I have experienced fever dreams less vivid and demented than 1983s Carnival Magic. And I feel the need to establish that up front alongside putting this warning *Ping* on screen throughout this review because. To be honest I don't entirely know what to make of this thing. It's literally supposed to be a kids film, but I feel like making a kid sit through this thing would be akin to committing one of the "Forbidden Experiments". I'm getting ahead of myself a bit though, so…maybe I should wind back a little.
Carnival Magic is a 1983 kids adventure movie directed by veteran exploitation master Al Adamson. Al for the majority of his 23 year career in film making had predominantly bedded himself into horror and sexploitation pics such as "Dracula vs Frankenstein" or " "Lash of Lust" but for reasons that…have ultimately been lost to time and are frankly too bewildering to contemplate. After completing work on his last pair of pictures "Nurse Sherri" and "Death Dimension" Al decided that he wanted a new challenge and set his sights on wanting to produce a kids film to play solely at matinee.
At the time, the matinee slot for kids films, despite being understated was surprisingly popular and you could make good money putting films on as part of double features for parents to drop their kids off to for some "screentime babysitting" So what happens when you take a filmmaker 22 years into their career as a graphic and gory sexy exploitation director and set him up making a movie that's core demographic probably couldn't even do their times tables? (im sure there's overlap between those two audiences) well…you get Carnival Magic.
The film was shot over 3 weeks in 1980 in south carolina at the Peach Festival Carnival with the main star being Trudi an aging female chimp who had been deemed to be too old to be used in the film safely, chimps have a habit of y'know…not giving a fuck past a certain point of maturity and this was illustrated perfectly well when Trudi had had enough of filming one day and full on headbutted a script advisor while on set. Putting the guy in the hospital for several days.
Nevertheless, the shoot was cheap and cheerful and after that the film spent 3 years in both post production and distribution tendering before making its way up to screens on a limited run where it bombed HARD and vanished into the either, being considered lost for the best part of 26 years. So. with that in mind; what's this absolutely mental monkey movie ACTUALLY about. Well…
Carnival Magic takes place at a small time, travelling fair owned by down on his luck carnival operator "Stoney". In the opening of the film it's established that the Carnival has landed on hard times and that, without a major attraction to help shake things up, the carnival will have to close at the end of the season. From here we're then introduced to two of Stoney's biggest carnival attractions Kirk, a wild animal expert who may or may not be mistreating his animals and a mysterious "quiet" magician called Markov.
Kirk and Markov don't see eye to eye, the main reason being that Markov continually keeps sneaking into Kirk's animal tent and "Staring out" Kirk's tigers. Kirk claims that whenever Markov does this, the animals flip out and basically refuse to follow his instructions anymore. It's revealed that Markov in fact has some kind of psychic/telepathic ability that allows him to read people's minds, hypnotise and influence people and most critically, it allows him to communicate with animals.
While the film doesn't explicitly say what Markov and the tigers "Discuss" its clear that Markov has some influence over teaching them about respect. And that annoys Kirk who basically informs Stoney that he either needs to get rid of Markov or he'll quit. Stoneys not left with much of a choice due to Kirk being the carnivals main draw and heads over to give Markov his papers. Stoney tells Markov he can stay till the end of the week, but Markov tells Stoney he'll be gone by morning.
That night; Markov takes a walk out in the woods, but…somethings not quite right. He's talking to someone, or rather…something, specifically he's telling whoever or whatever that it's becoming increasingly hard for him to hide them from public attention, and that he doesn't know how much longer he's going to be able to keep it up. While on the way back to his caravan he passes by a tent and spots Ellen (otherwise known as Buddy) asleep on a bench. Ellen is Stoney's daughter and runs the ticket booths around the carnival. Ellen's mother wasn't built for the carny lifestyle and ran away when Ellen was very young, breaking Stoney's heart and leading him to only ever call Ellen "Bud" and dressing her masc in order to stop Stoney from feeling quite so upset about the situation. But Ellens not happy with things as they sit.
Markov wakes her up, and tries to get her to her bed. But as the pair are leaving the tent, Markovs secret is revealed. Markov has a monkey! A TALKING Monkey! A talking monkey who can do magic tricks, reads magazines and is domesticated to the point it can cook a meal, sweep floors and much much more! This, is Alex. A monkey that Markov trained in his ways of psychic and telekinetic abilities with his unfortunately passed away wife Sara. The pair have been travelling together since Saras death and Markov is fiercely protective of where Alex goes and what he gets up to. Ellen is astounded by Alex's monkey magic and begs Markov to show Stoney as she's convinced this is the act that'll save the carnival. But apart from the fact that Markov DESPERATELY doesn't want to turn Alex into a sideshow attraction. He tells Ellen that he's been sacked and will be leaving in the morning.
