"George McBride: The DVD" DVD by George McBride
Suggested Retail USD$35.00
Available from your favorite dealer
In a Blink: 10 Out of 10

"George McBride: The DVD", obviously a DVD by George McBride, is one of those rare collections of material where even the weakest piece of the lot will entertain audiences even as it fuses their cerebellums. The stuff on here is just that good.

I've heard of George McBride here and there, but never had the chance to watch him in action. Here, deck in hand and table in front of him, McBride proves why his work is such a sensation with those performers that have seen him in action.

Or, put another way, this is some great stuff.

All in all, there are eleven pieces on this disc, most of which are card routines with the exception of one coin routine (and what a routine it is, but we'll save that for a minute or two). All of it is also quick, direct, and visually pleasing. For the more advanced worker, you can't ask for more from a collection of material.

Before we get to the individual pieces, it should be said that all of McBride's material are takes on established themes and classic plots. There are assemblies, cutting the Aces, a color-changing deck, and so forth. However, in a bit of a rarity, McBride has built enough differences into each and every one of these takes that they are well worth looking at, learning, and, yes, even replacing some of the versions you're used to doing. Far beyond substituting one sleight for another, McBride has, at times, altered the whole feeling of the classic plots and that's something to see.

So let's look at the man's work, shall we?

The disc begins with "Ace De Triomphe". Based on Marlo's "Vanishing Aces", it follows the traditional theme: four Aces vanish one at a time only to reappear in four different ways. Yeah, I know that reads as common as dirt, but one look and you'll be hooked: the Aces vanish so cleanly and reappear so unexpectedly it's unbelievable. And I didn't like "Vanishing Aces".

"Bar Room Blues" follows and it's a good one. In it, three freely selected cards are removed from a red deck and, one by one, turn to blue-backed cards. As soon as it happens, the deck is spread and shown to be blue-backed as well. McBride's take is quick, paced so that it's in phases without seeming to be, and hits hard.

"Cutting the Aces" is described in the ad copy as a "smooth way" to cut the Aces and, brother, is it ever. This was one of my favorites just because of how clean it all looks and the very different way each Ace gets cut. Really beautiful stuff here.

"Double-Swap Sandwich"... I've joked many times with friends that if I ever see a DVD with another <insert expletive here> card sandwich on it, I was going to burn the creator in effigy on my front lawn. Well, I take it back in McBride's case because it just doesn't feel like a sandwich trick. The two black Jacks are used like scissors to pull out two selected cards from the deck. The selected cards are lost in the deck and the Jacks put aside on the table. The red Jacks are cut into the deck, presumably to find the selected cards. Yep, you guessed it: the deck is spread and, between the two face-up red Jacks are two face down cards... which are turned over to reveal the two black Jacks. The two cards set aside? They end up being the selections. I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but that wasn't it and I really liked what I saw.

"Open Assembly" moves into my territory. I love the assembly plot, always have and always will. But McBride's version? Think "Ace Assembly meets Invisible Palm" because that's what McBride did: he welded the two together beautifully. Add to the nice visual appearance of the Aces a clean display of all the cards, indifferent and otherwise, and you've got a great, visually appealing, version of the classic. And yes, this was the first routine I learned on the disc.

"Reversal of Fortune" is the one I'm still working on. The sole coin routine on the disc, it's McBride's take on the classic Matrix, using four coins and two cards. Oh, and it's got a full and instant backfire. Did you catch that? A full backfire sequence of four coins with only two cards for cover. And without gaffs, extra coins, or anything else. Pretty, surprising, and downright slick, this was one of my favorites.

So was "Immediate Ace Spelling". I know, I know.. it's a spelling trick. It's also George McBride which means this isn't your typical "speller". In fact, this one starts with a spectator shuffling and cutting the deck and ends, after you've spelled out three of the Aces, with the spectator spelling and locating the final Ace. That's different enough for most people, myself included.

"Hotel Mystery" is exactly what it sounds like: ye olde "hotel/detectives/guys-and-gals" silly story and accompanying trick. Yeah, but not when McBride does it. First, he ditches the deck and makes this a packet trick. Second, he ditches most of the story (thankfully) to shorten things considerably. Then he makes this a single transposition of multiple cards. Okay, so I still hate the story but -- man! -- I love what McBride did with the theme.

