The Mad Magician (1954)

Vincent Price: Don Gallico

Photos 

Quotes 

• The Great Rinaldi : [about Ormond]  You had every reason to hate him. What did you do with him, Gallico? How did you get rid of it?

  [Don's crematorium] 

  The Great Rinaldi : Was this thing already built and hidden away, waiting for a job like that?

  Don Gallico : Ormond was seen alive two weeks ago, The Prentisses identified him.

  The Great Rinaldi : That didn't have to be him.

  Don Gallico : Who else could it have been?

  The Great Rinaldi : It could have been you, Gallico. From what Ormond told me you are a clever man, developed a wonderful new makeup, something new in the theater. Something that might be used offstage too. Only a man who dreams up illusions would think of such a thing, and only people of the theater would know it was possible.

• Don Gallico : For years I've been inventing illusions for big-name magicians and watching them take all the bows. Well, I finally caught the fever myself. I'm like the playwright who wants to get in there and read his own lines. I guess I'm just a ham at heart.

• Don Gallico : Gallico the Great, magician extraordinary! That's funny isn't it? Gallico the Clown. Gallico the Stupid Fool. There's one trick you've never seen, Ross, that no magician has ever dared to try! But I can't do it alone, you've got to help me; in fact, you'll be the star! Gallico the Great, magician extraordinaire - well, why don't you laugh at me now? Go on, laugh! Laugh! Laugh! Go on, laugh!

• Karen Lee : What was in that bag, Don?

  Don Gallico : Do you really want to know, Karen? It was a head. A human head.

  Karen Lee : Oh, you're just making fun of me.

  Don Gallico : Not at all. It was your head, Karen. The dummy head I made for the buzzsaw trick. Do you remember how its eyes rolled and the mouth opened in a scream when the teeth of the saw ripped into its flesh? That was the most lifelike thing I ever made. Do you think I'm going to let Rinaldi take that away from me too? Oh no, my dear. They'll never find that lovely head of yours.

• Don Gallico : You shouldn't have come nosing around here, Lieutenant. It takes a little time for a job like this, but I've set the machine at 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit. When it nears that point, this doors will open; when it is fully open, the machine will roll you in. Actually, there'll be very little pain; such a blast brings instant oblivion.

  Don Gallico : Can you hear it sing, Lieutenant? It has the voice of a mad bull!

  Don Gallico : As you can see, my crematorium is more than an illusion. You haven't seen it work, have you? But you will! You'll be in it!