Mysteries, Magic & Miracles: Season 1

Starring:Mysteries Magic & Miracles
Studio: Highland Ent.
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

The old theory that magical illusions are all done with smoke and mirrors is proven in The Impossible Made Possible. This episode of the Learning Channel's Mysteries of Magic series explores the origins of some of magic's most intriguing illusions.

Beginning with the 1790s multimedia show phantasmagoria--a performance using a simple magic lantern and wall projections--the documentary provides insight into the early special effects that made magicians legendary. Peppered with interview segments conducted with many modern artists, the DVD shows us how magicians of the past harnessed the powers of sound, light, optical illusions, and even narcotics to bewilder their audiences.

The program also features the "Allied Arts," which are illusions such as fire-eating and -breathing, and a clip from an old Laurel and Hardy film spotlighting the funny and engaging performance of a regurgitationist. There are marvelous and entrancing automatons, tricks from the early days of electricity, and finally, the invention that eventually brought the death of the music hall performer: motion pictures.

Aside from a simple scene-access menu and a brief summation of the factoids behind the production of the program, the DVD has little to offer technically. It is the content, however, that makes the disc truly magical. --Zachary Lively

Customer Reviews:

Very entertaining and informative!.......2000-02-03

A great look into the history of magic including rare footage of performers from the early 1900's right up to performances by some of todays best illusionists! If you want to learn about the history of magic, these are great volumes at a great price.

Average customer rating:

Okay for the money
Not as good as I thought

Mysteries, Magic & Miracles: Season 1
Starring: Mysteries Magic & Miracles
Manufacturer: Highland Ent.
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Unsolved Mysteries: Strange Legends
Unsolved Mysteries: Miracles
Unsolved Mysteries: Ghosts
Unsolved Mysteries: Psychics
Unsolved Mysteries: Bizarre Murders

ASIN: B0003JAIZU
Release Date: 2005-01-25

Description

Due to popular demand and nearly ten years since its debut, the Sci-Fi Channel's #1 rated series, Mysteries, Magic & Miracles Season 1 finally can be seen uncut and unedited in this specially packaged three disc set. Join Patrick MacNee as he travels the globe in search of the world's most baffling stories and events. Season 1 brings back all those great stories from actual cases and real events. Infamous myths are put on trial as we try to answer those questions of the unsolved and unexplained.

Customer Reviews:

Okay for the money.......2005-06-06

As far as I can tell, this series apparently ran on the Sci-Fi channel (1994-1995), although it may have still been aired as late as 1998. There seem to be a total of 52 episodes for the full run -- and I hope someone will correct me if I am mistaken. Some of the later segments appear to have been repackaged in other forms for DVD, but this was the first time I had seem most of these. The series has the same general feel as "Sightings," but almost none of the topics are dealt with in more than superficial detail, and the stories are not as slickly produced. The set has been put together rather sloppily, with the DVDs externally labeled incorrectly. (Discs I and II actually contain 8 episodes on each, and Disc III contains 9 episodes.) Also, the sequence of segments within each episode do not always match the menus, and a few of the titles are incorrectly noted. There are also a few intermittent image and audio anomalies. If there is a release of Season II, I hope it is produced with greater care. Not terribly impressive, but light fun -- the best segments being those related to ghosts and hauntings. (The same people seem to have been behind the much better Ghost Stories series.) I love this stuff as a record of modern folklore, but someone who has not seen as many things on these subjects, or is more inclined to believe in it as true, might find it more enjoyable. (Without the errors, I might have given it 3 stars.)

