THE MAD MAGICIAN

Now then, once upon a time there was a horror flick entitled The Mad Magician - it was made in 1954 and starred the great Vincent Price. This early 3D shocker saw Price playing a master of stage magic using his skills to take revenge on a host of enemies and rivals. However this card has precisely bugger all to do with that particular movie! Instead, what we have here is the return of a familiar face...

Yes folks, it's the great Lon Chaney Snr. again! This is his fourth appearance over all, and his third appearance in this set - seriously, I'm beginning to think I should rename this deck the Chaney Pack! However this time it's not another incarnation of Erik from Phantom of the Opera (1925) - here we have the Man of a Thousand Faces in another of his terrifying own make-up jobs, as a vampire in London After Midnight (1927). Sadly this horror-themed mystery movie directed by Tod Browning, who would go on to direct classics such as Dracula (1931) and Freaks (1932), is now sadly lost, although hopes persist a copy may turn up somewhere. Tod Browning himself would later remake the movie in 1935 as Mark of the Vampire starring Bela Lugosi as the titular fiend. And in 2002 Turner Movies reconstructed a version using the extensive set of stills taken during the production and it has been released as part of Lon Chaney DVD collection.