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The Devil's Picturebook (PAL VHS)
The Professional Card Repertoire of
Derren Brown
Reviewed by Ian Carpenter
This is one depressing tape. Long before its
nearly 3 hour running time is up - in fact, somewhere during Derren's
explanation of the first routine - something becomes abundantly clear. You are
watching that rarest of combinations, a consummate card technician who is also a
master of misdirection: the results are supremely elegant and well-nigh
flawless. Then you remember: this is the tape of the material he doesn't do any
more. A repertoire which most of us would be more than happy to trade on for the
rest of our working lives, is here showcased, but primarily as a historical
record. Read 'em and weep.
The visual style of Devil's Picture Book reflects Derren's own dislike for the
standard paraphernalia of magic subculture. It is shot primarily in his own home
- an abode straight out of CS Lewis - in a continuous, one-camera style; and
takes the form of a conversation with his good friend, actor and fellow-magician
Peter Clifford. What this lacks as a result in visual variety, is more than
compensated for by the sense of our being privileged to eavesdrop on an intimate
conversation. The only real artifice is that every few minutes our magic chums
break off in time-honoured TV manner and gaze into telespace, when we cut to DB
actually performing his routines for the Muggle world, again in their homes.
Then back in his own little corner of HG Wells-land, Derren clearly and
methodically explains his modi operandi (one for you and Guy there, D).
These are diverse and devious in the extreme, revealing the study behind the
stunning routines: Lennart Green is clearly a major influence, along with Tom
Mullica and numerous others, but the overall effect is that of a conductor who
first learnt to play various instruments and now orchestrates them all into a
seamless whole. Fearlessly and relentlessly deploying deck vanishes, impossible
peeks, eye-warping switches and an arsenal of other under-your-nose techniques,
Derren leaves his spectators no chance to even begin explaining what they see.
And that's just the first 3-phase routine. For such a long tape, it wouldn't
have hurt to include a brief running order on the sleeve. Okay, it's really not
the point here; but for those of you who like lists, other reworked classics
include Oil and Water, Card Under Box, and Out of this World. They are followed
by more fully original routines by Derren like the blinding 'Smoke' and
Doublethink, the latter featuring his patent Velvet Turnover, an alternative to
the double lift.
For the latter part of the recording, we move on to what cognoscenti probably
consider that archetypally Brown-esque area, psychological card forces. Anyone
who has seen or experienced these will know how totally beyond explanation they
appear. Even those of you relatively familiar with some methods from his
previous book, will probably catch your breath at one point, as he discusses
this area with Peter Clifford! Somewhere in there too is Extreme Mental Effort,
a powerhouse challenge effect whose method will have you laughing or cursing out
loud - and probably both.
It's unlikely anyone but the truly obsessed will watch the whole tape at one
sitting, and in any case of course it rewards repeated viewings. However be sure
to stay for the amusing end titles - and beyond, for a fascinating preview of an
alleged 'Coming Attraction'. It's the best kind of in-joke - very funny anyway,
and hilarious to those in the know. Derren's outrageous sense of humour is kept
in check on his TV specials, so it's great to see it fully unleashed here.
Whether any of this material will really be learnt as it is by other magicians
seems somehow unlikely, and Derren in any case makes it clear how that is not
his purpose here. What you will see is the result of a highly organic process,
where a unique magical maestro has somehow imprinted his own personality onto
fifty-two pieces of card, and made them dance to the melody in his mind. Thank
the Lord for video, or we might have no record of what Derren did when he was
still 'just' a magician.
To order visit: www.derrenbrown.co.uk
© Ian Carpenter February 2002