Misterios de la Magia Negra (1958)

A new stage show has been taking the city by storm. Enigmatic magician Eglé Elohim delights and terrifies her audiences with macabre acts of hypnosis and illusion. But only one audience member recognises these as very real acts of black magic. Professor Tejeda has devoted all his life to the subject, and far from condemning the magician, is keen to learn more. Unfortunately she's not a fellow aficionado, but a true dark practitioner, and decides the Professor must die to keep her secret...

Misterios de la Magia Negra (Mysteries of Black Magic) is a neat time! It gets off to an interesting start, and hooks the audience with some intrigue. How are these macabre stage shows achieved? What are her motives? And what will become of the curious Professor?

The film has quite a small scale. This is quite effective, showing that less is more, and allows the magic shows to be a good focal point. The story does feel a little barebones at times, but at least it's fairly short.

The climax is pretty exciting, with more than enough dark magic and sinister surprises. Then there's a pretty abrupt ending. The very second the villains are dead, the heroes run away and The End flashes on the screen.

The main guy and girl are fairly standard. They're good looking, upright, and have a healthy liking for macabre stage shows. The professor  makes some unwise decisions! His assistant Laura is bit of an old maid, but with a keen interest in the professor and his work.

The film excels in having likeable victims. The professor's death is a bummer but pretty inevitable considering how much he insists on probing dark secrets. Laura though was just trying to protect her departed friend, and gets killed for her trouble.

The villains are a fun duo. It's nice seeing evil magicians branch out into stage work! The arts appreciates good showmen. I was a little confused on who was who (especially with their other names) and what relation they had to the old warlock they speak of, or what happened to him. but that's not really important. We also get some doomed romantic backstory, that reminded me a little of She. It's also fun seeing her casually read thoughts and answer questions that haven't been asked yet.

Kerobal is quite an interesting henchman, in that he's otherwise loyal and grovelling...but to a fault! He's so loyal to his mistress that he will sabotage her plans if it means saving her soul!...(Wait, they're satanists, I should say dooming her soul).

The cast do a good job. Aldo Monti and Lulu Parga are fine as the heroes, while Carlos Riquelme and Angelines Gernandez deliver fitting performances. And the best are Nadia Haro Oliva and Carlos Ancira as the villains, who are perfectly cast, and exude just the right sense of villainy (with some fake ears on Ancira for good measure).

Black Magic is fairly light on effects, but heavy on props, which liven up much of the scenery. The movie culminates with a gooey looking monster, which I wish had more screentime! At least the movie had the patience to wait before busting out the big guns.

The film is shot well too, and makes nice use of shadows, and black-and-white lighting!

Mysteries of Black Magic is a fun little time, and worth checking out. It delivers everything it promises...