After some backing and forthing with Ellen, Markov decides to leave the decision up to Alex, he explains the situation and effectively says that, if he doesn't want to be in the limelight, that's understandable. But that him and Markov can only stay together as long as Markov has the funds to keep Alex fed and he can't guarantee that'll be the case if they have to leave the Carnival. Alex says he wants to perform and so, the next day Ellen drags Stoney to Markovs trailer where, begrudgingly, Stoney has a sit down meeting with Markov. Markov introduces Alex to Stoney and…in a bizarre turn of events. Stoney seems WAY more astounded that Alex can cook and sweep floors than the fact that MARKOV LITERALLY HAS A COHERENTLY CONVERSING CHIMP IN HIS POSSESSION. In either case Stoney snaps up the chance to put a magic,charismatic talking monkey on the bill and Alex and Markov are rebranded "Alexander the great & The Magnificent Markov!"
And with that we're treated to an elongated magic act between Markov and Alex in which the monkey largely looks confused and terrified. In the audience of the opening show is a somewhat sinister looking man in a suit who, rather stoney faced, quietly makes notes on the show for its full duration. We'll get back to him shortly but for now, the show was a success! And Stoney and his PR man David are dizzy at the possibilities Alex and Markov could open up for the carnival. They immediately begin working up a merch and branding campaign centred around the pair.
Markov meanwhile goes for a woodland walk when a fellow Carnie Kate asks if she can tag along for the trip. The pair introduce themselves and Kate shows a clear interest in Markov, who expresses that he isn't really in the headspace for a relationship. He elaborates that he and Sara were married and expecting their first child together when a freak accident killed Sara and her unborn child, and because of that, he isn't ready to start something new.
Meanwhile, ALEX STEALS A FUCKING CAR AND GOES ON A CRAZY CAR CHASE WITH A WOMAN IN THE BACK SEAT WHILE BEING CHASED BY THE COPS. in what is arguably one of the most bizarre scenes this film throws up, we spend almost 5-10 minutes racing around with Alex…and then that scene just…ends, and it's never referenced or mentioned again. It's like the film got hijacked briefly and then had to run a gaslighting campaign to convince you it DIDN'T just show an extended monkey car chase...
We get an extended heart to heart between Markov and Ellen about Ellen's mum and Markovs dead wife, Alex breaks into Kate's tent and steals her bra while she's sleeping…hilarity ensues. and then we cut back to Kirk. who's been hitting the booze pretty hard in light of Markov and Alex's success. Because they've been doing so well, Stoneys been prioritising them over him and because of that he feels his influence over the carnival is weaning. That combined with his animals increasingly misbehaving for him has left him in a place where he's beginning to have serious confidence issues and has hit the bottle to cope….KIDS FILM.
And it's here we begin to get into our third act, as Stoney and David begin to kick into overdrive in the marketing of Alex and Markov and David works up the courage to ask Ellen out on a date. We get introduced once again to the mysterious suited man who made notes at Alex's first show. This is Dr. Poole, a scientist interested in studying Alex as he believes him to be "The Missing Link" Markov refuses and from there the stakes go off the chart. As Poole shifts from "We want to study him for a few days" to "We're going to vivisect him and harvest his organs if we so much as get a second alone with that damn dirty ape." and he's willing to go through nefarious means to do so.
In a…dumbfounding finale for lack of a better word…Will Dr. Poole Get his hands on Alex's Monkey magic!? Will Dave and Ellen finally get it together!? And will Stoney manage to make enough cash to save the Carnival from closure!? All this and more will (probably) be answered if you check out "Carnival Magic"
And honestly; I know the words "Disorienting" and "wild" get thrown around a lot these days, but that's the only way I can honestly describe this film. The actual plot is pretty simplistic, in essence it's a bit of an E.T rip off…though this is a bit of interesting situation as the film was shot in 1980 and E.T didnt come out until 1982…so my guess is they didn't INTEND to make an E.T knock off, but kind of…shaped it into something of an E.T knock off during its elongated post production session. In either case the end results really do feel almost dream like…like, if someone explained this film to you and you didn't KNOW it existed. You'd swear it was someone misremembering something or making it up.