Total Running time: 550 minutes (22 minutes for each episode)

Since there are errors in the DVD information, and no inserts are provided, here is a detailed breakdown of the contents:

DVD 01:

o Episode 01: UFOs; briefly: The Akashic Records (Edgar Casey and records kept in the spirit world); Qi Gong (Chinese Healing); Witches & Witchcraft; briefly: The Evil Eye

o Episode 02: The Hereafter (Life after Death); Natural Disasters (Are They Increasing?); Armageddon

o Episode 03: Angel on My Shoulder; briefly: The Loch Ness Monster Hoax Photograph; Legend of Moody's Light; briefly: The Urantia Book; From the Other Side (Channeling Spirits)

o Episode 04: Special Edition - Roswell

o Episode 05: Shadows of Chicago (Bachelor's Grove Cemetery; Resurrection Cemetery and "Resurrection Mary"; Mount Carmel Cemetery and the ghost of Julia Buccola Petta; a haunted restaurant); Origins of the Universe; briefly: The Flat Earth Theory; Many Lives - One Person (Reincarnation and Therapy)

o Episode 06: Math & Mysticism (Visual Music, a combination of Music and Math); briefly: Crop Circles; Ghosts Behind Bars (State Penitentiary, Rawling, WY, haunted by murders, a cannibal, and even a black cat); The Human Rainbow (Auras); briefly: Chakaras

o Episode 07: Climbing to the Top ("Hollywood" sign and Peg Entwistle); The Mansion Mystery (Nicky Hilton); briefly: Apport; A Cut of the Deck (Tarot Cards); A Vision of Mary; briefly: Stigmata

o Episode 08: Haunted Hollywood (Roosevelt Hotel: Montgomery Clift and room 928; Clifton Webb; The Pines, and a ghostly party); briefly: E. A. Poe's house in Baltimore, MD); Mushroom or Miracle? (Kombucha mushroom); Star Guidance; briefly: 13

Running time: 176 minutes (22 minutes for each episode)

DVD 02:

o Episode 09: Magic on Wheels (driving a car blind-folded); Star-struck Spirits (ghost on a set; Tom Mix, Marion Davies); My Favorite Pleiadian (human and alien hybrids); briefly: SETI

o Episode 10: A Perfect Day with a Vampire (self-described vampire Catarina Coffin); briefly: garlic; ET's Day On Earth (UFOs, videotaping Rods, etc.); The Future is Ours (Nostrodamus); briefly: Nostrodamus and O. J. Simpson

o Episode 11: Life on Mars (the "Face" and other "structures" on Mars); The Psychic Detective (Donielle Patton, Psychic Advisor); The Devil's Playground (the Devil as a genuine entity)

o Episode 12: Wall of Voodoo; ET Artists (Carlos Macias and Steve Neill); Messages in the Grain (Crop Circles)

o Episode 13: Creating the Illusion (Franz Harary, Illusionist); briefly: Harry Houdini and Mediums; On Pins and Needles (Acupuncture); Looking for Love (Psychic book stores, crystals, oils, candles, tarot cards, instructional videos); briefly: Recipe for Health (Chinese herbs, seahorse and sea-dragon soup)

o Episode 14: Skeptic Society (Michael Sherman); Interspecies Communication (Lydia Hiby, Animal Psychic; Stacy Patterson, Falconer; Carol Gurney, Interspecies Communicator); Harmonizing with Feng Shui (Traditional and Transcendental Feng Shui; I Ching); briefly: Universal Life Force

o Episode 15: Reaching the World Beyond (séance, with medium Mark Edward and clairvoyant Rose Clifford); briefly: Ouija boards; Dream Healers (interpreting and actualizing dreams, with Dr. Arthur Bernard, Psychologist); briefly: sleep; Spirit Investigators (Harry Shepherd)

o Episode 16: The Magic of Castles; Galactic Humans (Galactic Federation); Magical Love (aphrodisiacs and love potions)

Running time: 176 minutes (22 minutes for each episode)

