Magic

A hammed-up version of the old chestnut about the ventriloquist who is 'taken over' by his dummy, clumsily adapted by William Goldman from his own novel and infinitely better done in The Great Gabbo and Dead of Night. Hopkins starts over the top and soars even higher. Ann-Margret is wasted, and only Burgess Meredith (as the ventriloquist's ill-fated agent) comes out of the farrago with any honours. This is not a genre that suits Attenborough's 'epic' approach to movie-making.