The script's plot is pretty simple, this is basically a family drama comedy for most of the runtime with the kidnapping and rescue/adventure part of the film being relegated largely to the final act. But how we travel through this piece is positively ADHD driven. There's a three act structure largely pinned by Markovs relationship with Kirk, with the opening act being Markov being sacked in favour of Kirk and Alex's rise in the scene, the 2nd act being Kirks downfall and the rise of Markov and Alex and the 3rd act being Kirk's full collapse and Markovs rescue attempt of Alex. but that basic plot is punctuated by a HELL of a lot of padding. Heart to hearts where similar information is exchanged over and over again, it's one of the rare instances where the script feels like the writers want the characters to go one way and the CHARACTERS are almost disagreeing with the writers…which is bizarre.
The writers seemingly REALLY want Markov to date someone, whether it's Kate or Ellen. But Markov flat out refuses and even by the end credits he doesn't really end up going with anybody. Despite the film vying for it throughout the entire runtime. I mean, it's an interesting approach to purposefully mislead your audience with themes that literally won't be elaborated on beyond the 10-15 minutes they're explored . But I don't know if it's conducive to a decent narrative spinner.
Given that this is a G-rated movie the film deals with a lot of themes that absolutely aren't suitable for kids, or rather, themes that kids don't really wanna deal with in a talking monkey carnival film. We see domestic abuse, complex talks about feelings of abandonment, gender dysphoria and comments on gender identity, there's a scene where Kirk gets gorily mauled by a tiger, alcoholism and addiction, vivisection, depression, sexually inappropriate conversations and much more. And I'm not saying those themes can't have their place in a kids film, they absolutely can if they're handled with the appropriate level of maturity that a kids audience can digest without becoming confused/bored or upset.
But instead; Adamson's Exploitation roots shine through here and it appears he just couldn't keep himself from introducing, what by his standards were light exploitation elements, but by kids film standards would be almost like cutting to random clips from Salo. and when the film isn't doing these kitchen sink serious heart to heart moments, its flip flopping DIRECTLY in the opposite direction with things like the MONKEY CAR CHASE, or a moment where its implied Alex molests a nurse, or at one point near the very end of the film there's just a full blown street parade that happen for no real reason other than "We gotta end the film someway!".
To me? Alex's kidnapping happens way too late in the film, I'd have bought that forward to around halfway into the 2nd act leaving the 3rd act to set up the rescue attempt and all the drama around what happens when they find Alex with proper closure to Kirk, Alex, Ellen, David, Kim, Kate and Stoney's plotlines. Because what happens here is the film introduces everyone, pissarses about for the entirety of the 2nd half of the first act and opening half of the second act. Then remembers it has to set up a kidnapping which it does near the very end of the 2nd act meaning the 3rd act is pretty much entirely bogged down by having to execute the kidnapping, THEN having to execute the rescue mission meaning that, by the time all's said and done. There's about 5 minutes to wrap everyone's storylines up…not NEARLY enough time to do these characters any kind of justice.
Character development too goes to the wall here, the only character who really gets anything CLOSE to an arc is Ellen. Who starts the movie having to hide her femininity and across the runtime we see her open up about her feelings on wanting to be able to embrace that feminine lifestyle, she meets David and by the end of the picture she's engaged, and fully out as the feminine lady she's always wanted to be with full acceptance and reconciliation with her father. And y'know what? That one arc is decently handled. The rest of it's bollocks. Barring Kirk, who goes from being a sober arsehole to being a drunk (and presumably arrested) arsehole. all the other characters pretty much end the film more or less where they started. Top end they may have started the film with a minor bug bear that…without any effort or challenge to the character is magically resolved by the end.
And the dialogues absolutely all over the place as well, I don't believe that Alex's lines for this were scripted. I think they assembled an edit and just got someone who was around in the dubbing facility to mumble and grumble whatever came to mind based on what was happening. In some cases there's a disconnect between what Alex is saying and what's actually happening on screen. Sometimes it's subtle, but sometimes it's a clear show that, whoever is dubbing this film has NO context as to what is actually happening in the scene.
The cast dialogue is awkward and repetitious, not a tremendous amount of plot progression is spoken about in the first 2 acts of this film. Points are just raised, reraised and re-re-raised with minor additional pieces of info bolted on each time. Some scenes have absolutely NO point other than to re-address earlier raised points and due to poor script structuring we find ourselves in scenarios (the introduction of Dr. Poole is the one that immediately springs to my mind) where they establish things, then forget about those established things for upwards of 20 minutes before coming back to it again and then having to re establish what they've already established because too much time has passed without them doing anything with the points they've tried to instigate. It kills time, but my god it's exhausting.
All these elements combine together to create a script that should be straightforward and easy to execute, but instead ends up chronically going off message, has to repeatedly reintroduce and re-establish plot points BECAUSE it keeps going off the beat and path, is unevenly paced, has a BEYOND questionable tone behind it and introduced plotlines and imagery that I won't forget anytime soon.
