I was a little disappointed with Greg's newest release. There is some good material on the DVD, but not near as high of quality as his previous works.

Time Card- I never really liked these types of effects. Three cards are selected by the spectators. When the cards are revealed they are seen to represent the time of day (ex: selected cards are a 2, 4, and 9- the time of day would be 2:49) Richard Sanders and David Acer have a superior version, in my opinion, on their Roadkillers tape that adds a Triumph effect. Nothing special in this version.

The Slot Machine Scam- This is pretty cool, but there are really never going to be any opportunities to perform this. First, you must have a slot machine handy and second you must have time to prepare. It would make a cool effect for a television appearance. The coolest part of the routine is based on an idea by David Acer involving placing a card into a bill slot on a vending machine. If you used the idea for a simple card change when you happen to be near a vending machine, you would get great reactions. If you don't know the principle, at least you could learn it here.

Chip on Shoulder- For me this was the best thing on the DVD. It is very similar to a routine he put on his On The Spot DVD. Basically a casino chip disappears from your hands and appears on your spectators shoulder a couple of times. The best part of the routine is that when you repeat the effect, the audience assumes the coin will reappear on the same shoulder, but it ends up on the other one.

Cut Throat- Nothing special here. Just a simple four ace production. If you like the effect, but can't pull off the "move," there are simpler methods if you think about it.

Foreign Affair- This is a very clever trick. "Each time you fold a one dollar bill, it changes into another country's currency... and finally into a perfectly examinable hundred dollar bill." This isn't really a magician fooler, but it is very visual and amazing to the audience. You may have to go to some trouble to find the currency needed to make up this trick, but you could always use American currency and make the one dollar bill change progressively into a hundred (this is the original version of the trick that Greg credits on the DVD)

The Ring Thing- This is an ok illusion, but this routine is not one that I would ever perform. There's a point in the routine where Greg places the spectator's ring on his head to produce it in the spectator's hands (he taught this on the On The Spot DVD). There is no way I would ever do this to someone else's ring; too risky in my opinion.

Son of a Switch- This is basically a transposition effect where a selected card and a joker change places a few times. The routine is ok, but the end could be a lot better. Also, on the explanation portion, he says that you need a duplicate card, although if you perform the trick as taught, you never need the duplicate. In my opinion, you would be better off to use the duplicate to enable you to do the final transpostion in the spectator's hands; this would make the routine much stronger. You could also use the duplicate to eliminate one of the card controls during the routine.

Stunt Double- This looks pretty good, but for the work involved, the audience did not seem that impressed.

Bounce No-Bounce- Nothing really new is taught here. It's just Greg's presentation for the standard Bounce No-Bounce balls. Greg uses the balls for a "Sobriety Test."

King-Size Travelers- I'll be interested to see how this routine will play for real people. Basically, the magician removes the four kings from the deck, makes them vanish, and reproduces them from four different pockets. Greg's version is easier to do than most.

The DVD concludes with footage of Greg's stand up show. The show was entertaining, but not much magic was performed.

Overall, I was disappointed with this DVD, although a few things were useful. If you aren't familiar with Greg's work, you would be much better off to purchase his On The Spot DVD or Card Stunts. This does not represent his best material, even though he is still one of my absolute favorite performers.

Caleb

Nice review Caleb!

Thanks Caleb, I have been waiting to see what others had to say. Greg is also one of my favorites but this does not sound like one of his better videos. I'd be interested in what others who have seen it think. Stay tuned!

Although 1&2 sound good...

Thanks for the review Caleb.

Shane Wiker

Thank you very much Caleb!

Funny because I heard 1 & 3 were great and 2 is the weakest. Hmm... Should be getting this very soon so we'll see...

Thanks Caleb, I appreciate the review.

Good Review!After reading your review I think I will save the money I would have spent on this and save it for the Paul Harris collection.

Thanks for the review Caleb. I personally love 1&3. I own On The Spot DVD, Card Stunts, pyro... and Off The Cuff. f you love Wilson, you'll love these. A must have IMHO.

I like Greg Wilson's dvds. He has stong material and the effects are well-taught. More importantly, you get to see the effects performed for real audiences in uncontrolled environments. Greg does a great job teaching timing and, indirectly, teaching spectator management.

While I do think On the Spot is better than In Action, I certainly think each volume of In Action is worth $24.95. Here is a link to Madhatter Magic Shop's listing for these dvds:

http://www.madhattermagicshop.com/magicshop/advanced_search_
result.php?osCsid=a53c8db58dfab5adb6bde9046414a765&osCsid
=a53c8db58dfab5adb6bde9046414a765&keywords=In+Action

If that link doesn't work, go to http://www.madhattermgicshop.com, enter the online store, then run a search (field is at the bottom left side of each page).

If you don't like these dvds, you can always sell them in the Let's Make a Deal for $20 each and recover 80% of your investment. You will then have spent only $15 to watch all three of these great dvds.

Cheers,

Tiki

Hi Tiki,

That's a good point about the tapes. There was a "typo" in the address given for Madhatter Magic. There was an "A" left out of the link. The correct one is http://www.madhattermagicshop.com/.

Mark.

I sold my DVD's before the word got out that they weren't that strong. The Slot Machine Scam is very clever, but if you ever performed it, you'd get arrested for tampering with the equipment. The slot is for currency, if you put your business card in it, you are tampering with the machine. Greg did it in Lake Tahoe and of course had the managements permisssion.

I have Greg's other offering and they are magnificent. I use his Stock Holder, Hundy 500, Dishonest Abe and handlings for other tricks.

Is it worth still getting card stunts if I buy this set?
Dann

Thank you for the review Caleb!

I, too, think 3 is not quite as good as 1 and 2. Still good, though. I do think these sets are worth it. And although the stand up portion doesn't have a ton of magic, it's really an education to watch his routining on stage. The audience seems to be having a great time. He's very entertaining.

Hi Caleb
Very useful review
Thanks
TJ
:)