Hidden in Plain Sight: An Archaeology of Magic and the Cinema

What does it mean to describe cinematic effects as “movie magic,” to compare filmmakers to magicians, or to say that the cinema is all a “trick”? The heyday of stage illusionism was over a century ago, so why do such performances still serve as a key reference point for understanding filmmaking, especially now that so much of the cinema rests on the use of computers?

To answer these questions, Colin Williamson situates film within a long tradition of magical practices that combine art and ...