Annemann's Practical Mental Effects Vol. 2

Osterlind, Richard

Jim Sisti

(Based on 2 reviews)
A classic of mentalism comes to life!

Annemann's Practical Mental Effects has been a landmark book for magicians and mentalists since its release in 1944. The routines that are contained in its pages have been influencing mystery performers for over 75 years.

This exciting new DVD series explores the work of Annemann and his Jinx contributors in a scholarly way, analyzing not only the presentation of some of the strongest mentalism ever created but also the thinking behind the effects. Richard Osterlind first performs the effects in their original form before an audience of non-magicians and then very nuance is exhaustively explained with the assistance of Jim Sisti.

Effects performed and explained in this volume include:
  • Bert Reese Secrets
  • You and Yours - Me and Mine
  • Extra Sensory Perception
  • Prophetic Tissue
  • Ultra Addition
  • Dead
  • Yggdrasil
  • 20th Century Newspaper Test
  • Par-Optic Vision
Running Time Approximately: 1hr 36min

Reviews

Christian

Official Reviewer

Apr 13, 2013

Since this is sold as a 3 DVD set. My review will be the same for all three DVDs.

If you want to know what is in the pages of Annemann’s Practical Mental Effects but are too lazy to read, then this DVD set will give you a very good introduction.

Richard has culled a good sampling of tricks from the book. He demonstrates them for a live audience and then sits with Jim Sisti and explains them very well. I think in keeping with the flavor of the book, Richard demonstrates the tricks with little presentation. You are simply seeing the bare bones. I like this, in the fact that you are only concentrating on the methods and not so apt to copy a presentation that you see. It will be up to you to come up with engaging presentations.

For people who have studied this book and hoarded its secrets like a jealous 1849 gold digger, it is horrific to see these secrets paraded out in the daylight. As has been said many times, if you want to keep a secret just put it in print. This is how Practical Mental Effects as been for last few decades. Everyone knows about it and owns it, but few people have read it. Now, Richard Osterlind has churned out three DVDs sharing the secrets that have been hiding in plain sight for so many years.

Is it worth the money. Sure. Richard does a fine job of demonstrating the tricks within the pages of this mighty tome. You can spend the money and watch them. That’s good. Or . . . you can read the book . . . even better.
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Jeff Stone

Official Reviewer

Apr 06, 2013

This part (within the red bordered box) is the same for the reviews of Volumes 1, 2 and 3, so you can skip it if you've already read it.


How Shall I Judge?


This whole set is a weird set to judge and review. It's not quite fair to judge Richard Osterlind on any weak parts of the performance he may have had because, likely, most of the stuff on this set is not in his regular repertoire so I don't expect it to be polished. Secondly, according to Jim Sisti (co-host), this set also was not intended to be a "best of" series either, so I can't really judge the set based on whether or not the material chosen was the top Annemann stuff either. Due to the way the Annemann book was written (as Osterlind and Sisti point out), it wouldn't make sense to go chapter by chapter (like Osterlind did for the Corinda series), so I can't really judge the set on how "complete" (or not) it is.


So, that leaves me judging the set based on the ad copy claims and the intent (according to Jim Sisti) of the set. My judgement on that is basically the same for the first 3 videos, so this part of the review will be found at the beginning of each of the three (1, 2 and 3) volumes. Following my general comments about the series, you'll find my thoughts on the effects of whichever DVD I'm reviewing.


General Comments About the Whole Set


A small disclaimer: Jim Sisti is a friend of mine and Richard Osterlind is a cyber-acquaintance of mine. We have a few friends in common (Jim Sisti, Jim Spinnato and Chet Cox). But as you'll quickly see, those relationships have not biased my review. Let's look at the ad copy first. The first paragraph of the ad copy is 100% true. It just talks about how popular the book is amongst mentalists and magicians. Let's look, however, at the second paragraph:


This exciting new DVD series explores the work of Annemann and his Jinx contributors in a scholarly way, analyzing not only the presentation of some of the strongest mentalism ever created but also the thinking behind the effects. Richard Osterlind first performs the effects in their original form before an audience of non-magicians and then [e]very nuance is exhaustively explained with the assistance of Jim Sisti.

Exciting? Not really. While some of the performances were smoother and more entertaining than others, many of the performances were full of awkward moments, dry boring silence, a fair share of bumbling and fumbling. However, I'm not too upset by that. As I mentioned, these are not effects that Osterlind performs on a regular basis, as far as I know up to this point. And the ones that he does perform more often . . . it showed. Those routines were much more polished. I'm merely pointing out that the DVD was not as exciting - it was even hard to watch at times - as the ad copy claims.


Is the material explored in a scholarly way as stated in the ad copy? Yes. Definitely. Sisti and Osterlind were very clear on credits and history and the reasoning behind methods and effects. This part was well done. Additionally, the opening sequence of each DVD is a cool little photo montage with a brief voice over bio about Annemman. Very cool. Obviously the claim that the material from the Annemann book is some of the strongest mentalism ever created is true as well. For sure.


Next the ad copy states that Osterlind performs each effect in their original form. This is not true in many (maybe even most) cases. In just about every routine, he changed the handling, method, prop and in some cases even the effect. For the most part this wasn't a big deal because that's just the way it goes; performers don't always use the exact method from the book. In some cases, Osterlind's addition made the effect even better in my opinion. There were some cases where his insight on the modification of the method where very simple and very clever.


I merely bring up the changes because it goes against the claim in the ad copy. Further, the claim that every nuance is exhaustively explained is just not true. In fact, on more times than I care to recall, Osterlind said, "if you want the details you can look it up in the book." Or, "I'm not gonna cover this in depth because you can get the details from the book." And several variations thereof.