The script was written by Mark Weston, Bob Levine and Elvin Feltner. And if youuuuuu can believe it, this was their first and ONLY writing credits. And in the case of Bob and Elvin, this was the only thing they EVER did in the film industry. Mark on top of his writing credit managed to have 9 acting credits and rather ominously Carnival Magic was his last performance credit too. And, to be fair I could absolutely believe that someone would star in this film and then decide to never appear on film again.
The film was directed by Al Adamson, and…as mentioned he has an illustrious career in the exploitation and Sexploitation film genres with around 30(ish) directing credits under his belt and 7 writing credits. His work is often defined as some of the strangest and wildest movies in the history of cinema. Adamson would go on to direct one final film after this, "Lost" (Also known as Buddy & Skipper on it's home video release) and the combination bombing of that film and Carnival Magic was enough to put Adamson out of the film business entirely, he went into working in real estate where he'd remain right up until his death in 1995 at the age of 66.
And on the direction front, while I know a lot of people take pot shots at Adamson for his less than stellar output, I think Carnival Magic is a corralled production. He's able to use the elements he has available in a fairly complimentary way and his co-ordination of the various crews and cast, while maybe a bit chaotic, has at least produced something of a professional looking product. I have seen a LOT worse come out of this era of filmmaking. That being said, is it GOOD direction? No. No. no it is not. This isn't a pretty film by any mark and while being able to mobilise and organise a cast and crew effectively IS the main job of a director. Being able to turn out a product that doesn't look like arse is a close second. And while he HAS somewhat managed the former, it's inescapable that the end product looks…for lack of a better word. Sweaty.
There's a constant feeling of things being rushed, of some kind of madness happening off screen. Presumably because they had an old chimpanzee headbutting and starting knife fights with the crew members in between takes. But probably also because they were heavily limited on extras, heavily restricted on what they could and couldnt do while filming in an active and busy fun fair and slowly coming to the realisation that they'd written something that wouldnt be out of place in a David Lynch film that again, HAD A TARGET AUDIENCE OF SMALL CHILDREN.
Despite feeling like a snuff film charting a chimps last known whereabouts for most of the runtime. Adamson's films always have a decent heart running under the surface and I'll absolutely admit that some of the scenes between Markov, Kate and Ellen are absolutely wonderfully handled. Adamson really seemed to know how to get the best out of his cast, and even when the cast weren't A-game amazing. He was still able to get them to a place where they could be managed. Which is a critical and important skill to have as a filmmaker. Even in this film's worst looking parts, it still has heart. Which I think is what endeared me to it so much…well…that and the MONKEY CAR CHASE…WITH THE POLICE.
On the cine front, it's ugly. As soon as the opening shots of the movie revved up my immediate first thought was that I'd accidentally loaded "She Freak" into my player. But no, and comparing this film to "She Freak" on the cine front is a bit of an insult because "She Freaks" cine was actually quite delightful…for 1967. "Carnival Magic" was shot some 13 years later and released 16 years later and it LOOKS like a late 60's movie. Which is incredible because the leap in technological advancements not just in how we understand cinematography, but in the cameras and other tech we used between the late 60's and early 1980's was a revolution. A revolution that seemingly passed Al Adamson by. Shots are flat, lifeless, there's maybe a handful of shots of the carnival that look passably good. But the vast majority of sequences are shot for necessity rather than form. They're minimally constructed with little variety and barely any consideration for composition.
While some day for night footage is handled somewhat amicably. Most of the lighting is shot to be as broad and plain as possible, I don't know if they originally planned to do something stylised with the flat profile they shot in, but I'd be lying if I said this film didn't look and feel like it came from another age than the one it was made in. The editor in me was captivated by it, but if you're used to pixel perfect mainstream cinematography or you're one of those weirdos who picks up on continuity issues and holds it up as an example of how shit the studios are for not even being able to create a totally faultless unique experience. You are probably going to have a nervous breakdown over this movie.
Performance wise, I mean…Trudi the chimp…when not attacking the cast and crew is decidedly charming as Alex. though if you ever want a movie to highlight why regulations on animals working in films need to be as tight as possible. This is the film to show that. In the 80's people probably wouldn't have batted an eye. But by modern standards there were several scenes where I winced as she gets chained up and is clearly distressed by large numbers of people making noise. It's…a product of its time…and it's not okay.
