Black Magic

Father, for heaven's sake, what is this?

Night after night.

Scribbling as if you've got the very devil in you.

I've got the devil in me, or worse.

Why, father, this doesn't sound like you at all.

This man, this fantastic man...

I tell you, he's under my skin.

They say he hypnotized half the world.

I swear to you, he's got me hypnotized too.

What man?

That man.

That mind menacing mammal. That... Cagliostro.

Oh, Cagliostro!

The 18th century charlatan.

Was he a charlatan?

I don't know.

I've written books.

Pages enough to paper the walls of the Paris Opera House.

Characters enough to fill a regiment.

"The Count of Monte Cristo," "The Corsican Brothers,"

"The Three Musketeers," Porthos, Athos, Aramis,

"Chicot the Jester," "D'Artagnan."

But I wrote them.

This man is writing me.

All right, all right.

When I left the opera, I thought I was going peacefully to bed,

but I inflicted my novel "Camille" on you last week.

Now,

what was this fellow Cagliostro?

How in the name of all the saints would I know?

Devil.

Mountebank.

Fool.

I'm still wondering.

But his real name was Joseph Balsamo.

His mother and father were gypsies.

It is in the South of France that we first hear of him.

Joseph's mother seems to have had a genuine gift of clairvoyance.

At a gypsy fair she looked into the eyes of a farmer's baby

and foretold its illness.

A few days later, the baby died and Joseph and his parents

were brought to trial before the prefect of the district,

the Vicomte DeMontagne.

The charge was that Joseph's mother was a sorceress,

and that all three were disciples of the devil.

She's the witch that murdered our boy, Excellency.

No.

Lying, murdering gypsies! That's what they be.

Jacob.

He never had a sick day in his life, my Lord,

'til she looked at him with those wicked eyes.

"You're sick," she says, "you're very sick."

And my grandchild died!

It's a lie! My mother had nothing to do with it.

She did not, my Lord.

Highness, Excellency, if you would let me speak.

Maria never hurt a soul. She's a mother herself.

It's just she has a... sort of sixth sense

which told her this baby felt sick.

The baby never had a sick day in his life.

If I could be allowed to speak...

Father, these people cause nothing but trouble

with the devil's practices.

Devils have been the business of the church

ever since the fall of Lucifer.

There have been cases of clairvoyance, second sight...

There's no such thing!

Then how can you explain the visions of the prophets?

The prophets weren't gypsies, Father.

I find no evil in this woman.

I said I heard enough. It's none of your business.

Woman, the bailiff will give you two pieces of silver.

Raise another child and keep it away from such as these.

And as for the gypsies...

Hang them both.

You won't hang my mother. Not my mother! No.

Take this filth!

Excellency, as a priest I must ask...

As prefect I must ask you to hold your tongue.

Hang them both!

Why, you...

I've probably contracted rabies.

Bailiff, put him on the whipping post.

If he survives the whipping...

No, no!

Put out his eyes!

No, not his eyes! Not his eyes.

Bailiff.

He's still conscious. Are you ready?

Yes.

Joseph.

Joseph.

Joseph!

Joseph.

Gitano.

Joseph, bambino.

Gitano.

No. No, Joseph. No.

Don't look.

No, Gitano. I have to remember.

They made me watch while they hanged them.

Mother took along time to die.

I hardly felt a whip after that.

Those things are best forgotten, Joseph.

No, I want to remember as long as I live.

And that man's name,

DeMontagne.

The Vicomte DeMontagne.

There's no time for remembering now. Jacob, cover him.

They'll be changing the guard.

Hey.

After that, very little is known...

except that the boy, Joseph,

grew up into an insolent devil may care vagabond.

When we next hear of him, he was in Vienna

with a gypsy caravan...

presenting a show that was a mixture

of black magic and fake cure-alls.

Ladies and gentlemen, and fellow sufferers.

The great Balsamo is again ready for you.

A thousand blessings.

From the darkness beyond night,

from the forbidden mountains

of the secret side of the moon.

Behold.

A wonder among wonders.

But we come not here to trade, or gather wealth,

for friends, what use is money without health?

Ladies and gentlemen, the elixir of life!

The elixir of life.

Vitaminicus balsumicus rejuvenatus!

Bottled by me alone in the fountain of youth

deep in the jungles of Hispaniola.

The elixir of life.

One bottle for the paltry charge of a silver shilling.

Which one of you here is so racked with pain

that life has lost its smile?

Elixir. Only one shilling.

One shilling, please.

Elixir of life.

The easy way to live, doctor.

A shilling for a bottle of colored water.

And the faculty of medicine won't accept my theories for nothing.

You're not flamboyant enough.

Elixir of life, one shilling.

What more proof do you need, all you lucky people?

Give me a shilling. Here, a shilling.

Please, you have to sell me a bottle.

- Sorry, that's the last of them. - Oh, just one.

You've got just one. For my mother.

- Here, I pay double. - But they're all gone.

- Five shillings then. - Five shillings?

We can't pass up five shillings.

Hey. Get one more bottle.

- Here is one. - Here is one.

Hey! Hey, five shillings.

- All right. - I got one, mamma!

Oh, here it is, mamma.

Not all at once.

You're not as sick as that.

- Mamma, what is it? - Mother!

- Mamma, what is it? - Ah!

Mamma, mamma!

What is it?

They poisoned her.

Bambino, that woman drank lamp fluid by mistake.

Go help her, but quick. You're the only one that can do it.

- No! - Something's going on.

Oh, oh, the pain!

Listen to me. You have nothing to fear, nothing to fear.

You drank too much of the elixir in one dose.

It's very powerful, but harmless.

The pain you feel is going to last only a moment or two.

Already you can feel it going. You can feel the pain going.

Tell me you can feel the pain leaving.

It's gone.

You see, I told you you had nothing to fear.

The pain you felt is gone completely.

There, ladies and gentlemen.

You can see she's perfectly all right.

What kind of hocus pocus was that?

I don't quite know.

But it's very interesting hocus pocus.

Hey, somebody stole my watch.

Your watch?

- Dirty gypsies. - Thieving gypsies!

Dirty gypsies.

Come on, come on. Gypsies, come on!

Now, what else do you remember?

His eyes.

They seemed like saucers commanding me to be well.

Remarkable, it is lamp fluid.

And she must have drank enough of it to sicken her for a week.

What would you make of that, doctor?

The power of the mind, Anton.

This man is a natural born hypnotist.

This way, doctor.

Here they are.

You are... Hold on.

You are Joseph Balsamo. And you are?