So, you may ask yourself, why I get so hung up on scrutinizing the ad copy. Simple: when you buy a product, you should know what you're getting. I'm not even saying (necessarily) that the deviation from the ad copy is right or wrong. I'm merely making clear to you, my faithful reader, what you're really getting if you buy this set. If I based my review solely on the above, I'd be hard pressed to give much more than 2.5 stars, but wait . . . there's more.


Let's examine the purpose. According to the discussions (which I did find valuable and insightful) between Osterlind and Sisti, the intent of this set is to inspire people to dig through the book. They were very clear that they weren't trying to replace the book. They were trying to inspire a new generation of Annemannites. Based strictly on the impact the majority of the effects seemed to have on the audience (poor performances not withstanding), I think they nailed this one.


I've personally read the book 2 times from cover to cover and have skimmed and read chapters and studied parts of the book several times over, on top of the 2 full readings. Yet, after watching these DVDs, I now want to go back in and dig even deeper into the book. Most of the time, the audience members were quite astonished and in many cases actually creeped out a bit. It was some powerful stuff. One of the advantages of Osterlind's bare-bones presentations on much of this material is that it gave me the opportunity to project my thoughts and feelings on how I might perform the effects.


Further, a goal of this set was to prove that the material was not "dated." Yep. They proved that too. The material, effects, etc. is anything but dated. Rather, it's timeless . . . and you see this very clearly in the audience reactions. Were I to judge this DVD soley on this part (how well they attained the goals of the project), it'd be hard to give this anything less than 4 stars. So the advertisement and intent seem to balance out each other pretty well.


What you'll find is that pretty much every DVD has one or two standout items that will inspire you to dive into the book more thoroughly. Which effects will inspire you? Everyone is different, so it's hard to say. However, I am confident that you will find at least one effect that "moves" you and gets you to crack open the book again which was their goal. And I must say, that goal alone makes this DVD set worthy of consideration. Anything that inspires us to turn to our roots so that we can branch out is valuable in my book. Let's move on to the DVD at hand . . .



Thoughts on Volume II


I don't want to miss a thing (thank you Aerosmith), so I've made sure that I've watched these DVDs multiple times. Here goes volume 2.


Bert Reese Secrets (4.5 stars)

A solid simple way to do a Q&A routine. As Osterlind points out on this series multiple times, if you do this type of routine correctly, the billets and the questions aren't the focus . . . the real mystery is how the heck did he know the answer to my question. Of course, I need to point out that like the first DVD, Osterlind makes the mistake of telling a person that she will win a particular award (in fact he says, 4 to 6 times). To me this is dangerous territory. A discussion about this would have been nice.


You and Yours - Me and Mine (3.5 stars)

Pretty straightforward Do As I Do routine with a little bit of a presentational flaw in my opinion. It's got one of those moments where during the procedings you pretend to decide to do things a little differently so you have to ask the spectator to go back through his deck and take his card back out of the deck . . . a litle bulky. However, the overall method used is very clean and would allow you to skip that clunky moment with a little bit of thinking.


Extra Sensory Perception (5 stars)

Another favorite of mine from the book. A stack of cards displaying several different shapes and drawings are given out. Two people look at a drawing and you are able to divine it. The beauty in this routine is in the simplicity of how your get the needed information to complete the effect. It seems totally impossible that you could know what cards they've chosen. The reaction of the audience was incredible as well.


Prophetic Tissue (4.5 stars)

A simple card revelation that has a spooky climax where the name of the card appears in ghostly print on a previously examined piece of paper. Very simple to do and very magical looking. Further, Richard made a modification to the method that makes it much more practical and much simpler.


Ultra Addition (5 stars)

A powerful effect with a bold method. You predict the total of several thought of numbers. The method is so indetectible and yet so simple. This has the potential to be a real reputation maker.


Dead (5 stars)

Got some paper and pencils lying around . . . BAM! This is a powerfully direct effect. Several people write down a name on a piece of paper (1 name per piece). All of the names are living people except one. The names are thrown into a hat or a box or something. You reach in and grab one . . . you 'feel' that the person is alive. You do it again, and again, then suddenly you get one that you 'feel' is dead. You not only announce this, but you also are able to divine the name. The combination of principles at work here is powerful. If you're not familiar with this effect and you own this DVD, BAM! You just got your money's worth.


Yggdrasil (4.5 Stars)

A three phase ESP card routine that's pretty strong. The performance was a bit clunky, but the routine is still solid, and we get another very good tip from Richard by watching his performance. He has a real knack for making his "ability" to read minds very believable.


20th Century Newspaper Test (4 stars)

A bit contrived when it comes to choosing which part of the paper you will use to read the spectator's mind, but all in all, a solid routine. The beauty of this method is that with 5 minutes worth of prep work before leaving your house in the morning, you can do this any time during the day with a borrowed newspaper. Like Jim Sisti points out this 20th Century effect is just as relevant in the 21st century.


Par-Optic Vision (5 stars)

As with much of the Annemann stuff, the method is so simple and impact is so powerful. Blindfolded you are able to divine three cards placed in a spectators pocket in the order that he removes them from his pocket. It doesn't get much cleaner than that.


Final Thoughts


Just the effects alone average 4.5 stars. I think there is a lot of great material on this DVD and should definitely inspire you to dig through the book. I've given you a lot of information for you to base your decision on. I think it's been very fair and very accurate. The final decision is up to you.


Final Verdict:
4.5 Stars with a Stone Status of GEM!

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