Don Stewart as Markov is probably the best performer here, given he's being asked to work with a script that could best be described as "Madlibs" he gives a very decent performance, delivering his lines with quiet sincerity and when he needs to play deep, he really hits the notes required. It's a shame the rest of the film undercuts that with stuff like A CHIMP CAR CHASE SCENE. But he does a decent job and really shines. My only criticism is his physical presence is a little underplayed here. He's supposed to be Markov the Magnificent and while he's fine in his "off stage" persona. It maybe would have been nice to see his ON stage persona have a bit more of the copperfield "razzle dazzle".
Jennifer Houlton is wonderful here as Ellen really delivering on what the script gives her and going above and beyond in showcasing her transition from wallflower who's afraid to be who she really is, to fully blossomed woman. Her relationship with David is somewhat rushed (the film umms and ahhs with what to do with them for most of the first and 2nd acts, before putting them together around the midpoint of act 2. They date for what seems like an eternity even though it's only really a few days in film, and then they're suddenly engaged…Its a bit hectic) but on the whole, she does a more than decent and convincing job here and I was astounded to find out that this was her last acting role after only 3 credits.
The rest of the cast are decent enough, Joe Cirillo has a decent turn as Kirk, absolutely bringing weight and passion where required to a role that relied on it to carry the performance. He does a decent job and it's just such a shame the film got so hung up on countryside walks with Ellen and David that it actually forgot to bother to make him a bit more of a focal point. It would have been nice to see him lose his cool or make a few more mistakes more consistently throughout the film to help make the transition from lead act of the carnival to drunk on his final warning a bit smoother. As it stands he basically goes from leading the carnival, to being a bit worried about his place, to ONE scene where it's implied he's getting sloppy, to full blown drunk willing to get into Chimp thievery to make ends meet. ALL OF THIS unfolds across only a few days in film. It's not explicitly stated how much time passes. But given it's the summer season and it's well underway at the time the film starts, the whole movie can't unfold in any longer than a 3 week window.
And finally; the soundtrack; and what we have here is one of the most demented scores I've heard for a movie. It's mostly synthy minimalist attempts at circus music. But it's not done particularly well. As a result, it sounds less like a score that's been written for a professional production and more like some randomer was offered a couple of bottles of wild turkey to bash out music for whatever Al needed to have bashed out. Circus music at the best of times has a bit of demented edge to it, but badly played bizarrely paced entirely synth keyboard generated circus music is a whole other level of "What on EARTH am I watching!?" for some reason most of the sound effects in this movie are also sourced from video games including Centipede and Galaga. It's just…wild.
There are several rumours around what happened to Carnival Magic. As mentioned earlier it was produced with the aim of solely playing at children's matinee shows, but beyond that there were no plans for a home release and once it had finished its theatrical run, it pretty much disappeared off the face of the earth. For the longest time there were anecdotes that the film was "illegally" screened as backing footage for several punk bands during some illegal gigs at a regional abandoned indie cinema. The interesting point being that the people ATTENDING the gig stopped listening to the music and instead started watching the crazy talking chimp movie.
The film remained the stuff of legends and was considered lost until the mid to late 2000's when members of AGFA were asked if they were interested in a complete set of reels for the film that had been rescued from a cupboard of that very same abandoned theatre. AGFA transferred and restored the film where it received a premier on TCM, much to the bewilderment of audience members. It was then followed up with an appearance on the revived MST3K where it established and grew an even larger cult following. The film was eventually licensed out to Severin Films as part of their Al Adamson masterpiece collection blu ray box set released in June 2020. It also received a solo DVD release from Severin at the same time.
Both are now considered "Out of print" with the solo DVD slowly creeping up in price (honestly, if you want a copy get one now because it will go crazy VERY soon if it hasn't already) and the Adamson box set, at the time of recording going for frankly obscene money, and having contacted Sevrin enquiring about any chances of a potential reissue, I was politely told "No." At the time they initially put it out I couldn't afford it, and boy do I regret it... I'd very much like to explore Adamsons work in more detail because…after seeing THIS. I have a LOT more questions than answers.
Carnival magic feels like a made up movie. And I think, realistically, 1983 was probably the last time you could get away with making a film so blatantly cheap, bizarre and bordering on having the ASPCA and PETA raiding your set. It's a cacophonous experience that I'd LOVE to see play out in an actual cinema sometime. If you have children, show them this movie. Let me know what they made of it, the younger the better. I'm genuinely intrigued to see what they'd make of this…assault on the senses. With an all over the place script, ugly cine, controversial themes, direction that's off the mark and a soundtrack that could score a Five nights at freddy's game. I can only wholeheartedly recommend "Carnival Magic" dim the lights, grab a snack and let the 85 minute long Monkey based surrealism wash over you like so much hot vomit. Recommended.
source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/carnival-magic/1/
No comments:
Post a Comment