DVD 03:

o Episode 17: Stargazing; Walk on Fire; Sex, Scandal, Death and Hollywood (Valentino's grave; William Randolph Hearst and Chateau Elysee; Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and Virginia Rappe; George Reeves, Superman); briefly: Bela Lugosi

o Episode 18: Good Vibrations(Psychometry); briefly: Time Pieces (a clock or watch stopping at the time of the owner's death); Dolphins, the Messengers (Dolphins and UFOs); Monument to a Woman's Fears (Winchester House); briefly: more on Natural Disasters

o Episode 19: Astral Projection; briefly: Apport (solid objects that appear out of thin air); Crystal Healing; briefly: more on a Vision of Mary; Scents of Smell (Aromatherapy)

o Episode 20: Sweet Adelaida - A Ghost Story; briefly: more on Past Lives; Soul Travels (spirit guides and Shamanic journeys); briefly: sacred smoking pipes; Beating the Odds (horses and vaulting as a medical treatment)

o Episode 21: Yoga: Art and Medicine; briefly: more on the Kombucha mushroom; Sedona: Psychic Hot Spot; briefly: the Bermuda Triangle

o Episode 22: Dead Sea Scrolls; Human Hibernation (Cryonics); The Seven Cities of Gold (Eldorado or UFOs?)

o Episode 23: Alien Abduction; briefly: more on ET Artists; Real Life Poltergeist (Black Hope Cemetery); Lost and Found (Pompeii); briefly: The Bog Man

o Episode 24: Red Feather (Spirit of a Navaho maiden); Railroad Spirits; The Roots of Our Past (Ancient North Americans); briefly: The Mound Builders

o Episode 25: Chessie; briefly: more on Qi Gong; Werewolves; briefly: Wolf Boy; Writhing Rituals (snakes and religion)

Running time: 198 minutes (22 minutes for each episode)

Not as good as I thought.......2005-05-19

I am a big fan of everything that is unexplained but this selection is nothing out of this world, they do not investigate they just give you the facts but nothing more so I can say that definitely "Unsolved Mysteries" has no competence to worry about for now.

Mysteries of Magic, Vol. 1: The Masters of Mystery

Average customer rating:

Very entertaining and informative!

Mysteries of Magic, Vol. 1: The Masters of Mystery
Director: Mel Morpeth
Manufacturer: Simitar Ent.
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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Similar Items:

Lance Burton - Secrets of Magic
Grand Illusions - The Story of Magic
Grand Illusions: The Story of Magic Part Two
The Magic Show with Doug Henning
Siegfried & Roy: The Magic Box

ASIN: 630545163X
Release Date: 1999-06-08

Amazon.com

The Learning Channel is known for its informative programs, and the Mysteries of Magic series is no exception. The first DVD in the trio, The Masters of Mystery, takes the viewer on a magical journey from the campfires of ancient tribes to the bright neon lights of Las Vegas and delivers a concise history of illusionists throughout history. Featuring interviews with top magicians of today (such as Lance Burton, Eugene Burger, and Jeff McBride), The Masters of Mystery uncovers the origins of the many modern tricks that still make audiences wonder "How did they do that?" Beginning with the magicians of ancient Egypt who translated age-old beliefs into physical acts of illusion, the DVD offers us a glimpse into the religious ceremonies that gave early magic makers their first platform for performance.

Using clips from modern television specials, the disc provides a definitive history of the classic "Cups and Balls" routine, possibly the oldest magic trick ever recorded. We are also educated about the book The Discovery of Witchcraft, written by a magician to expose the tricks of the trade in order to save many wizards of the time from being burned at the stake.

Technically, the DVD doesn't offer much. In fact, the greatest trick involved may be getting the disc out of the box it comes in--and the menu selection is a bit lacking in extras. The content, however, provides plenty of insight into the medium without revealing any secrets. --Zachary Lively

Customer Reviews:

Very entertaining and informative!.......2000-02-03

Mysteries of Magic, Vol. 3: Death-Defying Feats

Average customer rating:

Very entertaining and informative!

