Mystic Circle Murder (DVD)

The dead return to speak to the living! At least, that's what vulnerable and gullible mourners are led to believe when they visit the temple of the Great La Gagge, a charlatan psychic who stages rigged seances with his greedy henchman in order to fleece unsuspecting believers out of their hard-earned (or inherited) cash. La Gagge leads his latest potential victims, two wealthy widows utterly smitten by the Master, on a wild ghost chase across the Atlantic to the base of the Sphinx and the banks of the Ganges, as part of his scam to steal their fortunes.

Mystic Circle Murder, a low budget Merit Pictures production, is notable for a rare screen appearance by the widow of the great escape artist and magician, Harry Houdini. Madame Houdini delivers her definitive judgement on the efforts of the living to contact the dearly departed. Her verdict: don't waste your money or time trying to talk to the dead, because if her beloved Harry couldn't send back a message for her, what chance do the rest of us have to commune with the spirits?

• mystery
• thriller