Okay, I'll admit that technically speaking, this film isn't what you'd expect for a score of 8. After all, this was a very low-budget production and occasionally it really shows it--though most of the time, they do make the most of their limited resources. The film does earn super-high marks, though, for its ability to entertain, as there is one thrill after another after another--just like a Saturday morning movie serial condensed into one great package. In fact, it isn't all that surprising that just two years later they DID make a serial version of the Chandu character and a couple more movies--though oddly, he was played by Bela Lugosi in them, while in CHANDU THE MAGICIAN, he actually played the evil villain!!
Edmund Lowe stars here as Chandu--a Westerner who has "learned the psychic powers of the East". In other words, he spent years with gifted Hindu holy men and learned to use their great powers to control mens' minds. Using hypnosis, Chandu can make just about anyone do or see anything!! This makes him one heck of an amazing super-hero. Some of his tricks involved making men think their guns had turned to snakes, the ability to make doubles of himself to lure away the bad guys and his funny ability to mess with his man servant whenever he tries to take a drink!! Aside from comic heroes such as Mandrake, this is a truly unique character--and a very, very unique one for film. The closest I can think of are films such as THE COBRA WOMAN and ALI BABA, but they really aren't the same. Considering how exciting and fun this film was, I really wished they had made more of them--especially since the writing was so "seat of your pants" good.
In addition to these cool psychic powers, the film features a death ray, kidnappings and an evil cult of followers for Lugosi--what more could you possibly want in an old-time action-suspense film?! This is really great and exciting stuff--much better than the usual film for Lugosi or Lowe--who both do an exceptional job in this film. Too bad they just don't make 'em like they used to.
