Billy McComb's McCombical Prediction is a classic. It's got both strong comedy and strong mystery. But because it uses jumbo playing cards, it still falls into the realm of card tricks. And if you are like many magicians, you have more than enough card tricks in your show already. Or maybe you are a mentalist who eschews card tricks to separate your mentalist act from the "ordinary" magicians. Either way, Steve Schieszer's DVD Dissertation will let you give your audiences all the entertainment of the McCombical Prediction with none of the card trick stigma.
(By the way I have no idea why this trick is called DVD Dissertation... I like to call it McCombical Movies.)
A spectator is asked on stage to help you. You show the audience a group of about a dozen movie poster advertising cards -- they are 8 inches by 5.5 inches, slightly larger than standard DVD case. Each card depicts a different movie. One is shown and set aside as your prediction -- the audience knows what movie it is, but your helper does not. Now you show another set of movie cards, and show the audience that they are "all different" -- you wink as you do, because they can see that all the cards are the same, and match your prediction. The helper is given a "free choice" of any one of these cards. The remaining cards are again shown to the audience, with a another wink. You pick up your prediction and ask the helper which movie she chose. But she names a different movie than what you (and the audience) expect. Somehow, she has chosen the wrong movie from your packet of force movies! However, you are okay in the end, as your prediction also magically changes to match the movie that your helper chose.
Surprising, and easy to do. The movies are a mix of very well-known and some less well-known ones. The "force" movies are different in every set of DVD Dissertation cards, so no guarantees on what movie will be highlighted or climax in your set. But no matter what movies you get, the effect is still excellent, and one your audience will remember.
(This set will include movies for grown-ups -- PG and R rated titles. The trick is also made in kid's G-rated movies, but I think the effect and set-up, while excellent for adults, is perhaps too complicated or sophisticated for kids. I recommend this grown-up movies version.)
Brand new. This prop was made with various different force movies -- the movie card set shown in the photo (The Master, changing to The Vow at the end of the trick) is the set you will get.