Back to assemblies again, this time with "Discrepancy Assembly". If "Open Assembly" was a marriage between "Ace Assembly" and "Invisible Palm", then this is their red-headed stepchild. It's an assembly, obviously, but this time with four Queens and only three indifferent cards. Think "Jazz Aces" with some really, really nice touches thrown in for good measure.

"Flight Path" is probably the hit of the disc. It's the signed-cards-to-pocket plot, but that's just scratching the surface of this one. The four Aces are removed from the deck, signed, and the deck put away. It's now you, the four Aces, and your pockets as the Aces vanish one at a time to appear in the pockets. Done well, this is a solid reputation maker.

The disc ends with "Triola", a three-card location. In it, three selected cards are lost in the deck and two Kings are placed into the deck to find them but appear back on top of the deck without any selected card in sight. The Kings are spread, turned over, and one of the selections is now between the Kings. The Kings are then turned face-up and they are now the other two selections. Another quick, visual piece that would play well pretty much anywhere.

There's one more piece, in the "Extras" section, that is McBride's own shift, "The Twist Shift". Clean, smooth, and elegant in its simplicity, this is a very nice shift that you'll love having in your hands.

The careful reader will note that, while I started off mentioning "weak" material on the video, I didn't mention which routines I thought were weak. That's because this collection is so wonderfully good that even the material I would consider weak when compared to other of McBride's pieces could find their way into my act at some point. Or, put another way, McBride's "weak" is still stronger than most stuff out there. You're likely to find yourself thinking the same thing.

Okay, so that's it for the contents; great routines all.

Also great is how they did the credits for the disc. At the end of each routine's explanation, the original source of the routine is given along with the originator. In addition, the sleights used for the routine are also listed. This is a tremendous resource in its own right and the BBM folks deserve a hand for putting all that info together and presenting it to the viewer so well.

Some things that should be mentioned, even if lightly so...

First, for the purists, some gimmickry and gaffing is used here and there. Nothing major, certainly, and the most complicated thing will take you all of a minute to make (and that's if you drop the glue stick a few times). Still, some folks are picky that way so it should be mentioned.

Also, this is not the easiest stuff out there. True enough, some of the routines make use of some very basic sleights -- we're talking simple stuff here -- but others will have you using all manners of things from cops to palms and things in between. McBride teaches everything, though, which, while the presence of such sleights make this more for the expert practitioner, really puts this in the realm of the advanced performer. To my mind, there are worse ways of trying to learn the more complicated sleights than by McBride's careful teaching.

I'll say in closing that "George McBride: The DVD", is a refreshing look at the classics, twisted every which way but loose by an expert at his craft into some gorgeous pieces of magic, and that if you're into card magic and you don't get this disc while you can you'll be kicking yourself for it later.

And kicking yourself hard.

"George McBride: The DVD" DVD by George McBride
In a Blink: 9 Out of 10

Material: 10
It's mostly cards (there's a single coin trick on here) and it's all extremely clever stuff. The sleights are moderate for the most part, but you'll spend a lot of time getting these ready to take out in public. Once you do, though, you're ready to knock 'em into the next county with some great takes on classic themes.

Practicality: 10
For the most part, all you need is a deck of cards. What little gimmickry is used is very minor, as are the set-ups and resets. Really, all you need are the cards, the coins, a table, and some spectators. You can't ask for more than that.

Quality of Production: 9
This is a Big Blind Media production, so you know the production values are high. Great camera work everywhere, backed by great audio. The only problem? The direction and editing needs some help: the constantly shifting camera angles, the staggered zooming, the traveling focus... I felt at times I was in a really bad Michael Bay flick. Still, while it may cause seizures in some, it's not that detrimental to learning the material.

Quality of Instruction: 10
McBride seems tremendously concerned that every single move is taught as thoroughly as possible and it shows. The man covers all the work here: the sleights, the timing, the blocking, you name it. A thorough job of teaching if ever there was one.

Presentation: 10
It's all about visuals and pacing for McBride. He keeps everything running quickly and smoothly and then, almost from nowhere, the magic happens. Nowadays, that's the way card magic should be presented and McBride is a master of it.


Shane

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