Based on the popular radio show, Chandu the Magician pits Edmund Lowe in the title role against Bela Lugsoi as the evil Roxor, a megalomaniac intent on world domination. Despite high production values, the film performed poorly at the box office, causing Fox to shelve plans for a sequel. Lugosi was cast as the heroic Chandu in the 1934 serial The Return of Chandu. He also appeared with Edmund Lowe in The Silent Command (1923), Women of All Nations (1931), Gift of Gab (1934) and Best Man Wins (1935).
One Sheet Poster
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Production Company: Fox
Directors: Marchal Varnel and William Cameron Menzies
Assistant Director: Walter Mayo
Screenplay: Philip Klein and Barry Conners
Based on the Chandu The Magician radio programme created by Harry A. Earnshaw, Vera M. Oldham and R.R. Morgan
Script & Additional Dialogue: Guy Bolton, Bradley King, Harry Segall
Cinematography: James Wong Howe
Assistant Camera: Jack Epstein, Paul Lockwood
Camera Operator : Irving Rosenberg
Art Direction: Max Parker
Still Photographer: Anthony Ugrin
Recording Engineer: Joseph E. Aiken
Editor: Harold D. Schuster
Wardrobe: Earl Luick
Musical Director: Louis De Francesco
Running Time 72 minutes
Copyright number: LP3238, September 3, 1932
Cast:
Edmund Lowe: Chandu/Frank Chandler
Irene Ware: Princess Nadji
Bela Lugosi: Roxar
Herbert Mundin: Albert Miggles
Henry B. Walthall: Robert Regent
Weldon Heyburn: Abdullah
Virgnia Hammond: Dorothy Regent
Michael Stuart as Nestor Aber: Bobby Regent
June Lang as June Vlasek: Betty Lou Regent
Nigel Du Brulier: Yogi teacher
Charles Stevens: Ali
John George: 3rd man bidding on Betty Lou Regent
Dick Sutherland: Henchman
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The Film Daily, May 17, 1932
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The Film Daily, August 29, 1932
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The Film Daily, September 17, 1932
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The Pitsburgh Press, September 30, 1932
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The Magican, Lawrence Journal-World, October 1, 1932
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The New York Times, October 1, 1932
A Radio Marvel.
On the radio the nightly recital of Chandu’s adventures contrived, in the well-remembered manner of Pauline and Elmo the Mighty, to open with an escape from an impossible dilemma and to close with a plunge into a more impossible one. Not unexpectedly, this screen version has the same clutter of climaxes from which the great Chandu emerges every five minutes with the same facility. The result is whooping entertainment for the children and a series of naïvely juvenile escapades for the grown-ups. Roxor, a baleful character whose behavior may be described with the simple information that Bela Lugosi plays the part, is a madman who wants to possess himself of a death ray and destroy the world. The ray is the invention of a certain Robert Regent, traveling in Egypt with his family. Chandu, an adventurer turned Yogi, shows up in time to prevent the annihilation of the entire family and to battle Roxor all over Egypt in the process of saving the world from extinction. Although Chandu, like a good Yogi, is indifferent to all earthly things, his indifference does not keep him from loving and ultimately wedding the Princess Nadji, another imperiled damsel. In one episode Chandu is manacled, bundled into a weighted coffin and dropped to the bottom of the Nile, whence he rises safely after a sufficiently harrowing struggle. Herbert Mundin, as the drunken and gullible orderly of the mystic, provides some badly needed humor. Mr. Lugosi’s familiar tactics of terrorization seem overstated. Irene Ware, a newcomer, makes a charming juvenile as the Princess. A feature of the stage show is an effective arrangement of Kol Nidre, rendered by William Robyn and a large chorus. “Box o’ Tricks” and “Dance Away the Night” are the other stage pageants. CHANDU THE MAGICIAN, from the radio serial by Harry A. Earnshaw, Vera M. Oldham and R. R. Morgan; directed by Marcel Varnel and William C. Menzies; produced by the Fox Film Corporation. At the Roxy. Chandu . . . . . Edmund Lowe Princess Nadji . . . . . Irene Ware Roxor . . . . . Bela Lugosi Albert Miggles . . . . . Herbert Mundin Robert Regent . . . . . Henry B. Walthall Abdullah . . . . . Weldon Heyburn Dorothy . . . . . Virginia Hammond Betty Lou . . . . . June Vlasek Bobby . . . . . Nestor Aber
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Picture Play, October 1932
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The Reading Eagle, October 2, 1932
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The Reading Eagle, October 3, 1932
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The Reading Eagle, October 4, 1932
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The Reading Eagle, October 5, 1932
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The Desert News, October 6, 1932
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The Desert News, October 7, 1932
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The Desert News, October 8, 1932
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Berkeley Daily Gazette, October 11, 1932
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The Desert News, October 11, 1932
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San Jose Evening News, October 19, 1933
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The Tuscaloosa News, October 20, 1932
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Photoplay Magazine, November, 1932
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Photoplay Magazine, November, 1932
Brief Reviews Of The Current Pictures
CHANDU, THE MAGICIAN – Fox. – Edmund Lowe as Chandu, modern worker of magic, in an exciting picture. Bela Lugosi helps provide thrills. For the whole family.
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Unknown Newspaper
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Unknown Newspaper
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Picture Show, January 14, 1933
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The Spokane Daily Chronicle, June 20, 1933
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Posters
German One Sheet
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Glass Slide
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Lobby Cards
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Herald
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Book Adaptation
Chandu The Magician, Big Little Book (1935)
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Stills
Bela Lugosi
Irene Ware and Bela Lugosi
Edmund Lowe
Bela Lugosi, Henry B. Waltham and Virginia Hammond
Bela Lugosi
Irene Ware and Bela Lugosi
Bela Lugosi, Irene Ware and Edmund Lowe
Edmund Lowe and Irene Ware
Irene Ware and Bela Lugosi
Bela Lugosi and Henry B. Waltham
Bela lugosi and Edmund Lowe
Irene Ware and Bela Lugosi
Irene Ware and Bela Lugosi
Edmund Lowe, Bela Lugosi, Weldon Hayburn and Irene Ware
Bela Lugosi
William Cameron Menzies, Weldon Hayburn, Edmund Lowe, Marcel Varnel, Bela Lugosi, Irene Ware and June Vlasek (June Lang)
Bela Lugosi (Courtesy of Paul Seiler)
Bela Lugosi and Edmund Lowe
