"Trio" DVD by David Forrest
Suggested Retail USD$20.00
Available from your favorite dealer
In a Blink: 9 Out of 10

"Trio", a DVD by David Forrest, is a collection of three effects using some nice moves with a simple gaff (included with the disc), that teaches some clever card magic and opens the door for some creative enhancements along the way.

I have to get my biases out of the way here first. I hate sandwich effects. I loathe them. If my choices were between contracting leprosy and being forced to perform a sandwich effect, it would take a lot of thinking on my part to choose which was better. About the only sandwich effect I have any appreciation for is one by Darwin Ortiz and, well, it's Darwin Ortiz so there's some built-in respect there. Otherwise, you can keep the things as far away from me as you like, thanks very much, and I'll be happy.

"Trio" is, essentially, three of Forrest's sandwich effects. Three I was ready to hate, by the way. But I have always had a deep appreciation for Forrest's thinking so I was busy cutting the guy some slack.

Come to find out, I didn't have to cut him any slack at all. Forrest, with his works on "Trio", has created pretty much "anti-sandwich" effects. The closest to the traditional effect is the first, "Shrink", and even that one is warped enough to make if different. Along the way, he's provided some very flexible and open handlings which can lead to the creation of your own takes on the effect (we'll get to that in a second).

Since we've started talking about the contents, let's just get right to the details.

The first effect is the aforementioned "Shrink". This one is going to read dry, but it's not; it's actually quite visually appealing when it comes to the climax. "Shrink" begins as you'd expect, with a selected card discovered between two Jokers in ye olde detestable sandwich fashion, not once but twice. Offering to reveal how it's done, the selected card is placed face-up between the two face-down Jokers where it's seen right up until the time it suddenly shrinks to a miniature card. The visuals here are just plain slick and what makes this one worth watching.

"Transformer", the next effect, I ended up liking the most of the three routines. In this one, three cards are selected and lost in the pack. The Jokers "catch" the first selection and the three cards are set aside. The value of the "caught" card is counted down from the top of the pack, that card turned over, and it's another of the selections. The first card, the one between the Jokers, is now turned over and it's the third and final selection. This one is quick, magical, and plays very, very well.

The last effect, "Flight", is just plain neat. Billed as "'a test conditions' card to wallet", it's got a lot going for it. The effect is what you'd expect but with some nice presentational touches. A card is selected and signed on the face while the back is marked with an "X". This card is then placed face-down between the two face-up Jokers and the three cards placed, outjogged, in the middle of the deck. The signed card is still in sight at this point. A magical gesture and the card is gone from between the two Jokers; it's completely vanished. The performer reaches into his pocket -- with empty hands, mind you -- and removes his wallet, opens it, and has the spectator see a playing card inside. The spectator removes it and verifies it is the signed, selected card. Beyond the fact the wallet is ungimmicked (though you could use your favorite gimmicked one; it doesn't matter), the structure of this one is what makes it; Forrest out-did himself here.

Okay, so the effects are good -- really, really good and at least once stunning -- but that's really the tip of the iceberg here. Forrest's handlings are slick and quite flexible. Essentially, the core of "Trio" is an excellent method for vanishing a signed, selected card from between two other cards and that leaves a lot of room for creative to types to wallow around in. Don't like having the card shrink? Have it change color or shape or anything else you want. Want something different instead of sending a card to a wallet? Pick another place or another object to get it into and out of. The vanish sequence is so clean that you'll find yourself thinking of more uses than Forrest proposes in his three offerings.

But if you don't want to invest the brainwork, there are those three effects and they are good ones at the least. If you're in the market for some clever card magic, stuff that has the ability to grow with your own ideas, then this very modestly priced disc (and the included gaffs) is well worth the investment of time and money. This is good stuff, as we can expect from David Forrest.

"Trio" DVD by David Forrest
In a Blink: 9 Out of 10

Material: 8
Three card effects, all based around a single, simple gaff, that are riffs on ye olde (and oft over-done) sandwich effect. But Forrest works his creative muscle here, making the sandwich the means and not the ends. The result? Some clever magic.

Practicality: 9
Throw the gaff into the deck, do a little extra work for each of the routines (and it is very little work), and you're off to the races. Each of the routines has a bit of a reset to it, but all told it's relatively minor. All in all, this is very practical stuff.

Quality of Production: 10
The production values are excellent here. The inclusion of a close-up picture-in-picture at various stages of the explanations is a real winner of an idea and greatly enhances learning the material.

Quality of Instruction: 10
Forrest goes into exquisite detail here, as he always does. Thorough and yet concise, he does an excellent job of teaching his material.

Presentation: 8
This isn't "start-your-own-religion" stuff here, and sometimes the handling borders on over-proving, but it's really fine card magic and that's nothing to sneeze at.

Shane

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