Mysteries of Magic, Vol. 3: Death-Defying Feats
Director: Mel Morpeth
Manufacturer: Simitar Ent.
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video

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DVDs Under $9.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

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( M ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

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Similar Items:

Lance Burton - Secrets of Magic
Grand Illusions - The Story of Magic
Grand Illusions: The Story of Magic Part Two
The Magic Show with Doug Henning
Siegfried & Roy: The Magic Box

ASIN: 6305451664
Release Date: 1999-06-08

Amazon.com

"Dangerous tricks are performed by fools," says Teller (of the magic duo Penn and Teller) in Death-Defying Feats, an episode of the Learning Channel's Mysteries of Magic series. In this program we are witness to many shocking and seemingly foolhardy treats.

A healthy dose of Penn and Teller highlights this disc, including their Magnum-enhanced modern version of the bullet-catch trick. There is also plenty of historical footage and narrative, including Houdini's Water Torture Cell (an escape that, it is reported, only 12 people in the world have been able to figure out) and many manners of sawing a woman in two. We are presented with multiple versions of the latter, from the cute, quick, and very plain to Richiardi's quite gruesome and morbid presentation.

The final half (no pun intended) of this presentation is devoted to magicians obsessions with firearms, in particular the many variations of the aforementioned bullet catch. Insight is given into the fate of the many magicians who have perished while performing the trick, and particular detail is given to the death of Chung Ling Soo, whose tricks were not the only things he kept a secret.

While the extras on the disc are little more than digital fodder, this episode of the series captures the viewer's attention for its entirety and goes out with a bang. --Zachary Lively

Customer Reviews:

Very entertaining and informative!.......2000-02-03

Ancient Mysteries - The Magic Of Alchemy

Average customer rating:

Ancient Mysteries - The Magic Of Alchemy

Manufacturer: A&E Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

( A ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Description

Nearly two thousand years ago, a shadowy group called alchemists embarked on a mysterious dangerous quest. In primitive laboratories they risked their lives trying to make gold. They also searched for divine wisdom - and the secret of immortality. Mysteries abound in alchemy's dark history. Was Sir Isaac Newton, one of history's greater minds, driven mad by his secret obsession with alchemy? Did masters of alchemy possess secret wisdom? What were they really seeking? These are but a few ANCIENT MYSTERIES.

Average customer rating:

Very entertaining and informative!

Mysteries of Magic
Director: Mel Morpeth
Manufacturer: Simitar Ent.
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Special Interests | Genres | DVD | Video

( M ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Documentary | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

Lance Burton - Secrets of Magic
Grand Illusions - The Story of Magic
Grand Illusions: The Story of Magic Part Two
The Magic Show with Doug Henning
Siegfried & Roy: The Magic Box

ASIN: 6305451672
Release Date: 1999-06-15

Amazon.com

While there aren't a lot of extras in this three-DVD boxed set, the Learning Channel's Mysteries of Magic series does provide plenty of knowledge and entertainment in nearly three hours of footage and interviews. With modern magic luminaries such as Teller (yes, the silent half of Penn and Teller) providing the narrative, Mysteries of Magic is, in a word, spellbinding.

The first disc, The Masters of Mystery, provides a history of the magical arts from the ancient Egyptians through modern Las Vegas performers. We learn the history of the perennial "Cups and Balls" illusion and see how ancient religious beliefs led to phenomenal illusion.

The Impossible Made Possible brings us on a journey from the days of early special effects in magic (light, shadow, incense) through the arrival of the motion picture. It is an intriguing glimpse into the magician's art of exploiting scientific principles and emerging technology in order to impress audiences.

Finally, Death-Defying Feats throws the spotlight on the dangerous illusions that have brought fame and fortune to many a magician. From Houdini's Water Torture Cell to the art (and pirating) of sawing a woman in half, we are amazed by the risks that these wizards and their assistants subject themselves to. Mysteries of Magic can be viewed in parts or as a whole, but it is always an enlightening experience. The series' greatest trick, however, is producing a thorough history of magic without giving away a single secret. --Zachary Lively

Customer Reviews:

Very entertaining and informative!.......2000-02-03

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