Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.0

Carnival Magic Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 20, 2020

Note: This version of this film is also available as part of Al Adamson: The Masterpiece Collection. This review is based on the disc in that set.

Disc Fourteen of The Masterpiece Collection offers two extremely rare Adamson efforts, though Carnival Magic had a previous Blu- ray release in 2011 from Virgil Films & Entertainment.

There's a full plot (if you can call it that) summary as well as my trenchant response to the film in our Carnival Magic Blu-ray review of the Virgil Films Blu-ray release from several years ago. That review can also serve as a starting point for comparisons of the two presentations' video quality.

Carnival Magic Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Carnival Magic is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.84:1. As I got into in the review of the Virgil Films Blu-ray, that label claimed their version was sourced from a internegative, while all supporting documentation about the "miraculous" discovery of the film as well as my own eyes tended to suggest it was sourced from a print, and indeed as is physically shown in the very interesting if brief featurette included on this release, there is only one known print (as in print) of the film, and it seems that Severin has gone back to the drawing board with a new scan. Unlike the Virgil release, this has a definite grain field, but it also has pretty significant damage that didn't show up in the Virgil version, so some may feel that lessens the trade off. The palette still pops surprisingly well for the bulk of this presentation, with blues and reds especially well saturated. There can be crush at times, including a brief moment at around 1:05:39 where our hero's black hair blends completely into the night sky behind him. Trudi's fur can also look like a solid sheath in some darker moments. At around 1:10:46 the image starts being littered very heavily with numerous and intermittently pretty large blue blobs that I assume were caused by some kind of emulsion damage. These continue to be pretty prevalent for much of the rest of the presentation. All of this said, in my estimation this version is the clear winner because it offers a more organic, filmlike presentation, even if it is hobbled by some pretty noticeable damage. My score is 3.25.

Carnival Magic Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Virgil release offered only lossy Dolby audio, though it did contain a surround track, for what that's worth (it wasn't mind blowingly immersive, believe me). This release has this set's "traditional" DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track that sports fine fidelity, if again an overall slightly boxy sound. Some of the jangly banjo music sounds great, and there's a good accounting of the outdoor ambient environmental noises, where things like birdsong and rustling breezes fill the background. Dialogue is presented cleanly and clearly throughout the presentation. English subtitles are available via the button on your remote.

Carnival Magic Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• A Boon to Science (1080p; 11:47) is an appreciation by Zack Carlson and Lars Nilsen, along with an archivist from the American Genre Film Archive. This has some great background information on how the print of Carnival Magic was discovered.


• Audio Commentary with Producer Elvin Feltner


• Outtakes (1080p; 20:29) are silent.


• Carnival Magic Trailer (1080p; 1:04)


• TV Spot (1080p; 00:31)

Note: While offered as its own "feature" in the Adamson Masterpiece Collection listed above, it's my understanding that the standalone release of this film also offers Lost as a supplement.

Carnival Magic Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

In my obviously joke laden review of the Virgil release of this title, I mentioned that some heathens still complained that we were waiting on the original versions of The Magnificent Ambersons or Touch of Evil, and yet here we had Carnival Magic in high definition. Well, guess what? We're still still waiting on the original versions of those Welles masterpieces, but here's a second Blu-ray of Carnival Magic. The mind boggles. I preferred the technical merits of this release, but this doesn't have all of the supplements of the Virgil release. The new featurette is a lot of fun and should delight fans. ( Are there fans of this movie? Don't answer that.)