's Magic and Mystery Tour

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a longtime Penn & Teller fan, I've become used to, and even look forward to, their "snide and sarcastic humor" but this show is SO much more! This isn't about two Vegas magicians telling you about magic - its about two very knowledgeable men who are students of the art form and want to trace it back to its roots.

These guys know every move and trick in the book, and have made alot of money with that knowledge, yet they come across as genuinely humbled by the experiences that we witness with them. I found myself comparing this to Michael Palin's fantastic series of travel specials, where you feel that you are travelling right along with them.

I hope they do more of these shows one day!

This program actually consists of 3 separate programs. Penn & Teller are on the road to learn about the traditional magic of other countries. Those examined include China, Egypt and India. They are not out seeking famous stage magicians. Rather, they are looking for street performers and cultural items.

The programs are both informative and entertaining. This has less to do with the magic acts presented than with Penn & Teller's snide and sarcastic sense of humor. The shows were worth watching but, for me at least, are not worth repeating.

I was amazed by the historical informaton and introspective reactions by both Penn & Teller in this video series. They are obviously masters of the game by any standard - but it's almost as if they were humbled (if that's possible for Penn!) by their surroundings in each of the three countries they visited.

Magic aside - the socialist setting of rural China, to the poverty stricken maze of streets in India and Egypt - these documentary travels would be excellent as social and cultural teaching tools for jaded U.S. Jr. & Sr. high kids. Plus - some pretty cool tricks, too.

It's interesting to note that the original travel & production date is 2000 -- before 9/11.

If you are a Penn and Teller fan or just interested in magic and it's history, you must buy this DVD. Penn and Teller travel to China,Egypt, and India to learn about magic and magicians in these countries. Each trip is it's own documentary as we follow Penn and Teller around and even get some footage of Teller talking to the camera. The editing and footage is so great, and makes you feel as though you are with them on their journeys. The animated opening and catchy theme song is also fantastic. I've been singing it all day. You won't be dissapointed with the purchase of the DVD and there are even some great extras!!

The music and animation of the intro are very amusing, a little like Scooby Doo (in a good way).
China
They watched performances by magicians who'd learned from a long line of masters. About the first guy they saw did production of bowls of water (18 in all).
They showed a quick-change artist with masks. This is a Chinese opera thing.
In the teahouse, Penn did some fire eating, but the volunteer he got was slow with the cigarette.
They went to the acrobatics and magic school. They sat in on a magic class (~20-30 students), learning the linking rings with synchronized swimming-like precision. They did the 3 of Clubs force with scleral shells, and none of the students laughed until the teacher did. Penn got to juggle with a gal who juggles knives on horseback. After pair juggling, and pair juggling with flaming clubs/torches, he had to impress her by juggling broken bottles.
They went to a more rural area, where the farmers earn money in the off-season as street performers. They let Teller perform with them the next day. Teller did "Needles" , using an apple from the family's orchard.

Egypt

They were looking for "Galli galli men", traditional street magicians. They showed an Ed Sullivan clip of Luxor Galli Galli, and Egyptian magician who made it big in the U.S. [He had a cups and balls act with live chicks.]
The club they were in had several people doing linking rings. They also met someone doing cups & balls. A waiter was eating glass and a brick.

They visited the cups and balls magician from the club at his apartment. It turns out he's actually a relative of Luxor Galli Galli. He inherited the actual cups and balls.
At their hotel, Teller talked! He told how the cups and balls guy fooled him by faking all the steals, so one ball actually ended up under each cup. The nicest thing anyone could do for him. He also expressed his frustration at trying to communicate a linking rings move to another magician, and not quite succeeding because of the language barrier.

They found a galli galli man who claimed to have invented snake eating, and that no one else could do it. He also showed the first trick he learned, when he was 7 years old, which was a quick series of cigarette productions!
They went to look at a tomb with a mural that might depict cups & balls. They did their cups & balls routine on site, with plastic cups, repeated with clear plastic cups, the whole bit.
The street magic scene in Egypt is mostly nostalgia now.
India

There is a lot of street magic in India; most of the performances they watched had the magician inflicting bodily harm on and then restoring a relative. The first show involved cutting someone's tongue off.

The police broke up the show they were watching. If Penn and Teller had not been filming, the police would also have beaten and robbed the magicians.

They watched another show, which included some geek acts. They two "wild men" at the end, eating live birds. They were actually the magician's brothers-in-law.
They saw a performance of the Indian Rope Trick (rope rises from basket and becomes rigid; boys climbs up; boy climbs down; rope goes limp). They staged the outcome of the rope trick to fool some tourists (mythically, the boy is dismembered at the top and thrown down, then magically restored).

Penn and Teller share a reverence for the performance of magic, and this DVD is more of a personal journey for the two of them than it is a performance for all of us. While searching out street magicians they are awed and humbled at seeing history and tradition up close. They've clearly done their research, as they take the time to visit a Pharaoh's tomb just to see a wall painting that might portray the first use of the cups and balls trick. Visiting China, they give proper respects to artists who spend their lives perfecting one trick. In India, they talk with a family of performers who blur the line between doing tricks and conning the crowd.

There is of course, your standard fare P&T fun. They perform the Cups and Balls in the Egyptian tomb. Penn juggles with a Chinese woman who doesn't speak English. They con a couple tourists into believing they just missed the Indian rope trick. These weren't made specifically for the show but, I suspect, for the fun of it.

Overall it's a great DVD worth having, whether you're a fan of magic or not.

If you want to see a lot of magic,then don't buy this dvd.There's precious little of it.If you want to see a documentary of the countries visited,then it is quite good.Overall,the title is a misnomer.There is no magic or mystery.

This was a bit darker than I expected, but true to the genius of P&T! Fun to see them so young and sassy!