I was wondering if someone out there would know how to contact John Calvert? I know that he moved from Florida to the West Coast a while ago. My reason is that I am collecting some Calvert memorabilia and would like to add to that collection a DVD or VHS of his movie “Dark Venture” filmed in Africa in 1956 starring John Calvert, John Carradine and Ann Cornell. I know that the title was eventually changed to “Beyond the Sahara”, then John had it re-edited to become more of a National Geographic type of adventure called “Curse of the Elephant's Graveyard”– but it seems that the new version only had one showing and was never released otherwise. I found the company that did the post production (DreamQuest Productions), but they said they could not release a copy to me as John still has legal ownership (to date he has done three edits on it), and has not told them his future plans for it. My only other option is to contact John directly – but I know he is 96 years old and would rather contact him by email or regular mail than bother him by phone. If anyone can help me it would be appreciated – even if you know more about the movie (if it may be available somewhere??). Many thanks.

I will see John the first of next month at the Battle of Magicians in Canton, OH. I will try to get contact information for you.

The movie is only available through John.

Richard

Thanks Richard, - you're the best! I really appreciate your help. Over the last little while I have managed to get a copy of one of the "Falcon" movies and a video of John's "Tribute to Houdini" show, as well as some Magicarama related paraphenalia (and a couple of Calvert magic effects). In the book "Magic and Adventures Around the World" by William Rauscher, there is quite a section about the making of the original Dark Venture movie so I figured it would be perfect to (hopefully)add the newest incarnation of it to my collection - as well as wanting to see what I guess would be considered the directors cut. I look forward to hearing back from you sometime next month. Thanks again.

Bruce Hunt

I talked to John and Tammy a few days ago. He said he was almost done editing the film. No indication of when it would be ready for release.

Not sure if you know this or not, but John had additional footage shot to go with the original film, including using some of the original actors, making this what he says is the first time that actors in a film age in real time (about 60 years of aging!). Fascinating, huh?

Hi Magicguy,
I will pm you with his info. He is now living in Kentucky.

Dr. Solar

Thank you Dr. Solar!
I have received your messaged and pm'd you as well. I will be writing John today and will let you all know the outcome. Michael - yes, I was aware of the additional footage in the "new" cut and the post-production people (Dreamquest Productions) have a trailer for the film on their website - http://www.dreamquest.tv/projects.html They weren't able to help me contact John, but I don't blame them because there would be privacy issues.
The trailer shows a very short clip of a present day interview with John and an interview with David Carradine(of TV's Kung-Fu fame)who is of course the son of the late great actor John Carradine (1906 - 1988), one of the original stars of the film with John Calvert and Ann Cornell.
Thank you to everyone for your replies and if there is anything anyone else can add - please do! John Calvert is one of the greats in magic and someone that not a whole lot of present day magicians know about - but should.
Bruce Hunt

Hi all,
Well, after just one week I got an email from John Calvert (his wife Tammy at the keyboard) asking me to give him a call at home. I just got off of the phone with him a few minutes ago. John is certainly a gentleman and a great guy! We talked for around 20 minutes on several subjects - from magic to movies to politics. He tells me that he will be doing a week of shows soon in Bowling Green Kentucky (where he lives) at an old theater there that has been refurbished by the local council (I think it was Capitol Arts Theater). He is donating the profits from his shows to their fund. If any of you are in that area - be sure to see him! Unfortunately me being over twenty-five hundred miles away on the West Coast of Canada, I had to decline his kind offer to see the show. As far as the movie he is editing (now called "The Curse of the Elephant's Graveyard"), John says that he is getting close to the final edit and hopes to release it soon - but wants to be very careful about who he releases it through, as he is very aware of piracy issues. He will let me know when it is ready for release. It was a pleasure talking to him and I promised to keep in touch. I will be updating this thread when there is more news.
Bruce Hunt

Another update!
I recieved a letter from John yesterday morning concerning an effect he and I had talked about. He also had this to say:
"In addition to that, we will be doing a show at the Canton, Battle of Magicians (May 1 -3)and then back to Bowling Green for a full week at the Capitol Theatre. The show will be the full Magicarama show as presented at the Olympia in Paris and the other major cities around the world, including Flying Organ, Cannon, Levitation and all the other big numbers that have made Magicarama the longest touring magic spectacular in theatre history." "About the African Picture, Curse of the Elephants' Graveyard. As soon as it goes into releas, DVDs will be available. It now has an unusual ending with an abundance of magic illusions as a suprise sequence for the magic fraternity."
...I hope I didn't ruin the suprise! He's got more energy at 96 than most magicians half his age. Amazing! Hope some of you out there get a chance to see his show(s).

Bruce Hunt

Thanks for the update, Bruce.

I will be travelling to the midwest next week and he mentioned that I should stop in Bowling Green during the trip. I'm hoping that is something I can do.

The Capitol Theatre shows in Bowling Green, KY are next week. June 23-29.

http://www.capitolarts.com/tickets.html

I've got my tickets and I'm really looking forward to the show.

Jeff

Great show last night. It's hard to believe Mr. Calvert is 96.

Jeff