talkmagic.co.uk

The Effect
From the back cover,
Ali Bongo needs no introduction to the magical fraternity. World renowned for his enthusiastic and uniquely creative approach to magic, Ali is the ideas man behind many a famous name as well as being a top flight professional 'performer' himself.
This is Ali Bongos' first lecture for International. His talents have always and will continue to be admired not only by ourselves, but by the whole magical world. We are proud to add him to our range.

To paraphrase Ali's opening words of the lecture sets the scene perfectly:

"Here's something for everyone; Close Up Magic; Stage Magic, Mental Magic Children's Magic. One of my philosophies in magic is simplicity, simplicity of method simplicity of effect and simplicity of construction. Everything can be made easily, from rope, copydex,. tumblers etc."

Nothing else needs to be said here other than that this lecture contains great, visual and practical effects with rope, cards, silks and much, much more

(Available in both NTSC or PAL format.) 60 minutes - visual stand up magic.

The magic on this video requires no or little previous knowledge and is rated as easy to learn and perform.


Cost
£25 (and p&p, [unless you live in London])


Difficulty
(1=easy to do, 2=No sleights, but not so easy, 3=Some sleights used,
4=Advanced sleights used, 5=Suitable for experienced magicians only)
Mostly 1.


Review
As a beginner I enjoyed the video, but have slowly left it behind to work on more complicated slight of hand. It was filmed in 1985 and the picture quality is fine. Everything is explained nicely and suggested routes of patter are also given by Ali. One effect which Ali calls, "The Most Boring Card Trick In The World" is in fact exciting and amazing. I still perform this trick, which involves just a simple self-working principle, and when asked to do a card trick, most of my friends say, "Do that one with the prediction!"


Overall
An excellent step into the magical world for the beginner. Using the material from this lecture, and a little practice, the viewer could be performing a show in no time. Entertainig for the beginnier, but if you already know a lot of magic, spend your money on something else.