The Sorcerer's Apprentice story
Hugo is a dim-witted boy without a home. He is taken in by a kind carnival magician Sadini. Sadini's deceitful wife, Irene, performs in her husband's act as the woman whose body is, supposedly, sawed in half. Irene manipulates Hugo into killing her husband. She says she wants to start a new act with Hugo and convinces him that he can perform the sawing the woman in half trick because the magic is in the wand. Hugo killers Sadini for her, but then she backs out on her promise. Hugo knocks out Irene in a struggle. He then decides to attempt the trick and ends up sawing Irene in half for real. Directed by: Joseph Lejtes. Story by: Robert Bloch.
16 total · 2 choice · 9 major · 5 minor
| Theme | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| stage magic | choice | Central to the story is the idea that the dim-witted boy, Hugo, was hoodwinked into thinking that the magic act of Sadini was real. |
| stereotypically innocent character | choice | The dim-witted boy Hugo was naïvely unprepared for daily life at the carnival. He misjudged the deceitful Irene because she was beautiful, and likewise the kind-hearted carnival magician Sadini because his goatee made him look like the devil. He didn't understand that stage magic wasn't real, and was delusional about his prospects of Irene becoming his lover. |
| extramarital affair | major | Irene had an affair with George behind Sadini's back, and plotted to get rid of her husband so that they could steal his act. |
| helping a stranger in need | major | Upon finding Hugo passed out in front of a hot dog stand, the carnival magician Sadini took him in to his trailer and took care of the boy without asking for anything in return. Sadini was notably kind in taking in Hugo, and this was remarked upon more than once. |
| husband and wife | major | The story turns on Irene using the dim-witted boy, Hugo, to rid herself of her carnival magician husband, Sadini. |
| infatuation | major | The dim-witted boy Hugo became infatuated with the beautiful Irene, not understanding that she was way out of his league. |
| mental retardation | major | Hugo was a mentally retarded boy who had escaped from the (unspecified) institution in which he had been living. |
| murder | major | Although perhaps not entirely understanding what he was doing, Hugo killed both Sadini and Irene. |
| poetic justice | major | Irene sought to trick Hugo into killing Sadini by convincing Hugo that the magic was real. Thus convinced, ironically, Hugo proceeded to saw Irene in half. |
| spouse murder | major | Irene was unarguably culpable in Sadini's death, seeing as she had manipulated Hugo into doing the deed. |