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Alakazam are proud to release the debut material by one of the best underground card magicians in the world: Benjamin Earl. For years, Ben has been one of Europe's top professional performers and innovative creators. Like many of these quiet achievers, he has previously avoided magicians, conventions and all attempts to get him to share his original material. Until now...

We can't tell you how we managed it, but you'll be very pleased that we did! This new DVD set comprises three volumes of startling, original material that will surely find its way into the repertoires of hobbyists and professionals alike.

Disc One features Ben's imaginative handlings for several of card magic's classic plots. Do we need new versions of Collectors, Hofzinser's Aces and Triumph? We do when they are this eye-popping! As well as these fantastic new approaches to traditional plots, this disc also contains many original flourishes and sleights as well as all the work on Ben's 'Stroke Change', which looks like trick-photography even when you know how it's done. Best of all, this incredible change, like almost all the material on this disc, is easily within the reach of any intermediate card handler.

Disc Two focuses on gambling and card table material. As a true student of the art, Ben has been refining and advancing card table artifice for many years. The finessed handlings and methodological advances that he demonstrates and teaches on this disc comprise some of the most important contributions to this branch of card magic by a new voice for many years. Fans of 'the real work' will be delighted by Ben's decision to share these prized techniques.

Disc Three contains a wealth of Ben's mental card magic, a style which he prefers to perform these days. There are several fantastic and totally practical handlings for Think-A-Card as well as versions of Mental Poker and Brainwave that break entirely new ground. Impossible Locations and Thought Card To Pocket handlings which fool absolutely everyone ensure that the only problem you'll have with Ben's material is which tricks to leave out of your performance!

One thing is for sure, whatever your interest in card magic, once you've watched these discs, you will never look at a deck the same way again...

You can see trailers for each disc at Alakazam or Youtube.

Cost

£49.99 at Alakazam.

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)

Ranges from 1-5 with most of the card work falling in the 3-5 range and the mental stuff falling in the "not that many sleights but require good presentation" category.

A decent level of card expertise is assumed, things like culling and the pass are used and not explained so if you can't cull or pass you will want to refer to some other source.

Review

Disc 1 - Commercial

Disc 1 features the commercial card magic of Benjamin Earl. Here you will find Bens take on some classic magic plots, including two handlings of Collectors, a very nice Triumph effect, an Ace Assembly, a Hofsinzer's Aces routine and a Prophecy Shift handling. Disc 1 also contains a mixed bag of different card moves including the Stroke Change, Loose DL and Side Faro False Shuffle, as well as a few flourishes.

Highlights of disc one for me are the Triumph handling where the spec just calls out any card and you do the normal Triumph stuff, to have one card (the wrong card) face up in a face down deck only to have it change to the selection. The Shades of Hofsinzer handling is also very nice. The Stroke Change, which you can see on the trailer, just looks great and isn't very hard to do. Like with a lot of stuff on these discs the sleights and effects may not be new or revolutionary but with Bens added touches and subtleties I think they are far superior then other versions of the same that I've come across before.

Disc 2 - Gambling

I've never been a big fan of gambling/card table type stuff but watching this disc has made me appreciate and enjoy it much more. Here you will find Bens thoughts on a variety of card table moves including a lot of the moves he uses in the trailer. Then he takes us through a few gambling flavoured routines (including Pluckley which is up on Youtube) before moving on to a very sexy bottom deal, the even sexier Grey shuffle (both of which can be seen in the trailer) a few one hand shifts and one-handed palming techniques.

There is a lot of great stuff on here that I'm sure you serious card guys will enjoy. The Grey Shuffle is just a thing of great beauty that I know I will use over and over again once I nail it.

Disc 3 - Psychological

This is probably my favourite disc of the three. Some of you may remember a few months ago I had a "Leaving magic stuff for sale" thread here. About a month after that thread and selling off all my magic stuff I saw the trailer for this disc of Past Midnight on youtube and was just completely blown away by the second effect on the trailer (Ramjollock). At that point I knew that I wasn't done with magic just yet. "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in."

Enough of that, back to the review. On disc 3 you will find the aforementioned Ramjollock, Pseudo Brainwave, Mental Voyage (the first effect in the trailer), Thought of Card to Pocket, three Peek techniques, the Lookaway Glimpse, SAS force, two handlings of Intuitive Poker, a mental Two Card Transpo and a bonus effect called Playing The Odds where you never touch the deck and the spec deals himself a royal flush and you discern the identity of his thought of card.

The highlights for me here are Ramjollock, Mental Voyage and the great Thought of Card to Pocket. It's such a simple thing but there is something in the way Ben does it that makes it seem magical. The explanations are all in depth and contain no shortage of excellent ideas and little tips and subtleties that you can add to all your current routines to make them that much better. There's also a clip of Ben just chatting to the camera when he thought it wasn't recording that has some great thoughts on it.

Overall

I feel like I can't do justice to just how good I think these DVDs are. 10/10 without a doubt. Not only is it great now, but with over 3.5 hours of content I'm sure that months from now I'll still be picking up new stuff that I didn't even think about before. I'd recommend this to anyone who does anything with cards. I feel like such a shill for Alakazam but what can I say, when they keep putting out this great material theres not much else you do.

Thank you for posting this reveiw up. I will definately be getting these DVD's in the new year (bye bye New Years resolutions). I've spent too much money this year, at least an extra 50 quid will be put on next years budget

Can I ask, how much of what is taught impromptu?

Thanks again!

Can I ask, how much of what is taught impromptu?

The vast majority. One trick uses Stebbins, one new deck order and then a couple require for example the aces on top of the deck or something similar which can be set up in a few seconds.

If you know the moves it is all impromptu.

storm01 wrote:If you know the moves it is all impromptu.

Sorry I don't understand

See kitaristi0 the correct answer would have been none of it's impromptu therefore you will hate all of it .

storm01 wrote:If you know the moves it is all impromptu.

A nice sentiment, but how often have you honestly put a whole deck into Stebbins in front of the audience...

Ah good point I stand corrected, although most is impromptu I would say. To be honest its got to be one of the best DVD's I've ever bought. I reckon the material here will appeal to most but especially the more advanced.

One more question. How much of it can be done in the hands and does not need a table?

It's the last question I promise

The mental stuff is all in the hands. Disc 2 has quite a lot of on the table stuff and the rest is like 70/30 in the hands.

Thanks for that. I went ahead and got it anyway, was planning to buy it in the new year but I really can't help myself

I've overloaded myself way too much recently. But hopefully I'll stick to my resolutions and not buy anything next year and just work on the stuff I got now...

Is that even possible??

You wont be dissapointed

I think I'll buy this instead of presents for others .

Just came through my door after ordering it yesterday. I've never ordered from Alakazam but next day delivery on a Saturday? Never heard of that before.

*Inserts Mentalism DVD*

i got my copy of PAST MIDNIGHT at the start of last week.

i think i have been pretty much crying ever since.

ben earl is supernaturally good!

he's just BRILLIANT at everything.

must go - need to watch the 'grey shuffle' again and have another little weep.

Real tempted to buy this, but it's pretty pricey. Can anyone offer some info on it that would push someone on the fence one way or another?

I feel like it could be good, but I dunno how much material from it I would use regularly.

I ask because I am making a purchase soon including Art of Astonishment 2 + 3, Michael Weber's Lifesavers, so I am not sure if I should go with another book or too, or rather this set of DVD's.