A spiritual predecessor to Anthony Hopkins’ Magic, The Great Gabbo is a fun and creepy time capsule of the lost art of Vaudeville, which according to this movie and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, can mess up with your mind. Erich Von Stroheim, of Sunset Boulevard fame, brings to life Gabbo, an egocentric ventriloquist who has a lot in common with Norma Desmond. He’s obsessed with the idea of fame, and thinks his success can bring him anything, including the love of his former assistant Mary. I think Gabbo is a very interesting character. While Magic’s Corky was a nice and shy young man who let a dark side come through his dummy Fats, Gabbo is the opposite: he’s arrogant and mean and can only let a sweet side come through his dummy Otto. It’s so true that part of Gabbo’s mental breakdown is due to him realizing that Mary fell in love with Otto, not him.I loved how the movie captured the random yet magical atmosphere of Vaudeville. The acts were all great, specially the duet/dance Mary and Frank performed on the spiderweb, and you can’t help but smile at an old school musical. I just wish they did something more with Gabbo’s descent into madness. A reason why Sunset Boulevard is such a classic, and Magic became an instant favorite for me, is because of their impactful endings. The final loss of self, be it physical or mental, have the spectacle eat the artist from the inside out one last time. Gabbo goes insane, but then he just sort of loses his job and leaves? It means that he lost all the success he desperately worked for, but this despair is not properly conveyed in my opinion. If the last scene was filmed in a different way, it could’ve brought the movie to another level. But overall, The Great Gabbo is a hidden gem for anyone who, like me, loves a little music in their suspense.
A spiritual predecessor to Anthony Hopkins’ Magic, The Great Gabbo is a fun and creepy time capsule of the lost art of Vaudeville, which according to this movie and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, can mess up with your mind. Erich Von Stroheim, of Sunset Boulevard fame, brings to life Gabbo, an egocentric ventriloquist who has a lot in common with Norma Desmond. He’s obsessed with the idea of fame, and thinks his success can bring him anything, including the love of his former assistant Mary. I think Gabbo is a very interesting character. While Magic’s Corky was a nice and shy young man who let a dark side come through his dummy Fats, Gabbo is the opposite: he’s arrogant and mean and can only let a sweet side come through his dummy Otto. It’s so true that part of Gabbo’s mental breakdown is due to him realizing that Mary fell in love with Otto, not him.I loved how the movie captured the random yet magical atmosphere of Vaudeville. The acts were all great, specially the duet/dance Mary and Frank performed on the spiderweb, and you can’t help but smile at an old school musical. I just wish they did something more with Gabbo’s descent into madness. A reason why Sunset Boulevard is such a classic, and Magic became an instant favorite for me, is because of their impactful endings. The final loss of self, be it physical or mental, have the spectacle eat the artist from the inside out one last time. Gabbo goes insane, but then he just sort of loses his job and leaves? It means that he lost all the success he desperately worked for, but this despair is not properly conveyed in my opinion. If the last scene was filmed in a different way, it could’ve brought the movie to another level. But overall, The Great Gabbo is a hidden gem for anyone who, like me, loves a little music in their suspense.
