Magic Trick (1953)

Directed by

Orson Welles

Country

United States

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

Orson Welles appears on screen to perform a card trick with a magician who is off screen. They interact as the trick plays out. This was made to be projected life size during a touring stage show.

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What happens

Magic Trick is a short film made in 1953 by Orson Welles, for use in a show by magician Richard Himber. It involves Welles on-screen interacting with Himber off-screen as the two play a card trick, and would have been projected life-size (in black and white) during Himber's touring stage show in the 1950s. It was the first time Welles had filmed any magic tricks since his segment in the 1944 film Follow the Boys (which in turn used tricks Welles originally staged in the 1943 The Mercury Wonder Show); and from the late 1960s onwards, Welles would perform more of these tricks in public, most notably in The Orson Welles Show (1979) and Orson Welles' Magic Show (1976-1985). (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

• Orson Welles' Magic ShowOrson Welles' Magic Show
• Siren of Bagdad (1953)
• The Miracle of St. Anne (1950)
• How Is It Done? (1913)
• F for Fake (1973)
• The Fountain of Youth (1958)
• An Evening with Orson Welles (1970)
• The Four Troublesome Heads (1898)
• More like this film, on a shelf you can walk up to.It's the lit case on the top shelf.