Mild Mandrake

 

 (themoviedb.org)

MANDRAKE-1979-In 1948, a plane crashes in the Himalayas. All the passengers are killed except for a small boy. He's taken in by some monks but he remembers nothing, not even his name. Fast forward to Las Vegas, where he's now Mandrake the Magician (Anthony Herrera; later a regular on the soap opera “As The World Turns”) performing a magic show that includes making women levitate and turning them into lions. He's assisted by Stacy (Simone Griffeth) and Lothar (Ji-Tu Cumbuka). The government wants his help investigating a huge conglomerate run by Arcadian (Robert Reed) and a missing file. His friend Jennifer (Gretchen Corbett) claims that her father, who was killed in car crash, is still alive. Mandrake wears “the amulet of wizards” and can read minds. It’s actually all a huge extortion plot by ex-agent Romero (Peter Haskell) and his use of Stacy’s father's mind process machine. Also with James Hong and real-life magician Harry Blackstone Jr. 

The character of Mandrake was created by comic strip writer/artist Lee Falk in 1934 (Falk later on also created "The Phantom"). There was a 12 part serial produced in 1939. In the 1960's, Frederico Fellini had planned on making a version but it went un-produced. Director Harry Falk (no relation to the Mandrake creator) did tons of TV work.

Thanks for reading!